I missed this story when it was really big news, because I try to avoid the writings of crazy people and/or those who prey on crazy people, but I was searching for some kind of Fourth of July/Middle East hook yesterday and I wound up on Snopes reading about how Independence Day has been ruined on account of appeasing the Mohammedans:
On 7 June 2015, a number of web sites (including American Thinker and the Federalist Papers) published articles reporting that the U.S. Embassy in Indonesian capital of Jakarta had moved a celebration of America’s Independence Day from July to June because its July 4th date fell during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Both articles referenced two sources: A 5 June 2015 article published by the Jakarta Post, and a 6 June 2015 blog post by anti-Islamic commentator Pamela Gellar. The first article was titled “US Embassy Celebrates 4th of July Earlier Out of Respect for Ramadhan” and opened with a lengthy photo caption that contained perhaps the most substantive coverage of the issue:
Right away there are several warning signs that this conspiracy is going to be stupid, and specifically I mean the references to the American “Thinker,” the Federalist Papers Project, and Pamela Geller. But Snopes’s recounting of how the story developed, entirely without any facts, inside the right wing swamp is instructive, I think.
First, the Jakarta Post publishes an article that says the US embassy decided to move its Independence Day celebration from July 4 to June 4 so as not to have a big old food and drink bash going on in the middle of Ramadan when most Indonesians are fasting all day. That’s it. Then that story gets picked up by Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch, which starts off slow, just asking if, you know, Muslims would ever make that kind of a gesture to Americans. Probably not, amirite? Then we’re off to the races. First it goes to Geller, where the embassy’s completely voluntary decision to be courteous to its host country has now become “submission” to “sharia compliance,” which we’re warned “always give[s] way to more demands for further sharia compliance,” even though there weren’t any “demands” made here in the first place. Then we get to the “Thinker” and lose our ever-loving minds:
In a mind-boggling gesture of official US Government dhimmitude, the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia celebrated our sacred Independence Day holiday on June 4, so as to avoid any conflict with the month-long Ramadan celebration. If you think any Islamic countries – there are 57 of them (not counting ISIS) that count themselves officially Islamic – will move their DC embassy’s celebration of Ramadan to accommodate our Independence holiday, I have some bridges to sell you.
Now the change of date is “mind-blogging…dhimmitude,” for some reason, our very secular national Independence Day has somehow become “sacred,” Ramadan is a “celebration,” and Islamic embassies in DC should change their “celebration” of Ramadan (which “celebration” consists of quietly abstaining from food and drink during the day) here in the US to accommodate the Fourth of July, because somehow they were interfering with it.
Officially, embassies are the national territory* [ed note: this is not actually true, officially, but OK!] of the country being represented, not of the host country. So there is no need to accommodate local sensibilities in celebrating our most sacred national holiday.
Right…but there’s also this thing, called “diplomacy,” that they sometimes like to practice in embassies, and sometimes that involves making small symbolic sacrifices in order to be sensitive to the culture and customs of your host nation. If the American “Thinker” ever gets put in charge of the US Embassy in Indonesia, they’ll probably spit roast a pig on Muhammad’s birthday or something just to show ’em we mean business, but as long as adults are running things, this is the kind of thing you do to maintain nice relations. Also, it’s kind of difficult to get officials and dignitaries from your host nation to attend your Independence Day celebration, as you’d want to do in most embassies, if you just decide to be a dick about the whole thing. Just like you might celebrate your own birthday on a nearby weekend because it’s easier for people to attend your party, so can America’s birthday be celebrated on a slightly changed schedule for the same reason. Even if the date is “sacred” (and it’s not, there’s no religion in there anywhere!), God will understand.
Anyway, as I predicted this conspiracy was pretty dumb, but every once in a while I think it’s worth seeing how the absolute batshit Islamophobia gets produced.
The Foreign Exchanges Companion 