Americans are dying as a result of political correctness. Liberals and the mainstream media that are so very quick to assign responsibility to conservatives for any horrible event using logic that is often inconsistent and tortured have an obligation to start being more honest about things where the facts do not support their narrative.
Conservatives should, and overwhelmingly have, condemned Donald Trump for his outrageous statements concerning a ban on Muslims entering the country and his many other exhortations to turn our backs on American history and the Constitution. In the same way, the time has come for liberals to loudly stand for protecting lives as being more important than the hurt feelings of any individual or group.
Nothing said in this column should be taken as endorsing or condoning actual discrimination or racist behavior. That should not be tolerated and should be called out for such when it is actual and real. However, that ought not be the excuse to prevent identifying bad and wrong behavior. It should not even deter law enforcement officials from detaining or questioning individuals who later are known to be innocent of any wrongdoing.
To read day after day the argument that it is hard to see what could have been done to prevent the tragic deaths in San Bernardino at the hands of Muslim extremists is willfully insisting known facts be ignored. It has been reported, not widely, and not at all in many flagship mainstream media outlets, but there surely was the chance to prevent these deaths. Political correctness made a terrible contribution to not avoiding the catastrophe.
A neighbor of Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik thought it worrisome that half a dozen young Muslim males gathered in their garage where they worked late into the night, that boxes arrived periodically, that there appeared to be a lot suspicious activity taking place. So what slowed down the woman from calling the authorities? “She did not want to racially profile.”
Another young man working in the area at the time also decided not to report anything, since he did not want to racially profile the Middle Eastern men. “We sat around lunch thinking. ‘What war they doing around the neighborhood?”
This was not the first time political correctness triumphed over good sense in this sort of situation. Nidal Hassan, the perpetrator of the Ft. Hood massacre gave plenty of indication of being radicalized and prepared to engage in bad deeds. Still, the military, fearful of being accused of profiling and discrimination, bent over backwards to avoid taking tough measures with him.
A couple of simple observations. If we are going to slow down, and hopefully eventually halt, Muslim terrorist activity, the focus is going to be on Muslims. The media needs to understand what “disproportionate” actually means. Time after time, we read about how some group has obviously been treated unfairly or was targeted. Stories are along the lines of group x is y times more likely to be detained and questioned than (usually) whites. The inference, or actual assertion, is if things were color blind, the numbers would reflect the percentage of the overall population. The problem here, of course, is that virtually 100 percent of Muslim extremist acts of terror are committed by; open the envelope, Muslims. So, of course this is who will be the focal point as we move forward.
Second, in alerting law enforcement officials of a potential danger, there will be lots and lots of individuals who have done nothing wrong who become the subject of tough questions. That is the nature of investigations. It is time for the media to stop reporting on this as though it is terrible and wrong on its face. It is also time for those effected to behave as though their hurt feelings and inconvenience should count more than the safety and well being of all of us. No more op-ed pieces in the Washington Post about how “I was made to feel terrible….” Mistakes will be made.
Finally, if Muslims truly are the religion of peace that so many insist is the case, it is well past the time to hold the Million Muslim March where vast numbers gather to clearly and loudly condemn, and call for an end to, terrorist attacks on innocent Americans (and others). There also should be an international convening of Muslim clerics to identify real and specific measures to be taken to put an end to the attacks done in the name of their faith.
There are more options than Donald Trump or politically correct liberal orthodoxy. Let us agree your right to not be offended does not exceed our right to live. Let us return to an active and vigorous policy of: See Something, Say Something.
Bill Greener is a founding partner of Greener and Hook, LLC., a Republican consulting firm assisting individual candidates and Republican organizations as well individual corporations, associations and ad hoc groups. He has served both Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director for the Republican National Committee. Greener has held senior communications posts in the White House and Cabinet departments. He has played a role in every GOP Convention since 1984, heading up the 1996 Convention and serving as program coordinator in 2008.