EPSILON MAGAZINE. NOVEMBER ISSUE 2005. P 4
COMMENTARY
The ACLU and CAIR…Strange Bedfellows
Why are so many corporations timid in the face of these outrageous demands and why do so many fall so easily? They are image and reputation-conscious, unwilling to absorb a public relations episode which could make headlines; they seem convinced that they need to show their diversity to one and all – because they think YOU, the American public, approve of that cowardice. They don't want to be sued and possibly lose, any lawsuit award probably digging deep into their pockets. So, they take the path of least resistance, by finding a quick way to get out from under the problem, one easily done and easily documented. Then they can say, "See what we did. We work with them. Aren't we good boys and girls?" A few months ago, I wrote about the politically correct suicide engaged in by Dell Computers. When an issue arose at their Nashville plant, Muslim employees walked off the job en masse. These Nashville Muslims, urged on by CAIR, demanded recognition of their religious prayer requirement to pray five times a day, and they wanted that time as well as being paid for it. Never granted previously to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, NFL fans or anyone else, but by golly, it has to be given to the followers of the prophet! This was verified when I called and spoke to a Dell representative, David Frink. I was curtly dismissed as an “argumentative reporter” and “not worth his time”, because I dared question his company’s reasons for buckling under pressure from CAIR. Mr. Frink was even less happy when I suggested to him that this issue was not actually about prayer but Dell being manipulated into setting a precedent, and that Dell was, apparently, bending over backwards in allowing CAIR to do it! Mr.. Frink’s response was that Dell is “a company that allows many freedoms and even had a room set aside for nursing mothers." I do not think he took too kindly to my comment; that they ought to have a room set aside for the Chabad to lay Tefilah, and maybe next to the ‘nursing mother’s room.”
The up-shot? Dell caved in to Muslim demands and gave their disgruntled employees a ‘gold card’ full of employee benefits, complete with ‘undisclosed settlements’, to make their ‘hurt feelings’ go away, not just to “keep them happy” but to stop them from destroying the company! As a Dell stock holder I resented it when CAIR got into the picture and Dell gave those employees “undisclosed settlements” so as not to hurt their feelings by being so politically incorrect as to want to run their company in a business-like manner. As an American, I’m even angrier. Not long after this cowardly and stupid act of appeasement, ABC Disney, and several other companies, caved in to more CAIR demands. Disney backed down to CAIR threats, firing, without pay, a conservative talk-show host, Michael Graham, over statements regarding Islam and terrorism. Not content with firing Graham, they also reined in another respected journalist, Paul Harvey. Amazing how free speech only works when it’s not saying anything the Council for American-Islamic Relations might consider unflattering, regarding terrorism and Islam. In the Disney case, Graham was fired because CAIR, who monitor our speech, have issued a “fatwa”... Isn’t it cute folks, how we now talk in terms of ‘fatwa's and beheadings? Anyway, when Graham linked the current theology and structure of Islam to the repeated acts of terror done in its name, CAIR had him sacked. Personally, I couldn’t agree more with Graham’s opinion: "Because of the mix of Islamic theology that --- rightly or wrongly --- is interpreted to promote violence, added to an organizational structure that allows violent radicals to operate openly in Islam's name with impunity, Islam has, sadly, become a terrorist organization. It pains me to say it. But the good news is it doesn't have to stay this way, if the vast majority of Muslims who don't support terror will step forward and re-claim their religion.”
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