From here:
A hardline Muslim cleric who sparked anger across the U.S. with his anti-American comments in a television interview this month is to hold a protest outside the White House.
British extremist Anjem Choudary – who once said ‘the flag of Islam will fly over the White House’ – has announced he will lead a demonstration calling on Muslims to establish the Sharia law across America.
The rally, planned for March 3, is to take place just weeks after his on-screen row with Fox News presenter Sean Hannity.
Mr Choudary, 43, called Americans ‘the biggest criminals in the world today.’
Anjem Choudary has the dubious distinction of being one of the few people to be dismissed as a ‘sick, miserable, evil S.O.B’ at the end of a TV interview.
Whether Choudary and his henchmen will be allowed into the US to peddle Islamism is in doubt.
What is in no doubt at all – other than the accuracy of the above epithets – is that, if Choudary had his way, he would not allow any criticism of sharia law, let alone demonstrations against it.
Here is the Hannity interview:
If Hannity actually knew how to do a real interview, he might have got some real answers from the imam.
Quite. Fox News employees have the morals of Vlad the Impaler and brains of Noddy and Big Ears.
Kate,
I too was disappointed that Hammity wasn’t able to keep his cool and get more insightful answers.
However, once again Fox was the only one covering the story.
Peace,
Jim
What was the “story”? That there are Islamic leaders who want to do damage to western democracies? Hardly news.
He’s been interviewed often – including by CNN a few months ago:
P.S. It’t Hannity, not “Hammity” – although I like the pun.
I didn’t say that – but he wasn’t very professional, either. A good interviewer puts the interviewee at ease, and then askes the difficult questions in such a way that he either has to answer, or his lack of an answer is an answer itself. Can you imagine Walter Cronkite, Peter Mansbridge or Peter Zowski behaving like that?
Warren: Parker Spitzer did a good job in the interview last October.
Kate: Walter Cronkite? What you get from Hannity is genuine unfiltered emotion. That’s a precious commodity on TV where the norm is reworked talking points.
Peace,
Jim
Peace,
Jim
It’s President’s Day in the US, and I don’t have much going on – so you’ll have to bear with me.
It seems to me that both Fox and Choudary got what they wanted. Fox likely got a boost in ratings, and Choudary was able to increase his profile and notoriety before announcing a trip to the US. The only loser was the viewer (except for viewers who enjoy having their passions vice their intellect inflamed).
Don’t get me wrong, I think Choudary is a potentially dangerous person. I just don’t believe I’ll get a balance perspective from Fox on the issues surrounding him. And my preference would be to have neither Choudary nor Hannity as a neighbour (now that I’ve said that, God will probably make it happen so as to test my faithfulness to the command that I love my neighbour).
On a somewhat different note, I’ve been pondering what an interview with a Christian might look like if he emphasized only certain Scriptures and focused, in an unbalanced way, on the sovereignty of God, His Kingdom, the coming new age, etc. I think he could come off just as extreme as Choudary. Actually, Westboro Baptist representatives do sound as extreme as Choudary.
I have dibs on the house across the street.
Warren,
It’s time to go pamper yourself again.
Peace,
Jim
You’re probably right.