What happened when American Bikers United Against Jihad rode into Islamberg, N.Y.

[KamaAina]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/05/17/anti-islam-biker-protests-draws-five-riders-and-hundreds-rallying-for-peace/

The American Bikers United Against Jihad’s “Ride for National Security” to Islamberg featured exactly five bikers, the Guardian reported. A handful of cars — fewer than 10 — also joined the ride, the Oneonta Daily Star reported.

And while it was cold, 300 to 400 people met those bikers as part of a “peace rally and community day.”

Many of them had traveled from elsewhere to participate in the demonstration in the rural village, which serves as the headquarters of Muslims of America. A local NAACP chapter provided two charter buses to transport people from the Oneonta area, the Daily Star reported.

“We’re doing this in order to assure our neighbors in Islamberg that we are not going to be silent, and that we are not going to tolerate hatred,” Regina Betts, vice president of Oneonta’s chapter of the NAACP, said at an interfaith meeting earlier this month. “The main thing is that we fight discrimination and that we do it peacefully.”

[closeupready]

1. How funny, lol.

Sometimes, you get the feeling that lots of internet warriors posting from mom's basement(s) are driving the cable news discussion cycle, and every now and then, non-events like this provide support for that belief.

[jberryhill]

3. Remember the "truckers shutdown Washington DC"

Fox reporters out on the Beltway watching normal traffic go by.

[closeupready]

4. I don't remember that, but it sure is believable.

[jberryhill]

5. It was a HUGE internet/media bubble

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/10/truckers-washington-beltway-protest/2962045/

Only a few dozen independent truckers were spotted on rain-swept highways around the nation's capital Friday morning at the beginning of a purported three-day "Ride for the Constitution" rolling protest seeking to impeach President Obama and pressure Congress.

There were no signs that the trucks were slowing down traffic any more than normal on the congested capital area highway, particularly during steady rain.

Video cams on I-495, which circles the city, and I-95, which runs north and south through the region, showed normal traffic at mid-morning.

There were reports of scattered groups of trucks making their way toward Washington, D.C. About 15 pickup trucks bearing the official Twitter hashtag of the ride -- #T2SDA (Truckers to Shut Down America) -- were spotted early Friday near Doswell, about 85 miles south of the capital.

Or the "Enough is Enough" protest that was supposed to be YUGE (and was scheduled for Thanksgiving weekend with no permit), and other internet masturbatory fantasies.

[HuckleB]

2. .

indeed.

[yellowcanine]

6. Hopefully there were enough portapotties to handle the crowd.

[Enthusiast]

7. Now that is funny!

[MisterP]

8. their initials are literally ABU AJihad!

[allan01]

9. good on the other side

all these blow hards . 10000 bikers . hem . enjoied the loving kindess on the islamic belivers part.

[mountain grammy]

10. Well, it was raining and chiily

so these must be delicate bikers.

[Dr. Xavier]

11. We have to stand in support of those who are oppressed

Good on the NAACP for their support!

[ejbr]

12. A colleague of mine was there and

she's pissed! One of the bikers threatened her. She reported it to the police. She was an MP in the army and has means to protect herself, so he better think twice--okay, once; he should at least think once (my bad)

[Jim Lane]

13. For anyone who, like me, is curious about "Islamberg"

I had never known that there was such a place. From the introductory section of the Wikipedia article about it:

Islamberg is a rural hamlet in the town of Tompkins, Delaware County, New York, United States,[1] founded by Mubarak Ali Gilani, a Pakistani Sufi cleric.

The hamlet was founded in the late 1980s by Gilani and a group of primarily African American Muslims who left New York City, reportedly to escape crime, poverty and racism. They built a community of some 40 family houses, with its own grocery store and bookstore and place of worship, on some land 11 miles (18 km) north of the town of Hancock. Islamberg is the first of a number of communities set up under the direction and tutelage of Gilani.[2] "Holy Islamberg", as residents refer to it, is also the headquarters of the Muslims of America organization. [3]

According to locals, the land previously belonged to a woman from the neighboring town of Deposit, who opened up her home in the late 1970s or early 1980s to disadvantaged young people.[4] Relations with neighboring communities are cooperative.[5]