Thursday, September 29, 2011

Textbook Publisher is Basically Just a Big Old Terrorist

Islamic example in Cobb School lesson angers critics

A firestorm in the blogosphere, ignited by a Cobb middle school's' use of curriculum materials defending Islamic precepts, has brought threats against a Roswell curriculum publisher.

Well, if they were defending Islamic precepts, then, um. . . . Okay, I don't really get what that means.
What kind of pro-Islamic propoganda was being forced on the kids?



The assignment by a teacher at Campbell Middle School, which asked students to write on the issue of dress codes, included a fictional two-page letter ostensibly written by a 20-year-old Saudi Arabian woman. In it, the character writes approvingly of wearing the Islamic veil -- and of her fiance's multiple wives and the law of Sharia.

Okay, that's a little weird, but it doesn't really seem like the sort of thing that would inspire threats.

Last week, Cobb parent Hal Medlin complained about the letter from Ahlima to the school and to Channel 2 Action News and other media. The issue was taken up by conservative blogger Pamela Geller, among others.

Ohhhhhh....Pam Geller! Here we go!

On her Atlas Shrugs web site, Geller said Cobb schools were guilty of  "insidious subversion,"  "Islamizing public schools," and "shilling for jihad."


Also guilty of insidious subversion: American Idol, the neighbor's cat, and Disneyland.
Here's a bit of Pam Geller's commentary from her stupid website:

Last week, we found that schools across Georgia were Islamizing the curriculum by selling misogyny to children.  They were using a lesson plan that glorifies the cloth coffin that Muslims dress women in, as well as polygamy:
My name is Ahlima and I live in Saudi Arabia. ... Perhaps two differences Westerners would notice are that women here do not drive cars and they wear abuyah. An abuyah is a loose-fitting black cloth that covers a woman from head to toe. I like wearing the abuyah since it is very comfortable, and I am protected from blowing sand. ... I have seen pictures of women in the West and find their dress to be horribly immodest. ... Women in the West do not have the protection of the Sharia as we do here. If our marriage has problems, my husband can take another wife rather than divorce me, and I would still be cared for. ... I feel very fortunate that we have the Sharia.
Okay, that is pretty offensive, although the large number of ellipses, I have to assume that there is some context missing. Still, presenting Sharia law as  a positive thing for women is pretty insane. But it does seem like a pretty huge leap from that to "the Muslims are taking over!!!" A huge leap for a normal person, but not for Pam Geller who is pretty sure that everybody is in on the plot to Muslimize America. Everybody, including Rick Perry. Yes, that Rick Perry:

It is good to see other influential voices on the political landscape calling out Rick Perry on the Islamic propaganda and whitewash curriculum he instituted in Texas. Props to Tom Tancredo for calling Rick Perry out on his proselytizing program in the public schools.

Perry’s close ties to Muslim groups led the political blog Salon to headline a recent story: “Rick Perry: The pro-Sharia candidate?” Evidence in support of that theme comes from Gov. Perry’s refusal to support legislation sponsored by Texas Republican legislators to outlaw Sharia law in Texas.

So now, because of this ludicrous paranoid pants-wetting, people are getting death threats. 

Wednesday, InspirEd Educators released a statement saying it "has received what the police have classified as hate email and phone calls, and the company and its staff have been threatened and discussed with threatening language on various websites and blogs."

Instead of pointing out the problems with this part of the curriculum and getting it changed, these people are making threats.  Because nothing shows your hatred of terrorism like trying to terrorize people.