You might be forgiven if you are unfamiliar with Salon, many people are. They’re one of the Uber-Left op-ed sites that — by comparison — make Huffpo look like an impartial news source.
As I write this, they are featuring stories celebrating Michael Moore [and how he exploded the Right’s biggest lie]. Or prominent Atheist Sam Harris and his “detestable crusade” against Islam. News flash, Harris hates ALL religion. He’s merely being consistent, unlike Salon who only slanders Christianity. Throw in a few articles attacking traditional perceptions of Reagan and Lincoln and you have a good sense of where they are coming from.
Most importantly, however. They are our moral superiors — at least, in their own minds. Remember, the Right isn’t ever just “wrong” it is necessary to insist that we are actually evil. This is important to their rhetoric. Enough background — on with the story.
Well, these supposed paragons of virtue reported an arson incident on a Mosque. This is the kind of story they would happily get behind. It paints America as generally mean-spirited and bigoted. It unflinchingly portrays the darlings of the day (currently Islam) as the “poor victim”.
They reported the story on Wednesday. It described an attack on Christmas Day, shortly after Friday prayers at the Islamic Center of Houston. In an article relating the arrest of suspect Gary Moore, Salon writer Ben Norton described this attack as Islamophobic. But that was a mistake. A serious one.
Why is the conclusion of it being hate-based such a big mistake? Well, could it be that the author was guilty of “profiling”? Seeing the accused did not use a Middle-Eastern name, might he have just assumed a hatred of Islam?
But really, what would stop him? It is a time-worn Leftist tactic to slander people you have identified as “the enemy”. And disproving an accusation of Islamophobia would usually be tricky.
Usually, this smear tactic is reserved for Americans with traditional views, who lean right-of-center on political issues, hold to old-school religious beliefs, or who traditional views of marriage. With an Anglo name like Gary Moore, the racist-hater card might have seemed a slam dunk.
Except for one little detail. Gary Moore is not only Muslim himself, he is a MEMBER of that same Islamic Center who had prayed their earlier that SAME DAY. (Even police say the motive is currently unknown.)
No problem, right? Just an honest mistake? Like any serious publication, the Editor-in-Chief has posted a correction notice? I mean, even the New York Times does that when it admits to being wrong. That’s what they did, right?
Actually, no. They nuked the story and pretended it never happened. All that remains is a lovely 404 error. Will Gary Moore raise it as an issue? Will he complain about being slandered as “Islamophobic” when he is a Muslim himself? Will the public demand a correction notice?
Are we going to call BS when they throw around such labels in the future, like the Boy Who Cried Wolf, now that The Public knows who and what Salon really is?
Or, more likely, will they go back finger-wagging and complaining about the supposed “Biggest Lies” on the Right? You know, the kind those “Professional Truth-Tellers” like Michael Moore are so famously, uh, “exploding”.
One last thing to ponder as you go. When all was said and done, there still was a real arson that actually did burn down a center of religious worship. It really was still a news story. But they pulled it. Are we now to understand that the suffering of those who had their building torched is only newsworthy if it can be used as a cudgel against Salon’s political foes?
Moral superiority, indeed.
