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Are “Easter Worshipers” the New “Deli Customers?”
It was remarkably unremarkable that Democrats all sang off the same sheet, effacing the Christian identity of the latest Islamist terror attack. Naturally, the propaganda arm of the left furiously buried the truth of both the carefully targeted victims and their victimizers. The red-green coalition carefully obscured Who Attacked Whom in Sri Lanka? This followed naturally after a President of the United States got away with effacing the identity of victims, openly gunned down in France, when those carrying out the Vernichtung of Jews could not be cast as right wing. To aid the red-green coalition’s advancement, both Jews and Christians are to be cast as “white,” “colonialist,” “imperialist,” and “privileged.”
Think back only a few years. An Islamist attack on a satirical newspaper in France was followed by smaller attacks that terminated in a Jewish deli. Journalists and security services, therefore the President of the United States, knew the terrorist’s motive for picking his target.
Coulibaly reportedly told a French journalist at the height of the siege that he had deliberately chosen to target Jews.
French authorities showed that they understood exactly what they were dealing with in this assault on a kosher deli:
The assault on the Kosher supermarket shook the Jewish community in France and abroad. As dual hostage situations unfolded, police ordered the closure of all shops in the tourist-filled Jewish neighborhood in central Paris, far from the supermarket under siege in the city’s east, according to the Associated Press. And ahead of the Sabbath Friday evening, the iconic Grand Synagogue of Paris was closed, USA Today reported.
President Barack Obama responded by denying the essential Jewish identity of the deli victims. Indeed, he could barely be moved to express any concern at all, beyond the enduring desire to deflect and suppress any criticism of Islam. Note how this played out in a friendly interview with Vox:
Matthew Yglesias
Do you think the media sometimes overstates the level of alarm people should have about terrorism and this kind of chaos, as opposed to a longer-term problem of climate change and epidemic disease?
President Obama
Absolutely. And I don’t blame the media for that. What’s the famous saying about local newscasts, right? If it bleeds, it leads, right? You show crime stories and you show fires, because that’s what folks watch, and it’s all about ratings. And, you know, the problems of terrorism and dysfunction and chaos, along with plane crashes and a few other things, that’s the equivalent when it comes to covering international affairs. […]
Look, the point is this: my first job is to protect the American people. It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris.
The White House and the State Department tried holding the line Obama had drawn, then partially conceded that the killer was motivated by his hatred of Jews while continuing to avoid attributing his hatred and violence to Islamist terrorist recruiting and indoctrination.
The terrorist in France made his Jew-hatred perfectly clear, capturing his murderous deeds with a GoPro camera.
In the nearly eight-minute-long video filmed on a GoPro camera by Amedy Coulibaly, the Islamist gunman can reportedly be seen shooting three of the four victims and delivering an anti-Semitic rant.
Yet, even this news could not extract a clear condemnation of Islamists’ murderous hatred for Jews from the lips or fingertips of President Obama. To admit the truth would have hurt the red-green alliance and hindered “the one we’ve been waiting for” in his fundamental transformation of the Middle East and America. So, it is entirely consistent for former president Barack Obama to elide Christians name when they are blown to bits on their most important holiday, the day on which they make the essential claim of their faith.
No wonder we got to a first-term Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, feeling comfortable in 2019 describing the 9/11 Islamist terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and her nation’s capital as “some people did something.”
Lay side-by-side Obama’s statements after the mass shootings of Muslims in New Zealand mosques and the Sri Lanka church bombings during Easter services.
Michelle and I send our condolences to the people of New Zealand. We grieve with you and the Muslim community. All of us must stand against hatred in all its forms.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 15, 2019
The attacks on tourists and Easter worshippers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity. On a day devoted to love, redemption, and renewal, we pray for the victims and stand with the people of Sri Lanka.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 21, 2019
Note that he makes very clear his sympathy for Muslims around the world, while completely avoiding any such affirmation of the global Christian community. To do otherwise would be to admit the truth that Muslims (green) and Chinese Communists (red), are targeting Christians for persecution or death. Where the green faction operates like the KKK at its first height, using murderous violence, the red faction operates a system similar to Jim Crow, regularizing oppression with a system of laws.
Nor is Obama alone in the red-green coalition. Consider other leading Democrats, addressing New Zealand and Sri Lanka, starting with Hillary Clinton:
My heart breaks for New Zealand & the global Muslim community. We must continue to fight the perpetuation and normalization of Islamophobia and racism in all its forms.
White supremacist terrorists must be condemned by leaders everywhere. Their murderous hatred must be stopped.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 15, 2019
On this holy weekend for many faiths, we must stand united against hatred and violence. I'm praying for everyone affected by today's horrific attacks on Easter worshippers and travelers in Sri Lanka.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 21, 2019
Democratic presidential primary candidate Senator Kamala Harris was right in line:
My heart is heavy with grief for New Zealand & Muslims worldwide affected by the tragic murders in Christchurch. The massacre of those in a house of worship, in prayer, is evil & cowardly. We stand with our friends around the world to condemn hate & speak out against intolerance.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) March 15, 2019
Easter is a reminder that there is hope and rebirth even in the darkest of times. We must remember that today, more than ever.
I am horrified by the attacks in Sri Lanka, where so many families were celebrating such a joyous day. Praying for the victims and their loved ones.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) April 21, 2019
Pointing out how odd it is that the most influential Democrats are avoiding saying the word “Christian” isn’t a conspiracy. It's a legitimate observation.
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) April 22, 2019
Jim Hanson observed: “It was the conscious avoidance of the word Christian that is sad. It was a widespread bizarre usage too, so someone decided it was a good idea.”
Interestingly, socialist, running for the 2020 presidential nomination as a Democrat, Senator Bernie Sanders avoided both the “Easter” and “Muslim” thing entirely:
Our thoughts are with the victims of the horrific attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. No one should have to fear for their life because of their religion. We must come together to condemn all forms of hate and violence to build a future of respect and understanding.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 15, 2019
Our hearts go out to the victims and families of the horrific attacks in Sri Lanka. No person should have to fear for their life in their place of worship. We must work to bring this world together around our common humanity.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) April 21, 2019
Of course, Bernie Sanders did make a very big point of visiting a mosque in solidarity, after the terrorist attack on Muslims in New Zealand. So, we can surely look forward to his public visit to a church to show solidarity, denouncing anti-Christian hate and violence. I’m thinking New York City or Los Angeles, with clergy and first-generation immigrant congregants from Communist China and Muslim majority countries. His staff must be working furiously to find contacts for these groups.
What are the odds that the Socialist New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will put on a necklace with a big cross or crucifix and get photographed attending a Christian church service next Sunday, in a sign of national unity and respect for all faiths? After all, the Sri Lankan government has announced the Sri Lankan Christian churches were targeted in the name of retaliation for the attack on New Zealand Muslim worshipers in two mosques. This follows her conspicuous silence when one of her nation’s prominent Muslim leaders blamed the Jews for the murders of Muslims in New Zealand. Naturally, she will want to prevent any further violence, maybe on New Zealand soil, even if that violence would be against Christians or Jews.
Surely leftist politicians will lead the way in instructing their followers that hateful words lower the bar to physical violence against Christians. Surely Muslim clerics will prominently attend church services next Sunday. Surely the major media in America and Europe will call for positive acceptance of Christianity and an end to negative portrayals of Christians. Book that trifecta at 1,000:1 — call it the Millennium Bet.
If you find not a single betting parlor will take your action, not even the nerviest London book, perhaps it is because everybody knows about the Red-Green Coalition vs. Church, and everyone can see our politics rushing Through the Wormhole with the DNC.
138 people have been killed in Sri Lanka, with more that 600 badly injured, in a terrorist attack on churches and hotels. The United States offers heartfelt condolences to the great people of Sri Lanka. We stand ready to help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2019
Published in PoliticsThe threat on Christians internationally is real. Heart broken that this happened especially on such a sacred day. The terrorists wanted to send a strong message. Our fight on terrorism has to remain strong to let them know that we won’t back down. #PrayersForSriLanka https://t.co/AsJOI1pkP2
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) April 22, 2019
Salon tried to make our remarking on it into some kind of irrational rage thing, but there is a definite, purposeful, Newspeak-ness about the term “Easter worshippers” that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. When the DNC sends out the Talking Points Memo, it’s always so pathetically obvious.
Clearly there is some dangerous unidentifiable group out there that hates pastrami and chocolate bunnies . . . what other motivation could it be?
We must mobilize and strive against such a group! Pastrami wrapped chocolate bunnies shall be our cadres’ rations!
Anti-Christian and anti-Semitic news, promulgated in plain sight. Yet the jihadists get cover. And people wonder why I’m concerned about the rise of hatred toward Jews and Christians?
I don’t how you got through the writing of this post. My word. Thank you for putting these quotes together. It is powerful to read them one after the other.
It makes the tragedy so much worse when the “civilized” world stands beside the terrorists. And it makes us look weak and stupid to them.
Yes, how interesting that we are “Deli customers” and “Easter worshipers,” yet they are never “Infidel-bombers.”
When Clinton says, “White supremacist terrorists must be condemned by leaders everywhere. Their murderous hatred must be stopped,” I agree with her. Why can’t she make the same type of statement about Islamic terrorists? Evidently “Muslim” is a word that can only be used when describing victims.
Technically, that is not a wormhole. It is a passage to hyperspace, using Vorlan technology.
Yes, and every illegal sneaking across the border is a war hero, a dentist, or an engineer. (What face tattoos? Where?)
Damn! You are a great writer! Main Feed!
As with our local purveyors of intellectually dishonest twaddle and obtuseness in the face of the obvious, I think, as politeness (of either the genuine or fake variety) dictates, we should grant them the presumption that their sentiments were presented this way in so-called good faith and just move on.
“Easter worshippers” could also be a backhanded way of insulting Christians by essentially calling us pagans.
That was my reaction as well. It calls to mind Druids painting their faces blue and worshiping trees. They’re doing it on purpose. We are being erased.
Completely agree with the red green bit. Really doubt this is evidence of it. Note Trump omitted Christian, and the official WH statement does as well.
For an interesting counter point to the phrase itself see https://arcdigital.media/tagged/politics
Are we going to have to run the geek/dork test here? You are correct. Indeed:
I think the term “Easter Worshipers” is a direct insult, attributing Christians as “worshiping a day” when they are only worshiping ON that day, Easter Sunday. However, President Trump did say Churches and hotels.
Note that the Democrats carefully included “Muslim” when the victims were Muslims and just as carefully adopted an odd phrase, clearly coordinated, as I showed. I also showed that Bernie Sanders was an exception, but then marked out his response to one attack, which set a reasonable expectation for a consistent response to this latest terrorist attack on a community of faith.
The
gaslighting(let’s be cute and call conservatives snowflakes while we provide talking points for the blowback to the DNC agreed-upon phrase) article was perfectly predictable, but thanks for providing the link.2020 Democrats Don’t Mention Sri Lanka Islamist Attacks Once at CNN “Town Hall”
The five candidates who took part in the CNN Town Hall were: Bernie Sanders, Pete Butigieg, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Amy Klobuchar.
This is quite probably the dumbest, most overwrought controversy of the decade. Of course “Easter worshipers” are Christians. duh? Really, we need to chastise people for referring to the victims as “Easter worshipers”?
The fact that ink is being spilled over this is a sure sign of the end times. At least for America.
It’s just the left using “inclusive language.” They wanted to be sure to include the non-Christian Easter Worshipers.
What’s wrong with people wanting to be referred to by Their preference? Especially if it’s as obvious as You point out.
The “sure sign of the end times” is when a queer is referred to as a dude when He wants to be called a chick and all hell breaks loose.
When I first heard the objection to the terminology, I thought it was just a clumsy construct of “worshipers at an Easter service,” (which, indeed, those Christians were) and thought there was a bit of overblown sensitivity. But…seeing it used repeatedly and with the erasing of the Christian-ness of the victims (in much the same way as the Jewishness of those murdered in Paris, among other places, not to mention the virtual lack of coverage of murders of Christians in Nigeria) compared with the celebration of Islam when, oh, so occasionally they turn out to be the victims (man bites dog), it starts to look an awful lot like a pattern. Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, weighs the same as a duck. Must be a witch. It’s a fair cop.
This is splitting hairs in the desperate search of a reason to be offended.
I’m a Jew, so not offended but do understand reasoning.
Yes, it is, and we need more of it.
I don’t disagree with the OP or the comments. Rather, I am trying to parse the phrase ‘Easter worshipers”.
Obviously – to nearly everyone – no one is literally worshiping Easter in this case (I believe she was a goddess, and I imagine there would be some kind of Wiccanesque Easter thing if I were to delve, but it is only sort of relevant), but instead are worshiping on Easter.
Christmas worshipper.
Ramadan worshipper.
Those don’t work, but Easter worshiper sorta does. Solstice worshiper sorta works as well.
I can imagine one guy coming up with the phrase and finding it too mellifluous not to print; I can imagine a bunch of wire services and post-tards echoing it without intent to obscure.
But it would take at least some bad will to saturate the news to the point that this has.
No one should be killed for their faith. I don’t expect that to be a universal principle among people of certain religions. But it is a solidly Western belief.
At least I think it is.
I get what they were going for. They were trying for a construction such as “Saturday shopper.” But the turn of phrase is so odd and forced that it can’t be a coincidence that more than one of them used it, and it was just such an effortful avoidance of using the term “Christians,” and their motive was also obvious.