She calls it "cultural homelessness," and her theory is that Muslims who come to the United States don't feel like they're accepted by their new country - thus prompting them to commit terror attacks like the one that occured at Ohio State University on Monday. It's kind of a weird theory considering that she then goes on to claim American "right-wing extremists" commit more terrorist attacks than radical Islamists. Are they culturally homeless?
Anyway, I suppose you have to give Georgetown Professor Engy Abdelkader credit for bringing this premise to Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News. You go on there with a notion that absurd, you're risking utter destruction and humiliation. And in this case, that's what happens:
Her problem, of course, is that she's completely twisting what few facts and figures she has to try to support her premise. Carlson, who obviously knows a lot more about crime and crime statistics than Abdelkader had anticipated, completely destroys her argument by pointing out how little sense it makes.
Case in point: Her claim that "white supremacists" commit more terrorism that Islamists requires her to rely not on the number of people killed, but on the number of "incidents," which means you can be awfully generous in defining something as a terrorist attack irrespective of whether anyone is actually hurt or killed. When you measure it by people killed, it's not even close. Radical Islamists are way out in front, as you would expect.
Even if you get past that, this is a classic chicken-and-egg proposition - even though it clearly favors the chicken. Do Americans associate terrorism with radical Islam because radical Islamists commit so much terrorism? Or do radical Islamists commit so much terrorism because Americans expect them to do so, and that makes them feel "culturally homeless"?
The question is easy to answer just by considering this: What happened first? Terrorist attacks by radical Islamists? Or Americans making the association?
Also: If someone is giving you a bad rap, and your response to the bad rap is to act in a manner that confirms that bad rap (thus making it a justified rap), maybe you've got some issues with self-control that make you a danger to society no matter what you would otherwise be predisposed to do.
Finally: Has anyone seen this woman and Michael Jackson together?
