The first Muslim Miss USA who comes from a Lebanese Shia backround has been attacked as soon as the glittery diamond tiara was lowered on her head. Rima Fakih...Is she the first Muslim Miss USA? Will she be able to keep the title after photos surfaced of Fakih winning a pole-dancing contest, considering that she showed more skin in the actual Miss USA pageant by sporting a bikini? Then comes the conservative right wing fundamentalist blogosphere...is she a secret Islamist extremist?
Of course not, Rima, who is a Lebanese Shia Muslim immigrant from Dearborn, Michigan was raised in both the Christian and Muslim faiths. She clearly is not a fundamentalist and her willingness to parade around in a tiny bikini on national television did not stop the right wing fundamentalist blogger Debbie Schlussel from attacking Rima and calling her a radical because she shares her family name with some officials in Hezb-ullah, the militant Lebanese Shia Muslim group which Washington lists as a terrorist organization.
This is an interesting point, because Debbie Schlussel's backround is that of an immigrant as well. Schlussel was born in 1969 to a family of Polish Jewish descent. Her father H.L. Schlussel, was also the son of immigrants. He was an ophthalmologist who also serve in the US Army, he has been a major influence in his daughter's life. She became active in politics at an early age, joining the National Teenage Republicans and being named the 1987 Outstanding Teenage Republican. She was a Jack Kemp delegate at the 1988 Republican National Convention and has worked on numerous political campaigns. She is somewhat of a "Hezb-jumhuri" (Republican Party). In 1990 Schlussel ran for the Republican (Hezb-Jumhuri) nomination for the 4th District (Oakland County) of the Michigan House of Representatives. She was defeated by Barbara Dobb by a single vote from around 8500 cast. Schlussel has since claimed that voter fraud led her defeat, making allegations of impropriety against the family of her opponent and the judge who ruled on the issue. In 1998, she stood for nomination to the same district against Marc Shulman. Schlussel has continued to attack Shulman, in particular when he received the Hezb-Jumhuri (Republican) nomination for the Michigan Supreme Court and was defeated. So, we can see that Debbie Schlussel has been involved in defamation, allegations, accusations, and lies many times in the past against people in her home town, let alone Miss USA.
If we were to follow this kind of idiotic logic, then every person here in the USA that becomes anything or wins anything from let's say Italian backround, German backround, Israeli backround etc. could be Mafia? Nazi? or Mossad Agent? This kind of logic is "guilt by association", something the right wing fundamentalists have done to every Muslim in the USA, especially since 911.
Why else would you take a case like the Rifqa Bary case where a young 13-17 year old girl is indoctrinated in right wing fundamentalist Christianity then paraded on national television to attack her own family, community, and occasional Mosque? Why else would you demonize all Muslims, just because they are Muslims? From the view of the right wing fundamentalists "no matter what a Muslim says or does, they don't believe them" (exact words of a lady from a right wing fundamentalist Church I talked to the one visit I made to the Bary trial outside of court). So, with this logic that "no matter what you say or do...I will not believe you", what kind of dialogue and logic do we expect from these right wing fundamentalists? Not much obviously, this is why Debbie Schlussel's extremist versions like the "Hutaree" militia who wanted to attack the US Government is something that needs to be watched by the government closely. What else is Debbie Schlussel doing other than warmongering, hate, division, and distrust?
I recommend reading an article by Ahmed Rehab regarding the weird obsession that the right wing has with Islam: Ahmed Rehab: Miss USA scrutiny indicates weird obsession with Islam
I recommend reading an article by Ahmed Rehab regarding the weird obsession that the right wing has with Islam: Ahmed Rehab: Miss USA scrutiny indicates weird obsession with Islam
We as a nation should be working to bring everybody together and diffuse problems and issues, not create new and bigger ones like the right wing fundamentalists such as Debbie Schlussel. The statements regarding Rima are just ludicrous and funny to be honest, however, we live in a world and age that right wing fundamentalists are taken seriously by some minorities who also believe that President Obama is not an American, is a Communist, a Fascist, a Socialist, a Muslim, and hate him of course just because he is African-American. Which brings up an important point...trying to dehumanize, demonize, and create an "evil other". This is something that fascist groups do really well, which is exactly what these right wing fundamentalist groups really are. Fascists who try to act as if they care about the USA. If they cared about America, they would not attack it's people...ie. American Muslims!
The Constitution guarantees our freedoms....race, religion, etc. In the future, if an actual Muslim was to become President, that is actually acceptable by our own forefathers.... (I will cite that soon) what would these extremists do then? America is a country that has a majority Christian community, however it is not a "Christian Nation" or "Christian State". Also, it is not the 4th Reich that it is made only for Europeans. It is a country that was founded on the principle of equality and justice. Every person from every nation, creed, culture, race, religion, gender etc. is welcome here. We pay taxes, we join the armed forces, we work in corporations, we work in the government, we are part of this country...no matter how much the right wing fundamentalist fascists think we are not. The law is the law, and in this case they are outside of the Constitutional Law that guarantees these freedoms. Every new group that has come to America has had to go through this "gauntlet" of extremist....Catholics, Italians, Irish, Germans, Jews, etc. They all had to pay their dues before being "jumped into the club" of America. It is now the turn of Muslims, Arabs, Persians, Turks, Pakistanis, Indians, etc. The fact that a Muslim won the Miss USA pageant is important, because it normalizes the idea of American Muslims, which the fascists hate, because they want you to believe Muslims are all Terrorists (eventhough that is less than 1% of the population of Muslims in the world). Read more: www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com
Ironically, Rima would be ostracized by Hezbullah, which is the crazy part of these idiotic accusations. Something important to note here is that at one time these same right wing fundamentalists accused Muslim women who wear Hijab as being extremist (which is not true), however now these accusations send out a very clear message to the Islamic world and community that if a Muslim woman wears a headscarf, chador, burkah, niqab, bikini, or nothing at all...she still will be accused of being a terrorist! This fascist ideology of the right wing fundamentalists has to stop! This is unjust and un-American.
Hopefully, through proper education and understanding of Islam and the Constitution of the USA, people like Debbie Schlussel will come to understand that they are misinformed and following a dangerous path of hate and fascism. Otherwise, if these right wing fundamentalists get their way, we all will be wearing "Green Crescents" on our chest and hiding in attics and basements.
The Constitution guarantees our freedoms....race, religion, etc. In the future, if an actual Muslim was to become President, that is actually acceptable by our own forefathers.... (I will cite that soon) what would these extremists do then? America is a country that has a majority Christian community, however it is not a "Christian Nation" or "Christian State". Also, it is not the 4th Reich that it is made only for Europeans. It is a country that was founded on the principle of equality and justice. Every person from every nation, creed, culture, race, religion, gender etc. is welcome here. We pay taxes, we join the armed forces, we work in corporations, we work in the government, we are part of this country...no matter how much the right wing fundamentalist fascists think we are not. The law is the law, and in this case they are outside of the Constitutional Law that guarantees these freedoms. Every new group that has come to America has had to go through this "gauntlet" of extremist....Catholics, Italians, Irish, Germans, Jews, etc. They all had to pay their dues before being "jumped into the club" of America. It is now the turn of Muslims, Arabs, Persians, Turks, Pakistanis, Indians, etc. The fact that a Muslim won the Miss USA pageant is important, because it normalizes the idea of American Muslims, which the fascists hate, because they want you to believe Muslims are all Terrorists (eventhough that is less than 1% of the population of Muslims in the world). Read more: www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com
Ironically, Rima would be ostracized by Hezbullah, which is the crazy part of these idiotic accusations. Something important to note here is that at one time these same right wing fundamentalists accused Muslim women who wear Hijab as being extremist (which is not true), however now these accusations send out a very clear message to the Islamic world and community that if a Muslim woman wears a headscarf, chador, burkah, niqab, bikini, or nothing at all...she still will be accused of being a terrorist! This fascist ideology of the right wing fundamentalists has to stop! This is unjust and un-American.
Hopefully, through proper education and understanding of Islam and the Constitution of the USA, people like Debbie Schlussel will come to understand that they are misinformed and following a dangerous path of hate and fascism. Otherwise, if these right wing fundamentalists get their way, we all will be wearing "Green Crescents" on our chest and hiding in attics and basements.
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