{"id":69544,"date":"2019-01-24T16:48:46","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T23:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=69544"},"modified":"2019-01-26T15:33:11","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T22:33:11","slug":"no-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/01\/no-refuge.html","title":{"rendered":"No Refuge?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
This photo, taken by Russell Watkins of the Department for International Development of the UK, shows a Syrian refugee with her 25-day-old daughter. Her home had recently been destroyed by a bomb. Her brother was killed in the attack, and she gave birth to the baby, her third, in a Jordanian refugee camp. She\u2019s shown here in a clinic run in Ramtha, Jordan, by the International Rescue Committee. \u00a0\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My wife\u2019s friend Jean Marshall kindly brought this poem to our attention. \u00a0It\u2019s by Brian Bilston:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRefugees\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

They have no need of our help<\/span>
\n So do not tell me<\/span>
\n These haggard faces could belong to you or me<\/span>
\n Should life have dealt a different hand<\/span>
\n We need to see them for who they really are<\/span>
\n Chancers and scroungers<\/span>
\n Layabouts and loungers<\/span>
\n With bombs up their sleeves<\/span>
\n Cut-throats and thieves<\/span>
\n They are not<\/span>
\n Welcome here<\/span>
\n We should make them<\/span>
\n Go back to where they came from<\/span>
\n They cannot<\/span>
\n Share our food<\/span>
\n Share our homes<\/span>
\n Share our countries<\/span>
\n Instead let us<\/span>
\n Build a wall to keep them out<\/span>
\n It is not okay to say<\/span>
\n These are people just like us<\/span>
\n A place should only belong to those who are born there<\/span>
\n Do not be so stupid to think that<\/span>
\n The world can be looked at another way<\/span>
\n
\n(now read from bottom to top)<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now for just a bit of background on Brian Bilston. \u00a0Perhaps the most important thing to know is that he doesn\u2019t exist. \u00a0Not under that name, anyway.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Twitter\u2019s \u2018Poet Laureate\u2019 Has No Plans to Unmask His Real Identity:\u00a0He tweets under the guise of @Brian_Bilston and uses the platform to reinvent the age-old form of writing\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brian Bilston\u2019s Poetry Laboetry: From Ideation to Poemification<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of my sons brought the story mentioned below to my notice, wondering why it was attracting so little coverage. \u00a0Would it have drawn more attention had the roles been reversed, if it had been Muslims planning to massacre the people of a small rural New York community with a bomb attack?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPlanned Attack On Muslim Community In Upstate New York Disrupted, Police Say\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIslamberg Muslim Massacre Plot Suspect Invited Trump to His Eagle Scout Ceremony:\u00a0One of four teens police say planned to attack an Islamic community in New York was an adamant supporter of the president and a wall on the southern border.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the Wikipedia article on \u201cIslamberg,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0this represents merely the latest recent plot to wreak violent havoc upon a tiny settlement of 200 apparently peaceful Muslims:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In November 2015, one\u00a0Jon Eric Ritzheimer<\/a>, a Trump voter and a self-declared enemy of Islam and of the Bureau of Land Management who is based in\u00a0Phoenix, Arizona, gained attention in the news for threatening an attack on Islamberg.\u00a0\u00a0(See \u201cUpstate New York town threatened by Arizona man in online post: reports.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In June 2017, a\u00a0Tennessee\u00a0resident by the name of Robert Doggart was sentenced to almost 20 years in prison for plotting an attack on Islamberg. \u00a0(See \u201cTennessee man sentenced over plot to attack Muslim community\u201d<\/a> and \u201cAmerica Snores When Christian Terrorist Threatens to Massacre Muslims:\u00a0An ordained minister pleaded guilty to threatening to burn down a New York town full of Muslims. Where\u2019s the FBI presser and Fox News panic?\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now, in January 2019, it happens yet again.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 My wife\u2019s friend Jean Marshall kindly brought this poem to our attention. \u00a0It\u2019s by Brian Bilston: \u00a0 \u201cRefugees\u201d They have no need of our help So do not tell me These haggard faces could belong to you or me Should life have dealt a different hand We need to see them for who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2875,1643,2887,2884,1718,2878,1911,2890,2896,2893,2881],"class_list":["post-69544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-america","tag-anti-islamic","tag-brian-bilston","tag-islamberg","tag-muslims","tag-muslims-in-america","tag-refugees","tag-terror","tag-terrorism","tag-terrorist","tag-violence-against-muslims"],"yoast_head":"\nNo Refuge?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    My wife's friend Jean 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