Issues Under Fire: Pamela Geller's Crusade Against Muslims Knows No Bounds

Issues Under Fire: Pamela Geller's Crusade Against Muslims Knows No Bounds

Every once in awhile, some goofy character comes along, heating up a social controversy for cable news providers to feed undiscerning viewers. And Pamela Geller of the American Freedom Defense Initiative is just such a character.  Unfortunately, this goofy character is extremely dangerous. And giving this creature face time just to sell ad slots could prove to be even more so. 

Using Free Speech as a weapon as much as she uses it for defense, Ms. Geller's New York based group, appears to be solely dedicated to Muslim bashing. Labeled an "active anti-Muslim group" by The Southern Poverty Law Center, Geller's  ADFI held its draw Mohammed contest, triggering a terrorist inspired shooting in Garland Texas. Despite the event leaving two attackers dead and one guard wounded, Geller defended the event on the grounds of free speech. 

While this observer is one of the most staunch advocates of free speech, when reviewing Ms. Geller's activities, language and positions taken, its difficult to see anything but pure, unadulterated hate being employed to send a very provocative statement. Its also difficult to see the point of Ms. Geller's anti-Muslim activism beyond being antagonistic for the purpose of making an already hostile situation worse. 

If Ms. Geller wanted to test the limits of free speech in the United States, why didn't she start with the African American, Latino/Hispanic or the, LBGT communities? Those groups and cable news outlets would have gladly given her a platform to perform on, only without the predictable bloody violence to follow.

So, why target the Muslim community? Why target them now? With the world at its wits end, struggling to find an answer to ISIS, Al-Qaeda and its growing army of international Islamic militants, why would anyone recklessly taunt and stoke the passions of loose cannons and lone wolves?

Could it be, because Muslims have yet to become a protected class in America, is why this publicity hungry, media savvy cultural and religious assassin is sadistically spreading contentious tales? Or, could it simply be, Ms. Geller is pushing her dubious and malicious agenda because she's found an American audience with an appetite for her mindset.  

Bottom line: All Muslim aren't evil savages thirsting for the blood of Westerners. Even the casual observer would agree, those espousing radical Islamic rhetoric don't represent mainstream Islamic values. To continue giving Ms. Geller and her organization a stage to provoke hostilities and heighten tension for no other reason than entertainment value is as senseless as Ms. Geller's extreme speech.