Let's get reactionary

Letter to the NYTime, RE: a letter with a lot of chutzpah

I usually reflexively hate any limitation of rites, but I find the backwardness and pure chutzpah of this letter to bring out my right wing reactionary side...

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Mr. Wilentz is a convert to Islam and does not come from a traditionally Muslim region or country (he is the President of a convert center). While I agree with the principal thrust of Mr. Wilentz's assertions, one must recognize that the moment you set foot into an airport, you are voluntarily submitting yourself to a different set of rules, some of which on their face seem to violate freedom of speech. For instance, any joking talk of bombs or weapons in an Airport will get you locked to a chair in a back office faster than you can say fascism.

The reality is that when traveling by air, if you are an Imam, you look like you are probably from a traditionally Muslim country -- perhaps a country where one of the 9/11 terrorists came from -- and you voice anti-American sentiment... you're asking for trouble. It takes an awful lot of hubris for Mr. Wilentz to argue that anyone can expect their Constitutional rights to fully apply in the airport. In other words, the Imam's behavior, in context, was provocative.

Substituting rabbis or Baptists is a rhetorical bait-and-switch. Ok, while some radicals out there like to characterize all Jews as Zionist terrorists, we can largely agree that most large scale recent acts of terrorism that have occurred in Western nations were perpetrated by Muslims -- not Jews or Baptists. I for one am a Jew who at best is not a knee-jerk Israel supporter.

There are also many other beliefs and practices of Muslim nations that are not tolerated in America -- we guarantee some freedoms, but not freedom to gang rape a woman who you accuse of immoral behavior; we don't allow women to be caned for not wearing a hijab; we don't allow honor killings; there's a raft of behavior that is not strictly in and of itself a part of Muslim teachings, but it is behavior that many practitioners engage in back home that is not tolerated here, religious or cultural tradition or now. I for one have no sympathy for the chuckleheads who didn't think twice about their actions. If I went to the airport, dressed like a mullah, and started saying "I hate George Bush, I hate America," very loudly, I would be very unhappy if they didn't lock me up.