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Tea Party Leader Trashes Muslims, Apologizes to Hindus
By
John Del Signore
Published May 20, 2010
Modified May 20, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 20, 2010
Modified May 20, 2010
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A few days ago national Tea Party leader Mark Williams sparked controversy over a blog post criticizing a proposed World Trade Center mosque called Cordoba House. In case you missed it, here's a risible excerpt:
The monument would consist of a Mosque for the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god (repeat: "the terrorists' monkey-god." if you feel that fits a description of Allah then that is your own deep-seated emotional baggage not mine, talk to the terrorists who use Allah as their excuse and the Muslims who apologize for and rationalize them) and a "cultural center" to propagandize for the extermination of all things not approved by their cult. It is a project of American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, essentially the same group of apologists (but under 2 different names) for terrorists and the animals who use it as a terrorist ideology. They cloak their evil with new age gibberish that suggests Islam is just misunderstood.
Williams would know certainly about gibberish! But yesterday he apologized, sort of. "In the course of the article I described the 'god' worshiped by terrorists as 'a monkey god'," wrote Williams on his blog. "I was wrong and that was offensive. I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God. Moreover, Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength and devotion. He is known as a destroyer of evil and to inspire and liberate. Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship and worthy of my respect and admiration not ridicule. So, again, to my Hindu friends I offer my sincerest apologies for my horrible lapse and my insensitivity."
While Williams's many Hindu friends may have forgiven him, for whatever reason many Muslims were dissatisfied with his apology, and today Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer joined other elected officials and religious leaders outside the proposed location of the Cordoba House. "Williams’ attack on Islam follows an earlier rant in which he called our President ‘an Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and racist in chief'," recalled Stringer. "It is not our way to silence evil voices like this, but it is our responsibility to label these statements for what they are—un-American, unpatriotic, bigoted and race-baiting." Next up: Williams's heartfelt apology to primates fails to defuse the controversy.
Tagged
cardoba
mark williams
monkey
mosque
muslim
scott stringer
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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