The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
Questions Nobody Is Asking
- “Musician Martelly Elected Haiti’s Next President; Now What?”–headline, AOLNews.com, April 4
- “Vice President Ventura?”–headline, ABCNews.com, April 4
In the Kitchen
“A package containing a bloody pig’s foot and a hate-filled note was mailed to the Washington office of Rep. Peter King, prompting a police investigation,” New York’s Daily News reports:
U.S. Capital [sic] Hill cops said the parcel was intercepted Monday morning at a postal facility in Landover, Maryland, during a routine screening of congressional mail that began after the 9/11 attacks and an anthrax scare.
The severed pig’s foot was accompanied by a letter filled with anti-Semitic slurs.
King is Catholic, so the anti-Semitic slurs would seem something of a non sequitur. But as the News notes, “the threatening mailing came after King launched a series of controversial hearings last month on the ‘The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community.’ “
Now consider this reaction:
Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which monitors hate-crimes against Muslims, said his organization routinely receives pig-themed hate messages, including letters smeared with bacon. The Muslim religion forbids eating pork.
“My guess is it was an anti-Muslim bigot, and bigots not being brain surgeons they probably got their signals crossed,” Hooper said.
Perhaps Hooper is unaware that (1) Islamic radicals tend to hate Jews, and (2) pork is forbidden in Judaism as well as in Islam. Or maybe he really thinks anti-Muslim bigotry is the only kind. When the only tool you have is a hammer, Occam’s razor is hard to wield.
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for thef “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
