The establishment media’s disconnect with the American people

So why the incomprehension from the mainstream media? Why the sanctimonious moral superiority dripping from their microphones and pens? And why is Imam Feisal Rauf, linked to the nefarious Muslim Brotherhood organization and advocate of the same Sharia law that motivated the 9/11 terrorists, on the US State Department’s payroll currently touring the Middle East?

The primary reason is the well-honed myopia of the elites induced by a decades-long toxic brew of excessive multiculturalism, moral relativism and political correctness. I suspect another reason is fear. Every time a phony so-called moderate Islamist such as Feisal Abdul Rauf pretends to speak for the American Islamic community, he is making a veiled threat. If you don’t support me, you’ll be alienating the Islamic community, driving them to the extremists. The editors, columnists and TV anchors of the “establishment media” don’t want to end up like film director Theo Van Gogh, who was stabbed to death in plain day by a Muslim jihadist, or like the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and the creators of South Park, who have received not-so-veiled threats for their satires of Mohammed.

There is an aspect of Islam that is peaceful, such as the earlier verses of the Koran when Mohammed tries to appeal to the Jews and Christians to accept him. But the latter verses are all violent, and these verses take precedence under the doctrine of abrogation.

And yes, it is true that the majority of Muslims around the world are peace-loving and do not subscribe to the political ideology and its advance of Sharia law we call “radical Islam.”

But for the establishment media to continue to deny reality and browbeat the growing number of Americans who recognize the threat will only serve to further marginalize the media. After all, a CNN poll found that 52 percent of Democrats oppose building the mosque at Ground Zero. So are half of all Democrats bigots too?

What’s worse, the establishment media is doing great damage to America’s security.  They have become a mouthpiece for those in the Muslim community who are anything but moderates, giving them political cover they do not merit.  By aligning themselves with the self-proclaimed but phony moderates like Imam Feisal Rauf, CAIR, ISNA and other manifestations of the Muslim Brotherhood — the establishment media has marginalized the many thousands of authentic moderate and reformist Muslims who genuinely seek peace and are patriotic American citizens.

There is a way forward that will ensure both the safety of all our citizens and a genuine rapprochement between Islam and the American people.

1) The establishment media and the US government must end their dangerous romance with the phony moderates who engage in one obnoxious provocation after another, the latest being this project to build a mosque at Ground Zero.

2) In order for the establishment media and the US government to redeem themselves and to re-establish trust with the American people on this issue, they must seek out and encourage Islam’s true moderates and reformers. They are there. They are waiting for an invitation.

Brigitte Gabriel is a terrorism analyst and the author of two New York Times best sellers: “Because They Hate” and “They Must Be Stopped.”  She is President and CEO of ACT for America.org