Let's hear it for the straight talk and good sense of Mike Jones, a columnist for the Opinion section of the Tulsa World.
In Sunday's edition, Jones took aim at the shortsightedness and religious bigotry of Rep. Rex Duncan, the Sand Springs Republican who thought it would be a good idea to reject a gift of the Quran last week.
Jones points out that Duncan's refusal started a legislative stampede of sorts, with 24 lawmakers eventually making the same ham-fisted gesture. Duncan's action, Jones points out, is not unusual in the world of politics.
More importantly, Duncan and his fellow legislators have fallen for the sloppiest and most dishonest of post-September 11 cliches. As Jones rightly notes, these folks apparently believe "that everything in the Quran is evil, hence, all Muslims are evil."
This kind of intentional bigotry is popular right-wing radio propaganda, perhaps, but Oklahoma citizens ought to have legislators who can make basic discriminations between actual terrorists and Oklahoma's Muslim citizens, none of whom have been accused of killing anyone.
Jones gets it right, blasting these simpletons for playing to the worst instincts of the voters.
1 comment:
Excellent post!
It is sad to see our leaders competing for the title of The Biggest Con.
If the media isn't willing to speak truth to power, then citizens have to raise their own voices in combatting The Big Con and the Enron economics that result from it.
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