Jeh Johnson Receives Award From MPAC, And His Words Scare People

The head of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, receives an award from the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.

Remarks he made have been tweeted by members of the audience.

Shoulder-to-Shoulder @S2Scampaign

DHS Sec Jeh Johnson: with every new wave of immigrants that comes to the US, America is more American

And one tweet that has been quoted in many places:

DHS secretary Jeh Johnson says reading of Quran reminds him of quintessential American values #mpacempowers pic.twitter.com/fDGLYa26m5. — Nasreen Hosein (@NasreenHosein) March 18, 2015

“The reading of the reminded me of 2 things that MLK said a lot, which are quintessentially American values” @DHSgov Sec. Jeh Johnson

 

What is the effect of such words? Not on the Muslim audience, that was made to bask in a feel-good moment. But what is the effect on non-Muslims, more than 99% of the  American population, living in a country whose laws, language, customs, literature have nothing to do with Islam, an alien and dangerous presence, and  who want to believe that the head of Homeland Security understands things, understands Islam. If Jeh Johnson really believes what he said, he’s ignorant, ill-informed about the most important thing — what do the texts of Islam contain, what do they teach, what do they inculcate — and therefore unfit for his job. Or if Jeh Johson does not believe what he said, knows it’s nonsense and lies, but still thinks it a good idea to “reassure Muslims” — reassure them exactly of what? that we will all, starting at the very highest levels of government, that are supposed to be full of people who can protect and instruct us, pretend that the Qur’an and Hadith and Sira do not say what they say, or that we should all be too polite to ever mention such things, even as, in this country and in the wider world, non-Muslims are being threatened, attacked, murdered in all kinds of ways, by Muslims of every age, station, and place of origin. What good does Jeh Johnson’s approach, which is that of the Obama Administration, do? It encourages the most dangerous Muslims to think they have scared Western leaders into silence or submission, and makes it harder for those former Muslims, or Musliims-for-identification-purposes-only Muslims, to try, if they can, to help change the interpretation or reception of the immutable texts of Islam. Jeh Johnson is not helping them, not helping Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Ibn Warraq or Wafa Sultan. He’s boosted the morale of the sweet-faced hijabbed but sinister girls who’ve tweeted him with great satisfaction. What if, having had his staff let him know a bit more about MPAC, he had refused to come, or sent an underling to simply pick up the award, stating simply that “I accept this on behalf of Secretary Johnson who, as you know, is busy protecting this country from serious and continuing threats. He is happy to accept this award for himself, and for his Department,  this as a sign of appreciation for its efforts.” That might have had a salutary effect.

But he didn’t do that. Instead, by his crazy remarks, he is scaring, or should scare, the very people — that is, non-Muslims — he is supposed to be protecting from, above all other threats, that from Islam and its adherents. He’s scared me. Has he scared you?