In December, 2002, just 15 months after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the New York and New Jersey Metropolitan Transit Authority adopted the slogan developed more than a year before by an advertising agency, "If You See Something, Say Something".
It's been the mantra preached to us by Left and Right alike for more than a decade. Vigilance! Watchfulness! We're all in this fight together!
And then something really weird happened. Ahmed Mohamed, a young student in Irving, Texas, brought a device to school. He started showing it to teachers. One teacher who saw it told him not to show it around because it looked a lot like a bomb. Another teacher he showed his 'homemade clock' to decided to say something.
The long story made short is that the teacher and everyone who took what on its face looked like a threat seriously were pilloried. The President of the United States came out on Twitter and said, "Cool clock, Ahmed!" At the same time he implied that anyone who couldn't see that this was a simple clock was an idiot. And anyone who 'said something' about a Muslim and an explosive device in the same sentence was a bigoted fear-mongering racist. The lesson Americans were intended to learn - and indeed many did - was that if you see something involving a Muslim, you'd better just keep it to yourself.
Some of you may recall that I posted something to this effect on Facebook as the Clock Kid debacle unfolded. Ahmed Mohamed was a pioneer in changing the way Americans are allowed to speak and even think about terror and Islam.
And now, San Bernardino. Sayed Farooq fights with coworkers about politics and religion. He tells a Jewish coworker that he will never live to see Jerusalem. Farooq goes so far as to threaten to kill the Jew. And nothing is said. Nothing is done. Because we can't push the alarm button when a Muslim is involved anymore. Remember, the President taught us that with the Clock Kid.
And now, San Bernardino. A neighbor and others working in Sayed Farooq's neighborhood notice suspicious activity at Farooq's house. Large numbers of Middle Eastern men coming and going at all hours of the day and night. In the old days we would have thought Farooq was running a drug house, called the cops, and they would have surveilled it until they were able to determine what was going on. But today nothing is said. Nothing is done. Because we can't push the alarm button when a Muslim is involved anymore. Who wants to be pilloried as a racist and an islamophobe? Remember, the President taught us that with the Clock Kid.
And so, Sayed Frooq and his wife Tashfeen Malik interrupt Sayed's company Christmas party with two AR-15s and hundreds of bullets. They leave a sack full of explosive devices in hopes of killing even more as first responders come to retrieve the 14 dead and other wounded. And they go out in a 'blaze of glory' as police catch up with them and load their SUV with more than 350 rounds of all types of ammunition.
In the meantime, the press and the Obama administration are tripping over themselves for days trying to make sense of the senseless when it is they who are insensible. Call it what you will, but do NOT call it terrorism. And NEVER call it Islamic terrorism. It was a fight at the party that escalated to this. It was 3 white men (wearing masks). It was white supremacists. It was a quiet religious man who snapped. It was a gun. It was a legally purchased gun. It was fear of Muslims. It was the NRA. But, please, please, please, don't call this Islamic terrorism on American soil.
And to think that all this could have been prevented. If someone who had seen something had said something.
It's been the mantra preached to us by Left and Right alike for more than a decade. Vigilance! Watchfulness! We're all in this fight together!
And then something really weird happened. Ahmed Mohamed, a young student in Irving, Texas, brought a device to school. He started showing it to teachers. One teacher who saw it told him not to show it around because it looked a lot like a bomb. Another teacher he showed his 'homemade clock' to decided to say something.
The long story made short is that the teacher and everyone who took what on its face looked like a threat seriously were pilloried. The President of the United States came out on Twitter and said, "Cool clock, Ahmed!" At the same time he implied that anyone who couldn't see that this was a simple clock was an idiot. And anyone who 'said something' about a Muslim and an explosive device in the same sentence was a bigoted fear-mongering racist. The lesson Americans were intended to learn - and indeed many did - was that if you see something involving a Muslim, you'd better just keep it to yourself.
Some of you may recall that I posted something to this effect on Facebook as the Clock Kid debacle unfolded. Ahmed Mohamed was a pioneer in changing the way Americans are allowed to speak and even think about terror and Islam.
And now, San Bernardino. Sayed Farooq fights with coworkers about politics and religion. He tells a Jewish coworker that he will never live to see Jerusalem. Farooq goes so far as to threaten to kill the Jew. And nothing is said. Nothing is done. Because we can't push the alarm button when a Muslim is involved anymore. Remember, the President taught us that with the Clock Kid.
And now, San Bernardino. A neighbor and others working in Sayed Farooq's neighborhood notice suspicious activity at Farooq's house. Large numbers of Middle Eastern men coming and going at all hours of the day and night. In the old days we would have thought Farooq was running a drug house, called the cops, and they would have surveilled it until they were able to determine what was going on. But today nothing is said. Nothing is done. Because we can't push the alarm button when a Muslim is involved anymore. Who wants to be pilloried as a racist and an islamophobe? Remember, the President taught us that with the Clock Kid.
And so, Sayed Frooq and his wife Tashfeen Malik interrupt Sayed's company Christmas party with two AR-15s and hundreds of bullets. They leave a sack full of explosive devices in hopes of killing even more as first responders come to retrieve the 14 dead and other wounded. And they go out in a 'blaze of glory' as police catch up with them and load their SUV with more than 350 rounds of all types of ammunition.
In the meantime, the press and the Obama administration are tripping over themselves for days trying to make sense of the senseless when it is they who are insensible. Call it what you will, but do NOT call it terrorism. And NEVER call it Islamic terrorism. It was a fight at the party that escalated to this. It was 3 white men (wearing masks). It was white supremacists. It was a quiet religious man who snapped. It was a gun. It was a legally purchased gun. It was fear of Muslims. It was the NRA. But, please, please, please, don't call this Islamic terrorism on American soil.
And to think that all this could have been prevented. If someone who had seen something had said something.
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