{"id":4080,"date":"2010-12-13T21:59:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-13T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/in-defense-of-robert-mccarthy.html"},"modified":"2010-12-13T21:59:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-13T21:59:00","slug":"in-defense-of-robert-mccarthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2010\/12\/in-defense-of-robert-mccarthy.html","title":{"rendered":"In defense of Robert McCarthy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Before we begin, a prize is being offered for the person who can tell if this piece<\/a> from the Associated Press is an editorial, or a news story.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Now, who the heck is Robert McCarthy?\u00a0 According to the AP story, he\u2019s a 70 year old man who expressed reservations about a new cemetery in his town that is owned and run by Sufi Muslims.\u00a0 Big, big mistake.\u00a0 After weeks of mass killings by Muslims in the Islamic world, failed bomb plots by Muslims here at home, widespread persecution of religious minorities by Muslims in Muslim countries, the post-modern Left has been itching for a story to turn everything back to the Liberal mantra that white, European and American heterosexual Christian men are the only incarnation of evil and the singular cause of all human suffering in the world. <\/p>\n

Mr. McCarthy, they thank you.\u00a0 Here is our first introduction in the piece to ol\u2019Robert:<\/p>\n

The Sufis had followed proper procedures and received burial permits. But that didn\u2019t deter town Supervisor Robert McCarthy from calling the graves illegal and suggesting the bodies might have to be disinterred. \u201cYou can\u2019t just bury Grandma in the backyard under the picnic table,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are then told that he \u201cbecame a poster child for Muslim-bashing everywhere. MSNBC host Keith Olbermann denounced him as \u201cworst person in the world.\u201d Satirist Stephen Colbert direly warned viewers about Muslim vampire \u201csleeper-in-coffin-cells\u201d infiltrating the Catskills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the first thing that leaps out at me is, as of now, I have no clue who this \u2018poster child for Muslim-bashing\u2019 is.\u00a0 Second, I have no idea why he is objecting to the graves in the cemetery.\u00a0 Only that he is.\u00a0 Of course, being a good leftist propaganda<\/strike> piece, what I\u2019m supposed to think of Robert is a foregone conclusion: Guilty as not charged.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we move on.\u00a0 We are informed that locals \u201cwatched in horror\u201d as their town was labeled backward, Islamaphobic, and ignorant.\u00a0 Of course that those who labeled the entire town this, or even McCarthy this, based on a single sentence could have been the problem isn\u2019t even considered by the Ministry of Leftist Propaganda<\/strike> the Associated Press. Anyway, on we go.<\/p>\n

We are treated with a string of quotes from locals expressing how \u201csickened\u201d they were by this brazen display of Islamaphobic bigotry and hate.\u00a0 This brazen display: <\/p>\n

You can\u2019t just bury Grandma in the backyard under the picnic table<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which, of course, should prove to anyone that the Islamaphobia we all hear about that is just percolating under the American landscape is alive and real and living in small town America.<\/p>\n

Over the next few weeks, the\u00a0piece tells us\u00a0 that \u201ca spirited, almost intoxicating sense of mission seemed to surge through Sidney, 150 miles north of New York City. Though the town Board of Supervisors hastily dropped the cemetery issue, it had set in motion something it couldn\u2019t contain. People reached out, not only to Sufis, but to each other. They set up websites, bonded on Facebook, launched petitions to impeach McCarthy and investigate town government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wow, that\u2019s exciting!\u00a0 How inspiring!\u00a0 How wonderful!\u00a0 Especially that last part, about trying to get him impeached.\u00a0 After all, let\u2019s not forget that he said: <\/p>\n

You can\u2019t just bury Grandma in the backyard under the picnic table<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And yet, I still don\u2019t know anything else.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why he said it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know the context.\u00a0 Was he worried about something, had some ordinance been violated?\u00a0 Was their a public safety concern?\u00a0 No mention of the usual anti-Islamic rhetoric (unless Grandma is code for something I\u2019m unaware of).\u00a0 Nothing so far at least that suggests anything other than a desire to halt the burials in a new cemetery.<\/p>\n

At the meeting to demand his resignation, and apology, or impeachment, or whatever, we are\u00a0told that \u201cthey trekked to the Sufi center eight miles outside town, to sip tea with the sheik, to vow that Sidney, population 6,000, will be in the spotlight again, this time as a shining example of tolerance and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get that?\u00a0 A shining example of tolerance and understanding.\u00a0 Again, bonus prize for the reader who can tell if this is an editorial or a news story.\u00a0 But\u00a0then there is a line break.\u00a0 A small, black line tells us these things happened, and now we are in the here and now, the reason why this story found a reason to be told today, now (as opposed to my guess that the media was desperate to whip up the old \u2018evil American Racists\u2019 meme).<\/p>\n

We are invited to breakfast at a local diner.\u00a0 There, the scene is set.\u00a0 On one side we are shown the McCarthy supporters: <\/p>\n

\u201cregulars, including a core group of McCarthy supporters, meet every morning for breakfast. These days, the main topic of conversation has been, as one man jokingly put it, \u201cthe turbans on top of the hill.\u201d\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We are then introduced\u00a0to Hass Hass,\u00a0\u00a0who according to the propaganda<\/strike> piece is \u201cthe chief spokesman for the Sufis and chief thorn in McCarthy\u2019s side.\u201d\u00a0 We are told that Hass:<\/p>\n

\u201cseems to be everywhere \u2014 talking with national media, writing letters to town leaders and state officials, attending meetings of the newly formed \u201cConcerned Citizens for Responsible Sidney Government,\u201d filing freedom of information requests. His unruffled manner and calm, authoritative voice have captivated the crowd as he persistently confronts McCarthy with the facts and the law.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Calm, unruffled, authoritative?\u00a0 Wow, what a man.\u00a0 Is the AP reporter wanting to marry him or something? You can\u2019t help but imagine Gergory Peck playing his life story.\u00a0 But let\u2019s hold up for Mr. Peck, we\u2019ll see him later.\u00a0 Right now, back to the glowing recommendation of Mr. Hass.\u00a0 In addition to his personal charm, it is also revealed that he is a \u201ccaptain of the local ambulance squad, volunteer firefighter, and roofing contractor\u201d, and that because of this, \u201cHass was already a familiar face in town. Now, almost overnight, he has become a community leader with many urging him to run against McCarthy in the next election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rock star, local style.\u00a0 The scene continues to unfold.\u00a0 A waitress at the restaurant has invited Mr. Hass over because she has grown worried due to the Islamaphobic conversations she is\u00a0hearing that include such oldies as \u201call Muslims are terrorists, that the Sufis have pictures of Osama Bin Laden at their center, that the town would be better off if they dug up their graves and left.\u201d\u00a0 She is quoted as saying, \u201d\u00a0If ever there was a time to shatter caricatures and prejudices, it was right here, right now.\u201d\u00a0 No, strike that.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t quoted.\u00a0 It was not a quote, nor did she say it.\u00a0 We are told without quotes that she \u2018thought\u2019 it.\u00a0 How the AP writer knew this is beyond me.\u00a0 If she said it, why not quote her?\u00a0 If she didn\u2019t say it, what little magical crystal ball of ESP does this writer possess?<\/p>\n

Well, the showdown comes when Mr. Hass sits down across from McCarthy supporter Bill Howes.\u00a0\u00a0 Mr. Howes wears boots and a ball cap.\u00a0 He \u2018grunts\u2019 at Mr. Hass when he sits down.\u00a0 Grunts don\u2019t ya know.\u00a0 They banter about sports and tell racy jokes, but things go south as the conversation turns to McCarthy. Howe defends McCarthy on the grounds that it\u2019s about more than just the whole cemetery issue.\u00a0 Hass fires back that McCarthy \u201ctold reporters all over the country that what we did was illegal, and it wasn\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 Since the piece doesn\u2019t say if McCarthy was right or not, apart from saying that the papers were filed in proper order, we have to assume Hass has the point here.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

At that, we see Howe get up, excuse himself, and move to another table.\u00a0 Then the story says that\u00a0 \u201clater, he will boast about having breakfast with \u201cthose Muslim guys\u201d and will tell people how nice they seemed. But he has no plans to take up Hass\u2019 invitation to visit with the sheik.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I assume the reporter witnessed all of this.\u00a0 The reporter, Helen O\u2019Neil, actually saw him going around and saying this, and was also informed by Howe that he has no intentions of visiting the sheik. <\/p>\n

What happens next?\u00a0 Well, the story unfolds with Hass gathering around himself a group of rustic admirers, and enlightening them on the reasons for his embracing\u00a0the Sufi faith.\u00a0 Then we get to see a day in the life of Mr. Hass, in which he travels back roads checking on roofing jobs, stopping to check out the health of elderly farmers and their cows, and just generally getting warm and happy greetings from everyone.\u00a0 Except one place, and that is\u00a0 the Jess F. Howes building supply store in Sidney Center.\u00a0 The reason for the lukewarm reception appears to be that\u00a0\u201c[e]arlier in the year, Hass says, he asked the owners to remove offensive Muslim jokes scattered on the counter. They did, but he felt it was done reluctantly. Now Hass refuses to shop there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, no real evidence they did so, just Hass\u2019s testimony that they had.\u00a0 And his testimony that it was done reluctantly.\u00a0\u00a0 But what the heck, that\u2019s good enough.\u00a0 Just the name Howes suggests a relation to that other grunting fellow we met earlier.\u00a0\u00a0Plus, when asked for a comment, a man behind a glass counter gives \u2018a phony name\u2019 and \u2018snaps\u2019 a no comment response.\u00a0 Snaps.\u00a0 Grunts.\u00a0 Boy, what an ineloquent place.\u00a0 No wonder so many people called the town ignorant.<\/p>\n

Then comes another page break with a line, showing us that the story is about to go a different direction.\u00a0 Next, we\u2019ll lean about the Sufi community, where it came from, and what happened that caused the events that brought the good town of Sydney onto a map I\u2019ve never heard of despite my fondness of following the media. This is just too much fun to ignore, and I want to milk it for everything it\u2019s worth, because believe it or not there\u2019s a big HUGE lesson to\u00a0 be learned in all of this.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before we begin, a prize is being offered for the person who can tell if this piece from the Associated Press is an editorial, or a news story.\u00a0 Now, who the heck is Robert McCarthy?\u00a0 According to the AP story, he\u2019s a 70 year old man who expressed reservations about a new cemetery in his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIn defense of Robert McCarthy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Before we begin, a prize is being offered for the person who can tell if this piece from the Associated Press is an editorial, or a news story.  Now,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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