Thursday May 23, 2019
By Pete Kotz
The conservative media is once again painting Somalis as a dire threat to Minnesota, this time involving an incident at the East Bank light rail station.Brendan Sullivan, Star Tribune
It was strange, maybe a tad scary, definitely part of the weird fabric of city life.
Last
week, University of Minnesota police were summoned to the East Bank
light rail station. A group of Somali teens were supposedly brandishing
metal pipes and threatening passengers. After a chase, the cops nabbed
seven and confiscated some pipes.
Two juveniles were arrested, one for disorderly conduct and fleeing police, the other for giving a false name.
It
wasn't exactly the crime of the century. Police discovered no injuries,
and the unnamed villains were of a pint-sized variety, apparently
ranging in age from 12-15.
The
story didn't get much play in the Twin Cities. This tends to be the
case when arrests are minor and no injuries are involved. But the
nation's conservative media was breathlessly aghast, painting the
incident as a terrifying rampage, replete with conspiracy.
Consider
it Exhibit A in the intellectual derailment of the conservative
movement. If you only read the right-wing press, and you're told that
anything contrary to preexisting belief most assuredly is fake, you're
bound to live in quaking fear.
It all began with Minnesota's Alpha News,
a site run by Republican operatives. It reported that “a mob of eight
to 10 males wielding hammers descended upon bystanders.” According to an
unnamed person on social media, they were “attacking anyone who looked
like they had money or were white.”
As
the tale rose through conservative circles, it would elevate to
conspiracy: Why was this racist assault being covered up by the
lamestream media?
“Can you guess why there's media silence over this gang assault in Minnesota?” yelped a headline on Townhall.
“8-10 Somali Teens Armed With Hammers Attack Bystanders at East Bank Rail Station in MN; Media Oddly Quiet,” added another on RedState.
This,
of course, would soon morph into blazing commentary on the dangers of
immigration and the inherent evil of Muslims. After all, logic dictates
that the acts of a few are always representative of millions more who
may share their pigmentation or national origin.
“The
creeping threat of incompatible and backwards refugees and migrants
from countries ruled by toxic, radical Islam that is plaguing the
entirety of Europe seems to finally be materializing in America,” gasped
the Burning Platform, accompanied by a photo of an aircraft carrier aflame.
“Minnesota
has the most refugees per capita in the U.S. – so is it any wonder that
a mob of Somali took to the streets with hammers and pipes to terrorize
a train station near a college campus?
Not to be outdone, Jihad Watch
offering its conclusion: “When you insist on importing Mogadishu, you
end up living there.” Its story was paired with a photo of a masked
Islamic gunman.
But the best came from American Thinker,
whose name tends to oversell its content. It fancies itself as a
learned conservative's site, allowing Minneapolis native Thomas Lifson
to blend casual racism and welfare mooching into his esteemed
observation:
“My
hometown of Minneapolis has been totally transformed by the arrival of
tens of thousands of refugees from Somalia, one of whom now represents
the city and a few suburbs in Congress.
“Nobody
there was asked if such a makeover was desired by the residents. State
Department officials decided that the generous welfare benefits
available in Minnesota were reason enough to send people whose native
land is tropical to the coldest major city in the United States.
“But
now that the old 97 percent-plus caucasian city has been made into a
multicultural exemplar, the local establishment, including the
newspapers and broadcasters, is ultra-protective of its prized
diversity-endowing Somali community. That might explain why the news of a
horrific attack on people waiting for a light rail train at the
University of Minnesota has been so slow to emerge.”
Yes,
if you only read the right-wing media, it's easy to understand why you
might fear Minneapolis as a place of imminent danger to the white and
Christian. It's a land of fictitious “no-go zones,” Sharia law that doesn't actually exist, and preteen truants masquerading as a Taliban commandos.
Think
of this as the cognitive version of an all-McDonald's diet. It may be
readily scarfable and require no effort. But without nutrients, the mind
deteriorates to sluggishness and sloth.