Oklahoma state Rep. Pat Ownbey, R-Ardmore, in 2013. CREDIT: AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki.
An Oklahoma lawmaker personally propagated an article over the weekend calling for a “final solution” regarding “radical Islam,” arguing that the 1,400-year-old faith is not a religion and should not be protected under the first amendment of the Constitution.
On Sunday, Oklahoma State Rep. Pat Ownbey re-published an article to his Facebook page entitled “Radical Islam – The Final Solution.” The article was originally published on the personal blog of Paul R. Hollrah, an Oklahoman who touts himself as a “retired government relations executive,” but Ownbey appears to have copy-pasted the piece and reposted it in its entirety, citing Hollrah.
The author is seemingly unaware that the phrase “the final solution” was used by Adolph Hitler and Nazi leadership to describe the horrific genocide enacted against Jews by the Third Reich during World War II, also known as the Holocaust. Instead, the article Ownbey shared purports that in light of the recent massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando by an ISIS-affiliated shooter, Islam should no longer be categorized as a religion in the United States — or in any western nation.
I really find it difficult to believe that Ownbey is in any way unfamiliar with the phrase the final solution or its meaning. It’s just another alt-right move: “hey, it won’t be like that, we can do a final solution right, you betcha!”
“…if we in the west are to protect our children and grandchildren from the horrors of a worldwide Islamic caliphate, we must first dispense with the cruel fiction that Islam is just another religious denomination, subject to all of the legal protections afforded legitimate religious sects,” Hollrah argues. “Islam is not a religion, subject to First Amendment protections, as we in western cultures understand the term. Rather, it is a complete political, legal, economic, military, social, and cultural system with a religious component.”
Hollrah — who, like presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, appears to be opposed to Muslim immigration into the United States — goes on to blast Christian traditions such as the Catholic Church that take a welcoming approach to Islam, accusing them of being naive. He then defends Trump’s Muslim ban by citing the Communist Control Act of 1954 before insisting that the West “quarantine” all Muslims.
“And since the 95% of Muslims who are described as either ‘moderate’ or ‘un-radicalized’ appear unwilling to play an active role in keeping their radicalized brethren in check, we have no long term alternative but to quarantine them… prohibiting them from residing anywhere within the civilized nations of the Earth,” he writes.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Not even wrong. As for prohibiting them from residing anywhere within the civilized nations of the Earth, once again, we see an American asshole who thinks America runs the world. This point of view is so damn pervasive, and so very poisonous. How do we rid ourselves of this cumbersome and meddlesome belief?
The author of the article at Think Progress goes on to debunk all this ineffable, but dangerous twaddle. A good read.
Wonder what his take is on all the christian radicals calling for the death of LGBTQ people? Should they be subject to the same quarantine by the “moderate” christian community? Because there are a lot more of those radical christians in this country than muslims.
Yes, because 1 billion people the world over all know each other.
“radicalized brethren”
What a racist asshole.
Oh, and I am like you regarding his “ignorance” of the phrase “the final solution”. He looks to be of a similar age to me, and WWII would have been prominent in the study of American History in the schools of his youth. Unless he failed history and never listened in class, it would have been very hard for him to miss it.
He’s right though. Islam, unlike Christianity, is a complete political, legal, and economic system. You know how you can tell? Because we have diplomatic relations with it. We even have an ambassador to Islam. You can’t have an ambassador to a religion. Why is that so hard to under… what? Really?
Oh, sorry. I meant Roman Catholicism. My bad.
Johnson catman @ 3:
I’m pretty sure the author was being dryly sarcastic about Ownbey’s supposed ignorance. I certainly am -- I think it’s just these assholes way of bringing ‘final solution’ back into discussions, which is appalling all on its own.
I’d bet 10 to 1 the thinking is along the lines of “well, we aren’t going to bake people, just imprison them somewhere! That’s not at all the same thing!”
This is how you propose genocide. You pretend that you’re just looking for an answer to social problems and then you use dog whistle phrasing to spur on those who agree with you, until you’ve got the political clout to actually start murdering people.
Make no mistake, this was entirely intentional.
Johnny Vector @ 4:
I lol’d.
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Imo, the “final solution” <ComicSans>[We don’t mean it like that!]</ComicSans> is just a dog whistle.
Those are usually used for racially-charged plausibly-deniable comments, but heck, Those People [“What do you mean, “Those People?!?””] are shaky on the difference between racial bigotry, religious bigotry, and ethnic bigotry, anyway, so same diff, yeah?
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Also, somehow, the phrase, “The Crusades” just seems to keep popping up in my mind.
Wonder why….
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Islam is an extension of christianity and judaism. As such, yes, it’s a pack of lies. But that’s because christianity and judaism are packs of lies. Ownbey “Own Goal” I dub thee!!
The very idea that one religion can be declared “true” or “false” is -- literally -- what “establishing” a religion means. If he can say that islam is false, does he think that makes christianity true?
Marcus:
Pretty sure he does.
Pretty sure he does.
He is using the science of logic.
You make my thinkerbox hurt.
Marcus:
:Snort: Oh, that phrase. It’s rapidly moving to top of a list of phrases which threatens to do me in via near-fatal eyerolls.
Caine:
It’s rapidly moving to top of a list of phrases which threatens to do me in via near-fatal eyerolls.
I thought you were trying to do a backflip.
Anymore, I get a lot of flashes from Network, of people screaming “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!“