By Keith Johnson - BLN Contributing Writer

Islamophobia is sweeping the nation—and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Just when the American people were starting to become distracted with trivial issues like the potential stock market crash,
the re-branding of the war in Iraq, and the ongoing environmental
disaster in the Gulf—along comes a crisis of Biblical proportions, that
threatens to destroy the moral fiber of America itself, and deliver its
Christian population into the diabolical hands of an Islamic
dictatorship ruled under the precepts of Sharia law.

Oh, foolish man. What can you not be made to believe?
~Adam Weishaupt~

By now, it should be quite obvious that the hysteria centered on the proposed construction of an Islamic cultural center—a full two blocks from Ground Zero—is nothing more than an engineered distraction,
designed to take the focus away from serious geopolitical and domestic
issues as we head into the November elections.

Late last year, we watched in horror as the Tea Party movement was infiltrated by certain personalities from the GOP establishment. Glenn Beck, Dick Army, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, and others of that same
ilk—all dressed down to mingle with working class folks— and let them
know that the Republican party shares their pain. Before these
clowns got involved, the focus of the Tea Party was on big government,
compulsory health insurance and Wall Street bailouts. But over a period
of time—as these Johnny-Come-Latelies sunk their fingers deeper into
the pie—they used their influence to diffuse the ire against Wall Street
and redirect those energies to support the GOP war agenda.

Now we are starting to see large swaths of Tea Party factions taking up the military banner at their functions—complete with metrosexual cowboys singing war anthems in the background—and stirring up racial
tensions the likes of which we have not witnessed since before the civil
rights movement of the 1960’s.

No longer is Wall Street feeling the hot pangs of public anger breathing down their necks. These terrorists have been left to their own devices, with free reign to continue their raping and pillaging of
the American dream. Now, cab drivers wearing turbans have more to fear
than the bankster gangster riding in their back seats.

From New York City to Southern California, large groups of paranoid warmongers gather outside Islamic places of worship to parrot the lies fed to them by the mainstream media. Much of their ammunition comes
straight out of a likely source: FOX News.

On August 16, disgraced former congressman Newt Gingrich made an appearance on the morning program, FOX and Friends, and said, “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to
Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the
World Trade Center.” Is that right? Well, assuming that this is a
Christian nation, like so many people claim it to be, then I assume it
would be wrong to construct a Christian church in Dresden or Hiroshima.
Oh, but I know you’re going to tell me that those were not acts of
terrorism. You may not think so, but I’ll bet there are hundreds of
thousands of Germans and Japanese who would beg to differ.

Later that week, on the same program, host Brian Kilmeade asserted his fear that the Islamic Cultural Center in New York City would be the future site of a new “Hamburg Cell.” In case you didn’t know, the
“Hamburg Cell” was where three alleged hijackers reportedly cooked up
the 911 plot. Two of the three men were tried in Germany, but the cases
were dropped when the U.S. failed to provide any incriminating evidence
that linked them to the attacks.

Other FOX propagandists, like Dick Morris, claim that the center will be used to ‘train and recruit’ future terrorists. “Shariah law mandates jihad” blurted Morris. “And it mandates terrorism and suicide bombing. So this is really a juridical center that is being established to study and promote and
train and recruit Shariah law advocates, which will become terrorists. …
We’re establishing literally a command center for terrorism right at
the 9/11 site.” This kind of B.S. brings to mind that famous Arte Johnson line from ‘Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In’: “Very interesting…but stupid!”

Recent evidence suggests just the opposite of Morris’ line of thinking. According to a recent New York Times article, “A two-year study by a group of academics on American Muslims and terrorism concluded that contemporary mosques are actually a deterrent to the spread of
militant Islam and terrorism. The
study was conducted by professors with Duke’s Sanford School of Public
Policy and the University of North Carolina. It disclosed that many
mosque leaders had put significant effort into countering extremism by
building youth programs, sponsoring antiviolence forums and scrutinizing
teachers and texts.”

But this won’t stop the likes of Gingrich, Kilmeade and Morris from spreading their message of intolerance. They have an agenda, and that agenda is to stir up a deep-seated hatred against the Muslim community
in order to rally support for a war on Iran. And they’ve been very
effective. Their rhetoric is being picked up and repeated by
Islamophobes all across the nation. For them, it’s all about the fear
of Shariah law, disrespect to 911 victims, and the paranoid assumption
that all Mosques are staging grounds for future terrorist attacks.

In Murfreesboro, Tennessee—opponents of a proposed Mosque spray-painted the words “Not Welcome” on a sign that marked the construction site, and later tore it to shreds. They also
brought dogs to intimidate Muslims as they worshipped in the modest
office space they’ve been using as a prayer room. One man—sounding a
lot like Newt Gingrich—told a CNN reporter that “In
Islam, a mosque means ‘We have conquered this country,’” And where are
they? They’re in the center of Tennessee. They’re going to say, ‘We have
conquered Tennessee.’”

In Temecula, California—plans by the Islamic community to build a mosque on a four-acre parcel of land has sparked a similar protest. Pastor Bill
Rench, of Temecula Calvary Baptist Church, echoed Kilmeade and Morris
when he stated, “There is a concern with all the rumors you hear
about sleeper cells and all that. Are we supposed to be complacent just
because these people say it’s a religion of peace? Many others have said
the same thing.”

A website for a group calling itself ‘We the People—Citizens in Action’ called on their members to attend a rally in Temecula and to “bring your Bibles, flags, signs, dogs and singing voice.” At
the event, demonstrators held up signs that read ‘No Sharia Law’ and
‘Muslims Danced For Joy on 9/11.’ Apparently they haven’t learned that
the “so-called” dancing Palestinians
they’re referring to were actually paid to perform in front of the
camera with candy and cakes supplied to them by the Israel Ministry of
Defense. The whole thing was staged.

What was not staged were the five dancing Israelis arrested on 9/11, who were reported to police after being seen cheering and ‘high-fiving’ as they watched the towers come down. They’d been
shooting video of the disaster from a short distance away. They were
later released by police and deported back to Israel, where three of
them admitted on Israeli TV that they were in New York City that day to “document the event.”

In Bridgeport, Connecticut—a dozen “so-called” Christian demonstrators angrily screamed, “Islam is a lie” and “Jesus hates Muslims” at worshippers of a local Mosque. One demonstrator even confronted a group of children and called them “murderers.” Have these people even read the scriptures? Where can Jesus be found to say that he hates Muslims? Muslims weren’t even around during the
time Christ walked the Earth. Islam began almost six hundred years
after the death of Christ. There is not even one biblical passage that
eludes to Islam or mosques or Muslims.

We haven’t seen this level of ignorance and superstition since the Salem Witch Trials of the 1600’s. There are many parallels that be can drawn from that time and now. During that era of American history, the
colonies suffered from severe enviromental and economic troubles.
Severe weather changes resulted in crop failures which devastated
livestock and the ability for families to put food on the table. What
made matters worse was the influential and fervently religious Puritans,
who were very active politically, and attributed all adversity to the
wrath of God. The economic woes, coupled by a belief that all bad
things are a result of supernatural punishment for unrepentant sin,
fostered a climate of suspicion that sent many in search of the source
to their problems. Someone had to take the blame and be held to answer
for all the troubles they inflicted upon everyone else. While the
fanatically religious clung to their superstitions in pursuit of
justice, many others took advantage of the hysteria and used it as an
opportunity to eliminate bitter rivals and steal coveted and valuable
pieces of property.

What we don’t understand, we fear. What we fear, we judge as evil. What we judge as evil, we attempt to control. And what we cannot control…we attack.

We see the same thing happening today. As we fall deeper into our own economic crisis—aggravated by enviromental disasters and poor money policies—the ignorant masses are susceptible to clinging to a simple
explanation for their troubles. In this case, it is Islam. They are
the modern day witches, whose behavior is foreign and therefore a threat
that must be exterminated. Our modern day equivelent to the Puritans
are those fervently religious and politically active Judeo-Christians
who cling to a politicised perversion of Biblical scriptures. They have
been led to believe that allegiance to the state of Israel is critical
to their salvation. If Islam is a threat to Israel, then Islam is the
enemy that must be defeated. Then, of course, there are those who are
simply taking advantage of the hysteria. These are our politicians, who
will send our children to die in these most unholy of wars, and clean
up whatever spoils those wars have wrought.

Contrary to popular perception, none of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials were burned at the stake. However, the victims of these latest witchhunts have not had it so easy. Entire
villages have burned to the ground in Afghanistan, white phosphorus has
been dropped on Palestinian children in Gaza, and talks of a strike on
Iran may very well place a mushroom cloud over Tehran in the not so
distant future. Here at home, violence has already begun to show its
ugly face. In New York City, a Muslim cab driver’s throat was aledgedly
slashed by an irate Islamophobe and several prayer rugs were urinated upon by an angry drunk shouting racial slurs.

This frightening trend is indeed a crisis—but to both Democrat and Republican candidates seeking office in November—this is a god send. For the Republicans, the mosque controversey is a good prop, like the
paper mache’mask that the “Wizard of Oz” lit on fire and waved around to
scare Dorothy into taking on the Wicked Witch of the West. For the
Democrats, bringing attention to the frenzied hysteria of the
reactionary right provides a good opportunity to lure back disgruntled
dissenters, who have been suffering a bit of buyers remorse since Obama
took office.

Just when the time was ripe for the people of this nation to unite in opposition to the established government, we are now beginning to see them part ways… and herded back into their respective corners. ,