Boy Scouts Terror Organization, Says Con Host

or,

Racists Love Bad Analogies

A Washington talk radio host, Michael "I Put the Con in Conservative" Graham, angered Muslims with some comments on his radio show that could be interpreted as, well, slightly prejudiced...

"Islam is a terrorist organization"

Then, defending his comments...

"If the Boy Scouts of America had 1,000 Scout troops, and 10 of them practiced suicide bombings, then the BSA would be considered a terrorist organization. If the BSA refused to kick out those 10 troops, that would make the case even stronger. If people defending terror repeatedly turned to the Boy Scout handbook and found language that justified and defended murder --and the scoutmasters responded by saying 'Could be' -- the Boy Scouts would have been driven out of America long ago.

"Today, Islam has whole sects and huge mosques that preach terror. Its theology is openly used to give the murderers their motives. Millions of its members give these killers comfort. The question isn't how dare I call Islam a terrorist organization, but rather why more people do not."

Wow. Talk about your insane, illogical rants. Let's dissect this, one bizarre statement at a time.

First of all, 10 out of 1,000, for those of you not good at math, is 1%. So by Graham's logic, is 1% of a group does something, the entire group is guilty of doing the same thing as well.

One percent of the Texas population is in prison(according to 1999 statistics). Since George W. Bush lives in Texas... he must be... gasp! A criminal!!!!! How'd he get out!!!??

One percent of all homes are worth over 1 million dollars. You know what that means... you guessed it, YOUR HOUSE IS WORTH OVER ONE MILLION BUCKAROOS!! Time to sell baby!!!!!

((Yes, I "Googled" "One percent."))

Obviously, we wouldn't consider the above statements to be true (except maybe the Bush being a criminal part).

As far as "kicking someone out" of a religion... how exactly do you go about that? I mean, yeah, the pope excommunicated some folks back in the day, but how do you stop a guy from practicing religion? Assuming you knew a guy was a terrorist, perhaps you could refuse to let him enter the mosque. But can you stop him from practicing his religion? Could you stop abortion clinic and Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph from practicing his unique brand of blow-em-up Christianity?

Boy Scout Motto: Be prepared.



I interpret this as "Be prepared... to KILL!!!!" The vagueness of "Be prepared," certainly lends itself to that interpretation. Of course, so does "Eye for an Eye." That of course, appears in our bible, and dozens of other passages used by extremists to justify everything from genocide to slavery. How many ultra-conservative preachers are there who say "Could Be" to these interpretations? They've spoken out in defense of Rudolph and other abortion clinic bombers, and want homosexuals ("sodomites!") to be executed.

A recent poll showed, yes, millions of people in Muslim countries (mainly Jordan and Pakistan) support terror. But millions more, the vast majority, do not. There are Christians like Rudolph, Timothy McVeigh, and others who have blown up Americans. It was a Jew who assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. It was Karl Rove who leaked the name of a CIA agent, undermining the war against terror. It was American officials who leaked the name of a terrorist double agent, hurting our intelligence efforts and possibly letting the London bombings occur. The Communists put Falun Gong followers in tiny torture cages. We photograph Muslims naked and flush Korans down the toilet. Christians have burned crosses and hung people for the color of their skin. Jews have launched missiles into civilian neighborhoods, killing children. Muslims have bombed discos. Christians have bombed abortion clinics. I don't know much about the activities of the Buddhists, but some of Richard Gere's movies could be considered terrorist attacks.

The point is, terror comes in many forms, from many different religions. As long as innocent people die for someone else's questionable cause, the definition of terror will always be defined by the victims. The people who attacked us on September 11th were Muslims, but it's important to recognize that some of those who died in the towers that morning were Muslims as well. Some of our soldiers in Iraq right now are Muslim. Islam is not a terror organization. Al Queda is. Hamas is. The Muslims would say Mossad is, the Conservatives think the ACLU, MoveOn.org and Greenpeace are.

Analogies are fine on the SATs. But too often, people using them to make a point come out sounding stupid. Michael Graham, conservative talk show hosts everywhere, take heed.