Find the Crackpots

There are lots of crazy people out there. And they like to form groups.  Note that if they share capital in an attempt to earn profits, they tend to become partnerships. But more on that in July.

Doodie referenced one of those crackpot groups in a post yesterday. These are the nut jobs that protest at funerals of American soldiers saying that they died because "God hates fags." They people are certifiably insane. They're also rude.  Maybe their actions are also are generally protected by the First Amendment. But more on that in July too.

There's another such group, and they are attempting to spread their crackpot-ness on New York City bus riders. This group is called "Stop Islamization of America" or (SIOA). There are other ways we could unpack that acronym, with words like stupid, imbecilic, opaque ass, etc. These people are running ads on NYC buses professing to assist individuals trying to leave Islam. Those are probably alongside the ads for Dr. Z and foreign language classes.

The ad:

An interesting op-ed was printed in the Daily News Yesterday about these silly geese/donkeys.  It properly notes:

The implication: Countless American Muslims are trapped in an oppressive and violent faith, dying to get out. And if they dare try, they could be injured or killed.

These are lies, and offensive ones at that. We should be clear: Few of the 5 million to 7 million Muslims in America want to escape their faith - and those who do are free to do so. There are extremists of all faith traditions, including those who identify as Muslim. But they are a small minority and do not represent Islam as a whole or American Muslims, for whom Islam is a beautiful and inspiring faith - not a prison.

We really shouldn't go around hating people of other religions - let's save that vitriol for bar exam writers.

Islamophobia and anti-Islam hatred are on the rise in the U.S., especially after the events of 9/11. Even before that fateful day, Muslims were often portrayed in the media as democracy- and America-hating terrorists - a portrayal that, unfortunately, has increasingly seeped into our consciousness. In 2002, 41% of respondents in a national poll admitted to harboring anti-Muslim sentiments (even though only 7% said they understood Islam very well). In 2009, the percentage of those admitting anti-Islam attitudes reached 46%.

The bus ads fuel the fire. Although Geller says that practicing Muslims should simply ignore the ads, and that they are aimed at those who want to leave the religion, the reality is that people frequently switch religions in the U.S., Islam included. Approximately half of all Americans change religious affiliations at some point in their lives.

Read more here.


As a callback, maybe for this website's next feature you should be able to stalk the crackpots on the buses.