BEN STEIN'S DIARY
Something Is Wrong
By Ben Stein on 9.24.12 @ 8:27AM
Don't
look now, but Islam is becoming the MSM's official religion of
America.
Don't
look now, but Islam is becoming the MSM's official religion of America.
Now,
it's not just that no one bats an eye at the amazing truth that the United
States is beaming TV ads all over Pakistan apologizing for a derogatory Internet
trailer for a nonexistent movie demeaning the being that Muslims call "The
Prophet Mohammed." No one in the MSM even slightly hints that doing the kowtow
in the same country that sheltered Osama bin Laden to a group that reveled in,
delighted in the terrorism against American civilians and still provides the
framework for the terrorist Haqqani network, might be humiliating and an insult
to the memory of the great Americans who were murdered just last week in
Libya.
No,
we just take it in stride that our President and our Secretary of State will
apologize to the people who hate us and want us dead. That's not what I am
referring to.
I
am referring to something worse: Have you noticed that in the past few years,
and especially in the past few weeks since the murder of the Ambassador and his
guards and colleague in Benghazi (a city that Erwin Rommel loved and whose
inhabitants he praised), whenever the New York
Times refers to Mohammed, they
always call him, without quotation marks, The Prophet Mohammed, as if everyone
with any sense understands that OF COURSE Mohammed is The One True Prophet and
that it's just understood that Mohammed is The Prophet.
I
see this in other news outlets and on TV, too. Sober-looking newsmen and
newswomen mention Mohammed as The Prophet Mohammed. No ifs, ands or buts. I hear
it on the BBC World Service, too.
Now,
if Muslims want to believe that Mohammed is The Prophet, God bless them. Fine
and dandy. If anyone wants to believe that, good luck to him or her. But why
does our mainstream media here in the USA, an overwhelmingly Christian country,
refer to Islam's prophet as "The Prophet"?
Have
you ever seen any major newspaper here in the USA refer to Jesus Christ as "The
Son of God, God Incarnate, The Lord Jesus Christ"? Can you imagine the New York
Times running a story about a
crucifix resting in urine at an "art gallery" as an offense against "The Lord
Jesus, Son of God"? Can you imagine any large newspaper in this country running
a story about the Pope and referring to him as "The Holy Father, The Bridge
Between Heaven and Earth"? Or about Mary, as "Holy Mary, Mother of God"? It
would never happen.
But
somehow, probably because the people writing the articles and editing them or
the producers on TV news shows fear being beheaded -- and who doesn't? -- we
have adopted in our media the Muslim assertion that Mohammed is The Prophet
while giving other religious figures the back of our media hand.
This
is frightening. We are not supposed to be doing obeisance to a religious group
that has many adherents who want us dead. We are not, as journalists, supposed
to be labeling anyone as "The" Prophet. But somehow, it's happening. The MSM has
become a voice for Islam.
Hitler
saw it long ago. Terror and fear of violence can bring about amazing changes in
people's behavior. So can a misguided political correctness and self-loathing
for the greatest nation on earth.
I
overheard a conversation between two women at a dining table just yesterday. One
said, "I don't care what anyone says, Obama is a Muslim" (she has said it
before) and the other said, "He's not a Muslim. He's just stupid."
I
didn't say anything to them. I am just telling you, these do not feel like
normal days. They feel like latter days.
There
is just a feeling in the air, a look in the sky at dusk, a look on people's
faces. Fear is everywhere. Mr. Obama cannot lose this election unless enough
people believe it's within their power to stop the ticking of the clock, and I
do not feel that groundswell. Not at all. When the American media turns its back
on our own religions of tolerance and adores a religion of intolerance, times
are upside down. The MSM says it's all fine, trust The Prince of Grant Park,
Chicago. But I have always preferred the admonition, "Put not your trust in
princes." Something is wrong.