Setting Off A Nail Bomb Isn’t Basim Usmani’s Favorite Boston Marathon Activity

I get a lot of abuse and vilification in this work, but this is a particularly vile example. This is an interview I did with a Muslim musician and writer named Basim Usmani, who wanted to talk to me about pop music from the 80s. The interview part is all right, but his prefatory paragraphs are among the most vicious I've ever seen. And if you think my headline above is outrageous, it's patterned exactly after Usmani's headline:

"‘Killing an Arab’ Isn't Pamela Geller's Favorite Song by the Cure," by Basim Usmani, Vice.com, April 21, 2013

An interview with Pamela Geller would seem like it would be pretty
straightforward. Not too many people know who she is, but amongst those
who do, she is either dismissed for being dim, or found generally
repulsive for her vociferous opposition to what she claims is the rapid
Islamization of America. For “lone wolf” white gunmen, like Andrew
Brevik, the Norwegian citizen who opened fire on a multi-cultural summer
camp, she’s viewed as the kind of American white vigilante that D.W.
Griffith might have imagined.

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Notice how Usmani frames the struggle for freedom against Sharia oppression solely in racial terms. In Egypt, protesters have been taking to the streets to fight against the Islamization of that country. Huge numbers of people there don't want to see Sharia in Egypt. Does Basim Usmani think they're all "dim" or "repulsive" racist "Islamophobes"? And while getting Anders Breivik's name wrong, he makes the far more serious (and ideologically motivated) error of thinking I was some kind of heroine to him. This shows the power of enemedia propaganda. Usmani has heard me associated with Breivik so often, he probably doesn't realize that Breivik actually mentioned me only once, and that in connection with a news story I had posted here at Atlas. He also referenced CNN, the NY Times, and other news outlets, not to mention Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, Charles Darwin, Thomas Jefferson, and a host of other people. Usmani wouldn't dream of holding them responsible for this madman's murders.

Her blog, Atlas Shrugs,
is predictable. The bulk of my correspondence with Pamela happened
before the Boston Marathon Bombings, but even after a national tragedy,
her opinions remained stagnant. She stops shy of calling President Obama
an Al Qaeda member. In a recent polemic, Geller described Obama’s
handling of the Boston Marathon bombing, writing that the United States
government is an “Islamic supremacist regime that promotes jihad around
the world.”

There's another thing Usmani says I don't do: call Obama an Al Qaeda bomber. First "Killing Arabs" wasn't my favorite song, and now this. I never mentioned that Cure song, he did. It seems as if Usmani had an idea of what I was like in his mind, and when I didn't turn out to be that way, he did his best to make me fit his narrative anyway. And I actually wrote that the Saudi regime, not the U.S. government, was an “Islamic supremacist regime that promotes jihad around
the world.” Did Vice.com lay off all its fact-checkers?

She has currently crowd-sourced $20,000 of her $50,000 goal for her
next anti-Sharia poster campaign on indiegogo. It's the follow-up to her
controversial anti-Sharia campaign that placed large posters and
advertisements on the sides of city busses and inside subways in New
York, San Francisco, and Chicago.

She’s perpetually on the road, giving talks, and promoting her book, Freedom or Submission: On the dangers of Islamic Extremism & American Complacency.
She sells a product wrapped in our fears; her business is instilling a
victim-complex into White America by drumming up paranoia about “Islamic
Supremacy” and "creeping Sharia." She remains an abundant source of
real fear for brown folk living in New York, who still haven’t gotten
over the prospect of being hurtled into oncoming-trains.

Usmani is referring to a madwoman who pushed a Hindu onto the path of a train because, she said, she was angry at Muslims over 9/11. Leftists and Islamic supremacists tried to blame me for this, although there was absolutely no evidence that this woman ever heard of me or my work. Nor do Usmani or those who blamed me earlier ever mention the Muslim who pushed an Infidel onto the tracks the week before the madwoman committed her crime. It is much more likely that she was influenced by him than by me.

Most recently the hashtag #indienono has been tweeted to protest her
“Anti-Sharia” campaign. Her posters are being likened to hate-speech.
Her advertisements on buses came under fire by both the Mayor of San
Francisco and the same SF Transit company that agreed to run them in the
first place.

I’ve long suspected there would be some grand-reveal — that she’s
really some kind of Jerry Lawler-style Performance artist, just cashing
in on being incendiary. What I found was very surprising.

After doing time at the New York Daily News and New York Observer,
Gellar [sic] spent a portion of the 90s living as a wealthy housewife in Long
Island. Which may be three most incredulous [he means "incredible"; get a dictionary, Usmani — Atlas] things about her. She found
her calling nearly nine years after 9/11, when her campaign against the
Park 51 Islamic Community Center rebranded it permanently as the Ground
Zero Mosque. She has been hoisted up to the top of the post-9/11
alarmist human pyramid of talking heads, “Christian Rights Activists,”
and disenfranchised whites living around Europe and the United States.

It was at Ground Zero, slated to take the place of a building that was
extensively damaged in the 9/11 attacks, and so was part of Ground Zero.
It was a mosque, as that is still all that is happening in the Burlington Coat Factory building: Muslim prayers. And we defeated it. And it's bitterly ironic for him to be talking after the Boston jihad bombings about my stirring up "fear" and "alarmism."

And here again is more proof of Usmani's non-existent research skills. I did not find my calling nine years after 9/11. That may be when Usmani became aware of me, but I have been
blogging/writing and activating, every day, day in and day out, since February 2005,
after spending three years studying the jihadic doctrine.

She wrote about my band, the Kominas, in 2009 with the headline “Sharia Law in the USA – Everybody dance now, no wait.”

Her editorial remarks were scant. They amounted to single-line captions
between pictures. I remember one reading, “lock up your kids.”

I figured I’d try to get in contact with her between her speaking gigs
to talk about music because she’s commented on it in the past and about
the “rapid Islamification” these United States, because fighting that
seems to be her calling in life. The following exchange took place email
during the past 10 days.

VICE: You've blogged about loving the Cure, what's your
favorite album and why? They're one of my favorite bands. How'd you get
into them?
Pamela Geller: My Cure fave is "Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss
me." I was very into punk rock. I loved the return of bare bones rock
'n' roll –crazy for the Ramones, Broooce, Patti Smith, et al so it was
natural that would lead me to the second British invasion of the Smiths,
the Cure, the Clash.

The Smiths was always on – the soundtrack of my angst. And I loved
Elvis Costello. All of it – his attempts at country and classical. Just
brilliant.

Is your favorite Cure song “Killing an Arab”?
I think my favorite is “Friday I’m in love”.

Do you think the public is too mean to Robert Smith for gaining so much weight?
I think the public is vicious (and shallow). I mean, really. It's not
like we loved him for his beauty and his bod. We loved his pain. His
weight is a manifestation of the pain. But he enjoys himself despite of
himself.

The Cure or Depeche Mode? I always thought Depeche Mode were wusses.
You can't even use Depeche and the Cure in the same sentence. Depeche was like cheap candy — new wave light.

For me, the best album the Cure ever put out was the "live"
album, mostly due to that moment in the beginning of "Edge of the deep
green sea", where you’re capsized into an ocean of guitar feedback. Have
you ever seen them live?
I never saw them live 🙁

What Smiths song do you think sums up your personality?
Some girls are bigger than others

Bauhaus or Joy Division. From your music taste it seems like they'd fit right in.
I don't shut them off but they are not on my play list

What's your favorite Elvis Costello song, I know its hard to say, but what's a song that has never stopped speaking to you?
Hmmmm, “The Other End of the Telescope.” Honorable mentions: “High Infidelity,” and “Shipbuilding.”

Say I'm new to Elvis Costello, what album should I start with? I know he's done country-classical music.
Start with his first album My Aim is True It's bloody fantastic.

Any newer rappers that you like?
No

You recently posted about how indiegogo stood behind your right
to fund-raise when you were accused of promoting racial-hatred. Can you
explain Indiegogo’s position, regarding their support for you?
I published their email. It said they allow anyone to fundraise. I
appreciate their non-political stance in this age when everything is
politicized.

Critics of yours allege that the spike in attacks on Muslim and
Sikh Americans in 2012 was related to public figures such as yourself
equating Muslims to savages. What would you say to them?
I would say that they were perpetrating an outrageous libel designed to
discredit my work for freedom. I have never advocated any kind of
violence. Sikhs stood with us at our rally at Ground Zero on 9/11/2011.
The ad did not equate Muslims with savages, as you probably know. It
equated the jihadis who kill innocent civilians in Israel, and those who
celebrate those killings, with savages. Muslims who reject that
savagery should be standing with me.

Do you think the large Muslim communities in cities like New
York, Chicago, SF, Houston or Boston can be a force behind savagery, ie
the Islamization of the USA?
Some people there are, some aren't. Certainly there are mosque leaders
in those cities with ties to Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups.

Your most recent book is about the Islamization of the USA,
what are some examples of the Islamization of America that pop out at
you?
The Justice Department forcing the Berkeley School District to pay
$75,000 to Safoorah Khan because she demanded three weeks vacation
during her first year of teaching to go on the hajj [pilgrimage
to Mecca]. The $25,000 that the DOJ forced Essex County, NJ to pay to
Yvette Beshier for denying her request to wear a hijab on the
job, which they did for safety reasons. The general fear in the
mainstream media to say or do anything remotely critical of jihad or
Islamic supremacism.

Can a secular state or country be home to a Muslim community without the threat of Islamization looming?
That has never before happened in history.

Do you think critics of the NYPD's surveillance of Muslim communities are ungrateful?
Ungrateful for what? Bloomberg, who is a great friend of the Muslim
community, strongly defended the legality of this program. An
investigation found it had broken no laws. So what was overly invasive
about it?

Besides 9/11, is there a personal anecdote to share that led to you embarking on advocating against Sharia in the USA?

I always took my freedom for granted. It never occurred to me that it
could be taken away. When I realized that, I knew I had to fight for it,
because no one else was going to do it for me.

Don’t you think the Muslim world's hatred of Obama should quell fears that he may be a secret-Muslim?
No. He has aided the advance of Islamic supremacism and Sharia all
across North Africa. I don't know or care what his religion is. The
problem him is his pro-Sharia foreign policy.

Do you support Obama's use of drones and is he doing enough to protect America?
I am in favor of any lawful resistance to the jihad. Obama has done
nothing to protect America against Islamization. He had Osama and Awlaki
killed but aids those who advance their goal (Sharia over the West) by
different, non-violent means.

Could you maybe review, if only in a few words per track, some of my band's songs?

Love the rockabilly groove on "No one is gonna honor kill my baby" but as for the lyirics, really?

Yes it’s clearly satirical.
Satirical? About gender apartheid, creed apartheid, honor killings,
persecution of religious minorities, mass murder? I wouldn't be so sure
that many didn't take you literally—especially in Pakistan. There is a
jihad punk movement (MEMRI etc) that spreads violent jihad.

Perhaps I was a bit too tongue-in-cheek in that 4-year-old post but I
think you are doing your music and your talent a disservice. It's like
joking about the ovens. Something’s just ain't funny.

What about the other tracks I sent you, like “Doomsday,” or "Tahrir Square Dance"?
It's catchy. Amateurish but that gives it an edge. "Tahrir Square Dance" was danceable. I liked it, second to “Honor Baby.”

What are the chances we could do a sit-down interview in New
York somewhere? One good thing about having a sizable Muslim community
in NY is the availability of delicious lamb, goat, and beef dishes.
As for sit-downs, my time is too crunchy. I conduct all interviews this
way (I gave you more time than most everyone). Between the blog, my
columns, the activism, social media, ads, creative, talks, travel, my
life and family, I have no time. I barely sleep. Maybe when things cool
off a bit.

Until then.

It bears noting that Basim repeatedly sent me his "music" to review. It's terrible, wannabe trash. At first I did not respond, so as not to have to lie, but he just kept on — wanting my opinion so badly. It stunk. I was more than polite in my reponse. The fact that he plays this garbage in Pakistan — songs about honor killings — is particularly rich.

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D

tim

11 years ago

Pamela called Obama an al Qaeda member?? That’s beyond funny. She has said Obama is indirectly helping al Qaeda by funding extremists that the gov assumes are rebels, which is completely accurate. Basim Usmani should give evidence to her statement or it is actually pure slander. Usmani is a typical Muslim lier. It never ends with these ugly people. They can only lie and distort. Their murders and terrorism comes from their endless distortions and propaganda.

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Walter Sieruk

11 years ago

There are some people who are actually still looking of a motive of why those guys commited those cruel, murderous terrorist bombings in Boston. The answer to the is that they were engaging in the vicious, brual militant jihadism of Islam. For example, the Quran teachers in Sura 47 “Whenever you encounter the unbelievers,strike off their heads untill you make a greater “slaughter among them…” A bomb may possibly make a greater “slaughter among them” then a sword can. This is just one of the many places in the Quran that teach violence and killing. Let wake to reality, Islam is a death cult.

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Paul

11 years ago

Hi Pam – how you deal with these low-lifes on a daily basis is beyond me – you are one of a kind Pam and Im grateful or all you do – a good place for him to play his trash – in a trash pile of a country…the UNholy keran instructs them to lie…no big surprise here.

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RCCA

11 years ago

I really enjoyed your musical pics, especially your Cure fave, “Kiss me, Kiss me, Kiss me.”
Extraordinary music.

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duh_swami

11 years ago

Basim disobeys and insults Mohammad who clearly banned musical instruments as haram and said anyone listening to a songstress was going to get molten lead poured in their ears…
Allah is watching and taking notes Basim..

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ed

11 years ago

cair and other islamic death groups are always sending out their little toads to lie an destroy anyone that speaks the Truth about islam an the quran of the moon god of hate !!
Keep the Good work going Pamela.Never give an inch to the liars. thanks pamela for all you do !!

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Nat's daughter

11 years ago

Ditto to what Paul wrote. Pam, you are one terrific lady having to put up with the likes of this trash. A MAJOR difference between civilized people and savage scum is that civilized people would hang their heads in shame if these horrific murders were perpetrated by their own ilk. The savages applaud, dance, play the victim, make excuses, etc, etc. Savage is an understatement.

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NoGroundZeroMosque

11 years ago

Pamela – For those of us who love you… please be very very careful with these personal invitations from snakes. Remember Breitbart? Do NOT put yourself in a situation ALONE with them.

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logdon

11 years ago

Killing an Arab was actually a reference to Albert Camus where his eponymous subject in the Outsider does just that.
He like Jean Paul Sartre’s hero in Nausea is a man sans emotion or feelings and killing that Arab in Oran, Algeria was merely a test of himself.
These are books of high abstraction and basically academic treaties in existentialism. They are not guide books a la Inspire’s pressure cooker bomb making, but Muslims inhabiting a world of black and white and us and them could never understand.
They are morons and subtlety within literature and art eludes them. This goes some way in explaining the dumb bovine lack of curiosity, the shocking illiteracy rate and the fact that Spain alone publishes more than the whole of the ME put together.

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taso

11 years ago

i’m not even a muslim, but reading you morons make me hate america even more than i already do 🙂

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Judi

11 years ago

Pam – I think you were too polite to the little creep. Now see how he repays you. You shouldn’t give him the time of day, let alone an interview and I totally agree with ‘NoGroundZeroMosque’… be very careful with meeting these low lives. Not only poor Andrew Breitbart, but look what happened to Daniel Pearl.

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Isabellathecrusader

11 years ago

Yeah, so who cares?

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Isabellathecrusader

11 years ago

Well Basim, it looks like the old “Muslims-are-duplicitous-liars-who-lie-to-further-the-spread-of-Islam” adage really applies in your case. Thanks for making Pamela right, again.

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Osat

11 years ago

I’m with Taso – you people are an incredible embarrassment to our country.
Have a great day though! =]

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InfidelForLife

11 years ago

Very rational and intelligent explanation! Surely you are the intellectual of your family.

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Bill Fisk

11 years ago

Is Osat a backward Taso, or vice-versa?

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Kufar Dawg

11 years ago

Islam sounds like it could be the right choice for you.

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Johnmagne

11 years ago

“Spain translates more books into Spanish each year than the entire Arab world has translated into Arabic since the ninth century.”
http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/the-reality-of-islam

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Johnmagne

11 years ago

Oh, and even more here: http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/08/10/a-note-on-arabic-literacy-and-translation/

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Sam

11 years ago

Considering you just essentialized Muslims as simple minded and belligerent, I’d argue that you’re the one living in an Orientalist-Occident us-them binary. A number of literary works have been published by Muslims including works by Naguib Mahfouz, Jibran Khalil Jibran, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Allama Iqbal etc. so I highly doubt that the subtlety within literature eludes them. Yes, Spain has a considerably high amount of high quality publications, but I’m not sure why that matters. Good job for Spain. Iran came out with around 20,000 publications last year; Saudi Arabia increased the number of publications it came out with by 33% which is huge.

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