Debbie Schlussel on Lara Logan

This post is going to be very difficult to write. Before I begin to explain why, I need to introduce our two main players.

Lara Logan is a war correspondent for CBS News. On Friday, 11th February, she was covering the celebrations in Tahir Square, Egypt. She got caught up in a foul element among the celebrations, and suffered a "brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating". Eventually, she was rescued by a group of women and soldiers. It goes without saying that the people who rescued her represent the fundamental goodness of the majority of those present in Tahir Square that day, and that we must all remember their bravery.

Debbie Schlussel is an extremely right-wing American political commentator and blogger, who is viruently and unapologetically anti-Muslim. She is a religious zealot. She is also one of the charming and intelligent people who believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. She has devoted her career to exposing the 'threat' of "radical Islam".

When I first read about the attack on Lara Logan, I was stunned. That even in the midst of the celebrations following Mubarak's resignation, some evil, evil people would take it upon themselves to attack and sexually assault another person disgusted me. Later though, I came across what that foul excuse for a human being Schlussel had written about the attack.

I read that nearly an hour ago, and I'm still in shock. I've sat in silence and read it over and over again, trying to find some small shred of humanity, or decency, but I can't. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I feel sick to my very core with the knowledge that out there, someone thinks things like that. I'm not ashamed to say I've spent the best part of the past hour in tears.

I'm going to take it line by line. My comments, as usual, in red.

How Muslims Celebrate Victory: Egypt’s “Peaceful, Moderate, Democratic” Protesters

As I’ve noted before, it bothers me not a lick when mainstream media reporters who keep telling us Muslims and Islam are peaceful get a taste of just how “peaceful” Muslims and Islam really are. Schlussel starts as she means to go on, by tarring a group of people with the same brush as the most disgusting of them. The fact is, she doesn't know that the attackers were even Muslim. Egypt's Christian population were just as much a part of the protests and eventual celebrations (as were other faith groups and atheists). This was not a religious uprising, it was an uprising of the people against an oppressive regime.

 In fact, it kinda warms my heart. It is at this point where you start to realise what a foul person she is. She is happy when acts of violence occur to those who disagree with her rabid proclamations of evil.

 Still, it’s also a great reminder of just how “civilized” these “people” (or, as I like to call them in Arabic, “Bahai’im” [Animals]) are: Schlussel at this point demonstrates her view that Muslims are inhuman. By dehumanising them, it makes it easier for her to spout her poisonous bile without a jot of guilt. Having read some of her other articles (don't do it to yourselves), it is clear that not only is this a continuing theme of hers, but that she is on a mission to indoctrinate others to think of Muslims this way. Without meaning to sound crass, I find it strange that a person who identifies themselves as a 'proud Jew' would resort to depersonalising the entire people of a faith for the purpose of being able to abuse them easier.

 There follows two pictures - one of the Islamic star and crescent, and one of Lara Logan in Tahir Square. The caption reads "Alhamdillullah [Praise allah], Islam Fan Lara Logan Gets a Taste of Islam". I'm not sure if I'm even able to begin to talk about just how wretched that caption is.

 On Friday February 11, the day Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak stepped down, CBS correspondent Lara Logan was covering the jubilation in Tahrir Square for a “60 Minutes” story when she and her team and their security were surrounded by a dangerous element amidst the celebration. It was a mob of more than 200 people whipped into frenzy.

 In the crush of the mob, she was separated from her crew. She was surrounded and suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers. She reconnected with the CBS team, returned to her hotel and returned to the United States on the first flight the next morning. She is currently in the hospital recovering. Those two paragraphs contain the only truths in Schlussel's article, and given that they read almost identically to the BBC report linked above, I suspect she is just quoting the press release.

 Hey, sounds like the threats I get from American Muslims on a regular basis. Now you know what it’s like, Lara. I don't know whether it is true that Schlussel has ever had any threats of beatings and rape made against her, let alone regularly, and I wouldn't care to speculate. The Muslim population in America is estimated at between 1.3 - 7+ million people (demographics section). The likelihood of there being at least one bastard who thinks it's OK to make rape threats to people they don't like is fairly high. That does not mean that anyone else of the faith would condone it. That argument is like me saying "I have 100 cats. One of them is a tabby, therefore they all are".

 There will be no further comment from CBS News and Correspondent Logan and her family respectfully request privacy at this time.

I just love it when the people of the profession of “the public’s right to know” suddenly want “privacy.” Tell it to your next interview subject, Lara. Of course CBS has no further comment. Wouldn’t wanna impugn the “peacefulness” of “Religion of Peace” animals, would we? Now, if they were Christians or Jews, well, then there would be comments galore. Here Schlussel comes into her own. Logan was subjected to a serious and sustained sexual assault, as a private individual, but Schlussel wants her to leave convalescance and talk about how she was attacked by Muslims. I will point out again that no one has any idea that these awful, evil men were Muslim, and it wouldn't matter if they were - it proves nothing about Islam. Schlussel makes no comment or speculation on the religion of Logan's rescuers. They do not even warrant a mention beyond the fact that she was rescued. In this paragraph, Schlussel takes another opportunity to dehumanise Muslims to serve her purposes, and proves her religious zealotry with her finishing sentence. Once more, we don't know what religion the attackers were.

 WARNING: What follows is possibly the most disgusting few sentences I have ever read in my life. I am not going to analyse them, I am going to let them speak for themselves.

So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows. Or so we’d hope. But in the case of the media vis-a-vis Islam, that’s a hope that’s generally unanswered.

This never happened to her or any other mainstream media reporter when Mubarak was allowed to treat his country of savages in the only way they can be controlled.

Now that’s all gone. How fitting that Lara Logan was “liberated” by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the “liberation.”

Hope you’re enjoying the revolution, Lara! Alhamdilllullah [praise allah].