Osama Siblani validates “fear and loathing”: Posting and liking sectarian bigotry, hatred and incitement
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| Bigotry and incitement, Osama style |
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The Likes of Osama |
Osama Siblani validates “fear and
loathing”:
Posting and liking sectarian bigotry,
hatred and incitement
Fear of the “arrogant bully”
I
interviewed a number of people who raised important issues as to the 19th
district court primary election. The
people I interviewed, from different national and faith groups, did not want to
be named. They were concerned that Osama would use his paper to attack them. I
was surprised at the level of fear and loathing directed towards Osama and his
paper. My interviewees did not need the
headache of an open fight with Osama and his paper. I thought their fear was exaggerated. He is,
after all, a publisher of a paper not the leader of a gang.
Sectarianism is the last refuge of
the scoundrel
Osama’s
response to my column appearing on my blog and in the Forum and Link was having
one of his sectarian writers attack me in his paper. Osama’s writer, who has very
limited English language skills, falsely claimed that I wrote that Sunnis do
not like Osama because he is a Shiite. This is obviously an outrageous lie but
is consistent with the sectarian line of the Arabic-language section of Osama’s
paper. This is what I had actually written http://ihsanalkhatib.blogspot.com/2016/08/understanding-19th-district-court.html
When the lie
appeared in Osama’s paper, I wrote a response on my blog exposing the lie. This
is what I wrote http://ihsanalkhatib.blogspot.com/2016/08/intellectual-dishonesty-and-sectarian.html
Osama goes ape sectarian on me
In response to
my blog exposing the lies, in a Facebook entry, that same writer in Osama’s
paper imported the worst feature of Middle Eastern politics and journalism
today. He unleashed a full- fledged sectarian attack on me that violated all rules of ethics, morality and the
law. He called me “Ihsan ISIS Alkhatib”
and accused me of being a member of the “Ashraf Rifi and Naim Abbas group.”
Ashraf Rifi is a Sunni Lebanese retired general from the Internal Security and
a minister in the cabinet of Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam. Minister
Rifi is a vocal critic of the Shiite group Hizbullah and is hated by the
supporters of the group. Naim Abbas is a man accused of terror attacks in Lebanon. Osama’s writer also called me a name- ‘whore”-
the same vulgar word that Osama himself used to attack journalist Afaf Ahmad.
Afaf Ahmad is a Lebanese Shiite Muslim,
just like Osama and his writer who attacked me. Ms Ahmad received a pile of abuses,
even threats, for criticizing Osama and his paper.
A well- founded fear:
Fear of a bully and his thugs, not of a publisher and his writers
Osama’s writer who attacked me claimed that I had made up the interviews because I did not name the interviewed. The people I interviewed wanted to stay anonymous and I respected their wishes. I thought that their fear of Osama and his paper was excessive. Now that I have been the subject of a vile sectarian attack that violates al norms of decency and the law as well, I completely understand their concerns.
Publish, post, like
Osama Siblani claims that he is not responsible for the sectarianism of his writers since only the editorial represents the position of the paper. But he chooses the writers and he publishes what they write. And, as to the vile attack on me, it was posted on his Facebook page, he kept it and he liked it. He endorsed and approved the immoral, unethical and illegal attack.
Osama Siblani: Unfit to play the Arab
community interlocutor role
What is
troubling about the fading Osama phenomenon is that the US government and other
governments deal with him as if he were an honest interlocutor who represents all
Arab Americans of all backgrounds. The government allows him to choose who
participates in meetings of importance to all community members. His
parochialism and his sectarianism make him unfit to play that role.
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