Why Pam Geller's Muslim-baiting stunt in Garland was a big fat flop

[Tommy_Carcetti]

http://theweek.com/articles/553755/why-pam-gellers-muslimbaiting-stunt-garland-big-fat-flop

Why Pam Geller's Muslim-baiting stunt in Garland was a big fat flop
Peter Weber
May 7, 2015

It is unseemly to speak ill of the dead, but Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi were useful idiots.

The two men — who drove to Garland, Texas, from their apartment in Phoenix to shoot up a contest where the $10,000 prize went to a cartoonist deemed to have drawn the best mocking picture of Islam's Prophet Mohammed — were the only Muslims who rose to the provocation of Pamela Geller and her organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative.

Geller is trumpeting Sunday's foiled attack as a victory for herself, and "truth and freedom." It was neither. It was a victory for the Garland police force, and especially for the unidentified traffic cop who heroically shot dead two heavily armed, well-armored gunmen with a .45 caliber Glock pistol. For Geller's group, the event was a flop.

The only reason to rent a giant convention center for a cartoon-drawing contest is publicity. If the subject of the contest is an image deemed blasphemous by large segments of a major world religion, well then you can add provocation to the list of motives. That fits with Geller: Muslim-baiting and publicity-chasing are sort of her things.

The Dallas area's sizable Muslim community reacted using the same strategy my mother advises when confronted with inflammatory idiocy: They ignored her. There were no protesters outside Garland's Curtis Culwell Center, no angry op-eds, no griping to the national news media, no trying to tap into the well-oiled outrage machine. Nobody outside of the Dallas Metroplex would have ever heard of the contest if not for Simpson, 31, and Soofi, 34.
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More at link

[dem in texas]

1. Ignored by all except the Hate Kooks

Geller's big show was only attended by 200 people. I saw a man who was an attendee on TV and he said he'd driven down from Oklahoma. So it was attended by 200 pitiful hate-filled people and two want-a-be terrorists from Arizona. The show was ignored by 99.99999% of the several million who live in the DFW area.

What I would like to know is who is paying Geller's bills. A lot of money was spent to put on this show for such pitiful turnout. Where is the money coming from to support her group?

[cbayer]

2. She's got a base and some are quite rich.

Part of her anti-islamic campaign revolves around her pro-israel sentiments and there is evidence that much of her funding comes from pro-israel groups.

In addition, at some point she got a $4 million dollar divorce settlement and an additional $5 million from an insurance policy when her ex-husband died sometime later.

[cbayer]

3. I wish it were a flop, but I tend to think it was a big win for her.

She got lots of publicity. She provided evidence that the US is at risk from islamic jihad which furthers her calls for war. Although I think her 1st amendment claims are entirely bogus, she got lots of support from people across the political spectrum.

I predict her donations will increase and her speaking engagements and events like this will increase.

She's a domestic terrorist, imo.

[dembotoz]

4. /\ /\ yep

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. Unfortunately, she has the likes of Fox News working for her.

More than eager to paint her as a victim of violence and a First Amendment hero.

[cbayer]

9. And Breitbart. They have a huge article about how victimized she isi

and how shamefully she is being treated by the media. Pure garbage, but it's getting lots and lots of attention.

The First Amendment hero worship is particularly sickening. There are few people in the country who care less about the first amendment than Ms. Geller. She only cares about her speech and wants to silence others.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. "Free speech for me, but not for thee." nt

[frylock]

18. I think she's going to have a difficult time finding a venue..

willing to assume the liability associated with allowing her to host an event.

[cbayer]

21. That's a double edged sword.

Yesterday I said essentially the same thing and thought that was a good thing.

Then someone pointed out that that would be letting the extremists win, and that's a good point.

Much as I despise her, I do support her right to hold these kinds of events.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

22. I support her right to hold these events, preferably in the desert or on an island far away.

There, she and ISIS can go fight like cats and dogs until the day is done and leave us normal folk alone.

[cbayer]

23. Oh yeah. That's the ticket.

Let her have her war, just leave the rest of us out of it.

[JanetLovesObama]

5. She is planning her second cartoon event

right now. I hope to God she does the event in her own home in New York City and keeps her sorry ass out of Texas. We have enough problems here in Texas without her inciting more violence.

[cbayer]

11. My bet is that she will do it somewhere like Garland where there is

a lot of anti-islamic sentiment.

That's her base and that's who she wants to rile up.

I don't think she would ever do this in NYC.

[tanyev]

16. She might have a more difficult time finding a facility willing to give her space in the future.

As an Ayn Rand disciple, she should recognize a dope slap from the invisible hand of the free market, but she'll probably call it persecution.

[frylock]

19. Who is going to assume the liability in allowing her to host another event?

[951-Riverside]

6. I wish Peter Weber would say that to the face of the officer who was shot in the ankle

and is now in hiding.

[oberliner]

7. Basically everything in this article is wrong

It was certainly not a flop. If it were a flop, no one would be talking about it.

The contest wasn't to draw "the best mocking picture of Islam's Prophet Mohammed" - if you look at the image that won, you will see that is obviously not the case.

[Bonx]

15. You and you facts are annoying.

[JPZenger]

12. Next time, have her stand outside the entrance instead of the wounded security guard

Because of the quick actions of local police, only one person was injured - a security guard. Next time, Gellar needs to put herself outside the front door of her "Islamfacist" trap.

[Coventina]

13. Sorry, FAIL. Calling "blasphemy" provocation is a load of you-know-what.

I don't care if it violates the blasphemy laws of one or one billion, it's a bogus standard of judgment.

Geller is a loathsome human being, but she didn't commit blasphemy. There's no such thing.

And Simpson and Soofi were not useful idiots, they were attempted murderers.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. "And Simpson and Soofi were not useful idiots, they were attempted murderers."

As far as I know, the two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

[Coventina]

24. OK, point taken on that. I would certainly consider them murderous idiots.

But still:
Murder = wrong
Blasphemy = not wrong

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Not for Pam. She and similar bigots are getting a lot of coverage from the MSM.

[spanone]

20. k&r...