No Blueprint for a Terrorist
Last week I broke down one of Rep. King’s favorite pieces of evidence for why his hearings on “Muslim radicalization” are necessary, showing how his claim that 80% of mosques are controlled by radicals isn’t backed up by evidence.
But made-up numbers about mosques aren’t the only statistics Rep. King and anti-Islam activists employ. They have also taken to selectively citing poll results to cast the Muslim community as uniquely affected by extremism. King’s op-ed in Newsday last month used a Pew forum poll showing 15% of Muslim-Americans between 18 and 29 (though only 8% of all Muslim-Americans) thought suicide bombing could be justified sometimes or often.
We addressed this claim before when Glenn Beck used these surveys to exaggerate the number of Muslim terrorists. But while an overwhelming majority of those 8% will never actually commit a terrorist act, any support for violence as a political solution is too much.
No one is more concerned about this problem than Muslims themselves, who have watched extremists distort and abuse the tenets of their faith, unfairly casting suspicion on the entire community. Their unequivocal condemnations of terror and strong efforts to root out radicalism are too often ignored in our current political debate.
But more importantly, looking exclusively at examples of Muslim support for violence dangerously distracts us from the reality that extremism comes in all forms. In fact, a recent CBS poll found that 16% of all Americans believe that taking violent action against the government is sometimes justified.
Furthermore, a recent study by the Muslim Public Affairs Council–using data from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the conservative Heritage Foundation–compared the incidents of violent extremism amongst Muslims and non-Muslims since 2001. The report’s findings are telling:
While MPAC’s Database recorded at least 43…incidents/plots by Muslim violent extremists, it also recorded 75 incidents/plots by non-Muslim violent extremists.
The reality is that there is no blueprint for a terrorist. They come from all socio-economic, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Singling out Muslim-Americans–as Rep. King’s hearings intend to do–not only foments fear and distrust when we need unity and courage, it distracts us from the real threats we face from all forms of extremism and thus makes us less safe.
