By David Futrelle
Right-wingers on Twitter stopped their incessant attacks on congresswoman Ilhan Omar long enough to notice that Notre Dame was on fire, apparently (according to police) because of a construction accident. And then they started tweeting again, with many of them simply incorporating the devastating fire into their attacks on the congreswoman and Muslims in general.
More than a few have used her now famous remarks about 9/11, taken out of context and distorted by right-wing media and MAGA trolls, as a sort of joke template, imagining her reacting with indifference of not joy to the monumental disaster.
I wonder how many MAGAs will end up believing that these fake quotes are real?
The “some people” tweeters aren’t the only ones convinced that Omar, and Muslins generally, are celebrating the fire en masse.
Others are suggesting that Omar herself is somehow connected to the fire.
A few tweeted their accusations directly at Omar, with some adding ominous, if deliberately vague, threats. These people definitely aren’t joking.
It’s still early. As the hours and days go by, I’m sure it will get uglier. The memes will spread; the YouTube videos will go up; the accusations will become more lurid and the conspiracy theories will become more baroque. Regardless of what any investigations of this fire find, there will be many on the right — if not most of them — who will not only blame Muslim terrorists for this historic tragedy but will hold Omar herself personally responsible.
I can only imagine how ugly it will get on Fox News tonight, to say nothing of the reactions on right-wing forums and the chans. We live in hateful times.
EDITED TO ADD: Here’s some of the ugliness from Fox in the wake of the fire.
And here’s Glenn Beck with his own conspiracy theory:
EDITED TO ADD PART TWO: Talia Lavin takes a broader look at the anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, citing among other things this post.
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To all the fascists on Twitter blaming Ilhan Omar for this (or claiming she was ever flippant about it or ANY terror attack), I have just one thing to say:
DELETE YOUR FUCKING ACCOUNT.
No one will miss you, trust me.
When the Murrah building was blown up in OKC, rumors were rife that it was done by Muslim people (of course it was not, it was blown up by white supremacists, Tim McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Michael and Lori Fortier). That did not stop anyone from roughing up people at a mosque and causing a woman to miscarry her baby.
I am so tired of people making stuff up in order to demonize some other group.
If it were a deliberate attack, the perpetrators would have said something by now. By the way, how long before it’s blamed on the Joooz? I’ll bet good money this happened already…
In any case, Omar is a public figure that may, of course, be criticized for what she says and does. I can’t stand her blatant antisemitism, but it’s simple fairness to not attack her for something she hadn’t, and for that matter couldn’t, have anything to do with.
The ironic thing is that many on the far right, like David Duke, *like* Omar. Generally speaking, to the neo-nazis, nobody could be more Inferior than a black muslim woman from Africa, who doesn’t even rate as human, but if she also hates Jews, all is forgiven.
The Neo-nazi atttiude was well summed up by MAD in the 1960s: they hate the dirty, evil, third-worlders and their commie Jew allies. All the Jews should be shipped to Israel, so the neo-Nazi could then root for… the Arabs???… who are the staunch allies of… the USSR?????
Oh come on, epronovost. Omar’s problem is that her *views* cause outrage, not her ethnicity. Her views should not be be distorted, but they should not be immune from criticism.
To consider all criticism of her as some sort of “racist” conspiracy by those who “cannot stand to see a black muslim woman expressing her views” is nonsense. It is not essentially different than the claim made by those who say all criticism of their neo-nazi views is by “commies” who “cannot stand a real American freely expressing his views”.
Not only is it nonsense, it is also higly insulting to both critics and to her. To critics, because it implies they are all racists. To her, because it implies what she says must be held to a *special*, *more lenient* standard, like the sayings of children or the mentally retarded, because, after all, she’s just a black muslim woman.
The NYPD even got in on the dog-whistling about the construction fire.
They’ve been pretty thoroughly ridiculed on Twitter, but even then it’s still more fuel on the fire for racist assholes to feed on. Though that’s business as usual these days, I suppose. Too many people in power pouring gasoline on everything, all while trying to court the votes of lit matches.
@ReductiveChaos
God, the responses are gold.
@Rabid Rabbit
This one has to be one of the most savage.
As a,n atheist french who isn’t currently in Paris, I am sad for the loss of restoration work, but there’s litteraly hundreds of other church in Paris, some who are underrated.
Current news seem to be we probably won’t have to raze it entirely before rebuilding, so I guess it’s ten or so years of restoration now ?
Also, thoses chuckheads are annoying. I hate them trying to appropriate Notre Dame.
>>>>>They’ve been pretty thoroughly ridiculed on Twitter, but even then it’s still more fuel on the fire for racist assholes to feed on.
Er… not the best metaphor to use I think.
Sad to see Notre Dame burn, but as far as I understand it, they managed to save most if not all of the holy relics and artwork housed inside, so at least there’s that. And Notre Dame is no stranger to being destroyed and rebuilt. It was damaged by German bombs in WWII and Victor Hugo’s famous novel was itself written to get people interested in restoring the cathedral. Hopefully the next iteration will be even bigger and more beautiful than the last.
I cross Paris everyday to commute (well, underground, but still). Out of its religious aspect, Notre-Dame is part of the most famous monuments of the capital, like Tour Eiffel and Arc de Triomphe. In term of visitors, it is the first (about 12 millions in 2017, according to official figures, followed by Sacré-Coeur, 11 millions, and Louvre museum, 8 millions).
According to the first elements of investigation, this is an accident. To note, the cathedral is undergoing renovation since last year, part of those renovations being a compliance with fire standards. It is sad that the compliance has taken so long to begin ; money has never been a problem, so i do not know why, since the problems of security and fire standards failings are known since many years.
No doubt that complotists and their ilks are going to spread ludicrous theories. Other religious communities, especially the Muslim one, fear some extremists claim this to be their work (it would not be the first time terrorists attribute themselves this kind of events, even if they had no implication in it whatsoever), and far right is obviously prompt to blow on the still hot embers to bolster its partisans.
I am sorry to heard that the same event is occuring to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. I hope nobody has been injured. And i hope nobody is going to draw dubious links between the two events. If religious authorities could called to calm, it would be good.
Ah, the perfect complotist argument : if it is a complot, you can not find proofs. Absence of proofs presented as the ultimate proof. Let us just them drown in their own absurdity.
L’Île de la Cité, a muslim neighborhood ? Have this man ever been in France some day ? And who is Mark Steyn anyway ? Ah, wikipedia tells me he is a conservative canadian author and polemist. And his “opinions” are quite the same of Zemmour in France. Oh well, usual hater then.
Er, can someone brief me about what is reproached to Ilhan Omar ?
I’m surprised they’re not also blaming Teh Jews for this as well
Why the fuck did Trump tweet that bullshit about aerial tankers? For pity’s sake, man, didn’t it occur to you that the firefighters on the scene know more about the situation, and about firefighting in general, than a pudding-headed arse-flute like you?
@ occasional reader
Ilhan Omar is an American politician. The Right hate her because she’s a Muslim Somali immigrant, she doesn’t play that down, and she speaks her mind when she disagrees with policy.
Wait, Mark Steyn is still around? I’d managed to forget about him…
On behalf of all Canadians, I apologize for his existence.
Two amazing historic buildings in which I have prayed – and at about this time of year, too.
I was just remembering how I passed through Paris in Easter Week, about 100 years ago, and found myself in the Chrism Mass in Notre Dame (it must have been Maundy Thursday).
Dang. But good on Paris for the solidarity. Bad things can bring out the best in people. I hope Jerusalem gets solidarity too.
And yes, of COURSE someone’s automatic go-to is to blame Muslims (and then blame the Jews for the Muslims, right?).
People used to claim the smallest unit of time was the “New York second” – the instant between the traffic lights starting to change and the car behind you hitting the klaxon. There has to be a Right-Wing Instant.
I remember Mark Steyn: he spent the noughties claiming that Bin Laden had been killed (“with surgical precision” was a phrase he used IIRC) in the first USAF bombings of Afghanistan. He kept referring to that until about 2010 or so, mainly as evidence of how everything the Bush Jnr regime did was absolutely super.
As far as I know he has not mentioned bin Laden being killed in, er… 2011.
I’d bet dollars to donuts that 100 years ago these same assholes would have been celebrating the destruction of this *papist* cathedral as some divine retribution from a righteous protestant god.
Honestly, I’m just so fucking done with social media. Fuck this shit. Social media is probably the biggest mistake my generation has made. Fuck social media and fuck Nazis.
Anonymous,
No. She talks very similarly about the US relationship with Saudi Arabia. It just doesn’t get the same coverage. She’s not anti-Semitic. She opposes war and imperialism and the military industrial complex. The right wing and the centrists have been using transparently phony accusations of anti-Semitism for decades in order to try and silence the left on these issues. All the while ignoring or even encouraging the rise of white nationalism all over the world.
There’s a reason the AIPAC conference spent more time bashing Omar than covering the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting and there’s a reason that progressive Jewish Americans are standing with Ilhan Omar in big numbers.
I posted too soon and the comment isn’t up yet to edit.
She’s not asking to be held to a lower standard. Also, don’t compare to a disabled child as an insult. That last paragraph was gross on so many different levels.
@ReductiveChaos
Thank you for sharing that link.
“why don’t you closely monitor my ballsack, you hate-baiting goons” might be the most NY thing I’ve read in a very long time.
@doethreetwoone, I was not surprised to see that that was tweeted by Respectable Lawyer.
Thank you for the informations about Ilhan Omar, Kevin and all of you.
@weirwood,
Thanks for that. I’ve just read this thread now, and I wanted to say something about Omar’s alleged anti-Semitism, but I think it’s better coming from an American.
Also, this is a bit OT, but related to disgusting entitled manbabies:
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2019/04/16/i-wonder-where-he-got-those-of-ideas-of-masculine-entitlement/
This guy picked up a child and threw them off a balcony in a shopping centre.
Like with most conservatives these days (and for at least the last couple decades, really), consistency is as unfathomable as decency or principles or grammar. It’s all about tactics, and nothing more.
[Emphasis mine]
Damn them for provoking the fire! There was just a little singing going on until the Muslims got involved and started making fun of its mother!
Stupid Nazis can’t even level baseless, evidence-free accusations right.
Also Zim, because it beats the hell out of crying:
Tangentially, I recognize that I’m working hard to focus on any other damn thing besides the historic cultural and artistic loss our species just suffered. I don’t have the words to describe how sick this makes me feel; it’s what I felt when the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamyan, although without the obvious villains to blame.