On September 11th, 2001, New York City was attacked. I was there and I heard the planes when they hit, though only later found out just what those loud, strange noises meant.
One of my co-workers at the time is a Shi’a Muslim. He was horrified by the attacks. As an EMT he immediately rushed down to ground zero to help. His very first reaction was to go and help. This is typical of his personality: a genuinely moral and kind person.
On the live version of his “700 Club” program, Pat Robertson charged had the following to say about Islam:
“These people are crazed fanatics and I want to say it now: I believe it’s motivated by demonic power, it is satanic and it’s time we recognize what we’re dealing with.. The goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination…Islam is not a religion of peace.”
In the version of the show posted on the Internet, the offensive remarks were deleted, indicating that SOMEONE, somewhere realized that Pat Robertson’s remarks were beyond acceptable. And yet these comments are nothing new for Mr. Robertson. In 2002 he made similar claims about Islam being an inherantly violent religion.
So, let’s compare and contrast. On the one hand there is Pat Robertson, who has called for the assassination of the President of Venezuela, has attriibuted the illness of Ariel Sharon to his giving up of land to the Palestinians, and who basically is a nasty, hate-mongering, gay-bashing sexist. On the other hand there is my Shi’a friend whose first reaction in any crisis is to help. He is soft spoken and willing to consider all sides of an issue.
Now, which of these two people is more dominated by hatred and which of them is the more peaceful?
Pat Robertson is an insane, hate-filled bigot and it is time to fight back. Robertson blamed the 9/11 attacks on gays and feminists. And with his repeated declarations that Islam is a “demonic” religion, and his advocacy of the assassination of a democratically eleceted president, Pat Robertson has crossed the line into being nothing more than a hate-monger. And ABC Family is one of the places where his hate-mongering is aired.
This has to stop. Just what family values does Pat Robertson represent when he advocates assassination and when he denegrates the religion of a large percentage of the earth’s population?
Join me in writing ABC Family channel demanding that they stop airing Pat Robertson’s hate-mongering programming. Are assassination, racism and hatred the values that ABC Family really advocate?
You can find out more about Pat Robertson’s hate-filled programing on Media Matters.