Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of NYC and mainstream fusion politician, went on Fox News to advocate that the surveillance of mosques by the NYPD should be reinstated as official counterterrorism policy. He called Mayor Bill de Blasios decision to remove police surveillance units from Islamic places of worship an irrational act. He then, as if the obviousness of the answer pained him, asked if a Rabbi or Priest would have the slightest problem with a police officer being at a service. He summed up this rationale by stating unequivocally that, If youre uncomfortable with police officers at your service, you must be saying things that are dangerous. Such statements, apart from being an exemplary case of a legal and ethical slippery slope, are categorically irrelevant to the question of whether blanketing Islamic centers in official state surveillance does more harm than good. Whats more, the critical element of institutional suspicion is not present in his comparison. Is Mr. Giuliani asking Rabbis, men whose religion and ethnicity were at the center of countless pogroms throughout history, whether or not an agent of federal authority stationed in their private house of worship should offend them? Is he asking Rabbis, men whose responsibility it was to literally and spiritually shield their people from a fascistic federal authority determined to exterminate the Jewish race, if a sentry dispatched by a suspicious government to surveil their temple should offend them? Is Mr. Giuliani asking Priests, men whose savior Jesus Christ was killed by agents of a federal government, if a police officer, gun at the ready, should be able to position himself between the congregants and their God, even under the vague mission of safety? Is he asking Priests, men who have been at the forefront of countless liberation movements, from Asia to Latin America to Africa and beyond, if having members of a militarized state sponsored organization present at every service should offend them? Men like Mr. Giuliani most certainly know not what they do. mediamatters.org/video/2015/01/08/giuliani-goes-on-fox-to-call-for-mosque-surveil/202054
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 20:39:48 +0000
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