Mark Steyn On The Curious Case of Faisal Mohammed at UC Merced
posted by Duane Patterson
The audio:
11-05hhs-steyn
The transcript:
HH: From Colorado Christian University, Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute sitting in with me, and we are joined by Columnist To the World, Mark Steyn, who I think is a big Chicago fan. Am I right about that, Mark Steyn?
MS: Actually, they, Chicago did an album of, well, who hasn’t, but they did an album of standards. They did the Rod Stewart-slays-the-great-American-songbook approach, so there’s a kind of, you know, I can take a little Baby, What A Big Surprise and that kind of thing, but only up to a certain point.
HH: Well, once again, you’ve been bumped by Donald Trump. And I tweeted out the wrath of Steyn is coming my way, much like the wrath of Khan whenever that happens.
MS: Yeah.
HH: But he does like to start, he likes to open shows, Mark Steyn.
MS: Yeah, no, I’m (laughing), I’m just, this is becoming a pattern now, because it happened a couple of weeks ago. And you know, this is the way it is. I’m going to win the New Hampshire primary, and just as I’m about to make my victory speech, he’ll step on stage and elbow me off, and I’ll get bumped for Trump on primary night. It’s the way it’s going to go now.
HH: The way of the world. All right, now here’s the big story that Jeff and I were talking about, and Donald and I were talking about. Yesterday, a knife-wielding student at UC Merced stabs four people before he’s shot dead. We can’t get his name. 24 hours passed, his name is released this morning. It turns out that his name is Faisal Mohammed. Not three hours goes by, and UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland comes out to say that the attack was not in any way related to terrorism. It appears to have been motivated by personal animosities, not a political agenda, and that, “it would be irresponsible to draw any link to terrorism based solely on the ethnicity of the suspect. The Sheriff said it was an act of an individual for a vendetta, nothing to indicate that there was any political or religious motivation.” Mark Steyn, that is not rational, unless and until they have absolutely gone through his computer and found that there are no jihadi videos or references to Palestinians’ sudden attacks on Israelis with knives, which is immediately what I thought of.
MS: Yeah, and I find it odd that this is, the first thing that happens now, whenever some guy called Mohammed, sometimes Mohammed is his first name, sometimes, it’s a surname, sometimes, it’s both names, and the first thing that anybody does anywhere around the Western world is rush to assure us that this has nothing to do with either Islam or terrorism. So there’s nothing, no reason to worry, folks, because if someone suddenly decides to come at you and he’s shouting Allahu Akbar, that’s just Arabic for there’s nothing to see here. There’s no problem, just move on, nothing to see here. And it’s interesting how the headline in the newspaper, on ABC News’ website, it struck me. It said suspect in UC Merced stabling ID’d as 18 year old from Santa Clara. So this is the way it’s presented now. It’s like a, you know, those crazy teenagers from Santa Clara, you know, these juvenile delinquents they’ve got down there in the leather jackets, these Santa Clara teens, beware of them. They’re crazy guys. The Santa Clara community, you don’t want to go near any of them. And we all know the reality of what is going on here. We know the success that the Islamic State and other groups have had in using social media to make jihad sexy and appealing. And it is grossly irresponsible for law enforcement, particularly who are usually very, in any other circumstances, they’re cautious not to rule anything out until all the facts are in, to essentially engage in this effort just to make Islam feel good about itself on days like these. That’s not their primary responsibility. And eventually, people will resent them for it, and won’t believe law enforcement, and won’t believe other parts of the bureaucracy, and nothing good is going to come from telling your citizenry that you can’t believe a word they say.
JH: Yeah, Mark, this is Jeff Hunt. I agree absolutely with you. I don’t understand why the police officers are taking this side. I mean, for the most part, you can understand why politicians do this. It kind of flies in the face of the narrative that there’s no terrorist attacks here, there’s no threat here in the United States on these types of things. But for law enforcement, who tends to be very neutral, to take that line and to note definitively that this had nothing to do with terrorism. Meanwhile, you have a stabbing epidemic that’s taking place in the Middle East, and we’re just kind of, like you said, this is just an 18 year old from Santa Clara that has nothing to do with the stabbing epidemics in the Middle East. I think it’s irresponsible of the police to jump to that conclusion so quickly. I don’t quite understand it.
MS: Well, you say police are neutral, but in fact, there is a politically-correct aspect to law enforcement these days, particularly where this issue is concerned. I could reel off a hundred examples – 19 men in Toronto were found to be plotting to behead the prime minister on live television. And the Toronto police chief stands up there at the press conference and says oh, these are men from a diverse range of communities. They were 19 young Muslim men. They weren’t in the least bit diverse. But he was concerned to de-Islamize the incident. The London Tube bombings in 2005, I believe it was the deputy chief constable in the Metropolitan Police in London, again stood up at the press conference and did this no Islam to see here, nothing to do with Islam. It’s become a standard part of the reporting of these kinds of incidents, often while the incident is still continuing. In other words, before they’ve even sealed the scene, there’s some police chief somewhere standing up and saying there’s no Islam to see here.
HH: Yeah, it might, Mark…That’s what’s amazing.
MS: And it really is a good example of how even institutions we don’t think of as politically correct, the same way, same with the United States Army in the Fort Hood incident when…
HH: Yeah.
MS: …the head of the U.S. Army said as great as this tragedy was, it would be an even greater tragedy if our commitment to diversity were to be damaged by this, and you know, there’s the same, it’s the same thing. Even institutions we don’t think of as politically correct have been infected, so that almost in a reflexive way, they feel the first thing to do is to soothe Islam’s feelings on these things.
HH: But sometimes, it becomes absurd. The sheriff said this was an act of an individual for a vendetta, nothing to indicate there is any political or religious motivation. He can’t know that, because he’s not a cyber expert. But every individual vendetta I know, for example, if Mark Steyn went after Donald Trump with a pie because he gets bumped by Trump all the time, that’s a vendetta. A vendetta doesn’t mean that you knife random people in a room and then knife the construction worker, and then knife the first person who see coming down the street. That’s not a vendetta, Mark Steyn.
MS: No, and what he’s doing there is he’s destroying language. The police, as you point out, a vendetta means certain things. A vendetta doesn’t mean some guy just stabbing random people. Stabbing random people until we know otherwise is very much what ISIS recommends. It says you know, everybody else is an infidel, kill the infidels with whatever you have at hand. And for him to rule certain things out before he’s even looked into the guy’s background is completely irresponsible.
HH: Mark Steyn..
MS: And that police chief should be held to account.
HH: You’re excellent as a backup to Donald Trump, and next week, you’ll be back in the front of the lineup again. Donald and Mark, together again on Thursday.
End of interview.
11-05hhs-steyn
The transcript:
HH: From Colorado Christian University, Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute sitting in with me, and we are joined by Columnist To the World, Mark Steyn, who I think is a big Chicago fan. Am I right about that, Mark Steyn?
MS: Actually, they, Chicago did an album of, well, who hasn’t, but they did an album of standards. They did the Rod Stewart-slays-the-great-American-songbook approach, so there’s a kind of, you know, I can take a little Baby, What A Big Surprise and that kind of thing, but only up to a certain point.
HH: Well, once again, you’ve been bumped by Donald Trump. And I tweeted out the wrath of Steyn is coming my way, much like the wrath of Khan whenever that happens.
MS: Yeah.
HH: But he does like to start, he likes to open shows, Mark Steyn.
MS: Yeah, no, I’m (laughing), I’m just, this is becoming a pattern now, because it happened a couple of weeks ago. And you know, this is the way it is. I’m going to win the New Hampshire primary, and just as I’m about to make my victory speech, he’ll step on stage and elbow me off, and I’ll get bumped for Trump on primary night. It’s the way it’s going to go now.
HH: The way of the world. All right, now here’s the big story that Jeff and I were talking about, and Donald and I were talking about. Yesterday, a knife-wielding student at UC Merced stabs four people before he’s shot dead. We can’t get his name. 24 hours passed, his name is released this morning. It turns out that his name is Faisal Mohammed. Not three hours goes by, and UC Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland comes out to say that the attack was not in any way related to terrorism. It appears to have been motivated by personal animosities, not a political agenda, and that, “it would be irresponsible to draw any link to terrorism based solely on the ethnicity of the suspect. The Sheriff said it was an act of an individual for a vendetta, nothing to indicate that there was any political or religious motivation.” Mark Steyn, that is not rational, unless and until they have absolutely gone through his computer and found that there are no jihadi videos or references to Palestinians’ sudden attacks on Israelis with knives, which is immediately what I thought of.
MS: Yeah, and I find it odd that this is, the first thing that happens now, whenever some guy called Mohammed, sometimes Mohammed is his first name, sometimes, it’s a surname, sometimes, it’s both names, and the first thing that anybody does anywhere around the Western world is rush to assure us that this has nothing to do with either Islam or terrorism. So there’s nothing, no reason to worry, folks, because if someone suddenly decides to come at you and he’s shouting Allahu Akbar, that’s just Arabic for there’s nothing to see here. There’s no problem, just move on, nothing to see here. And it’s interesting how the headline in the newspaper, on ABC News’ website, it struck me. It said suspect in UC Merced stabling ID’d as 18 year old from Santa Clara. So this is the way it’s presented now. It’s like a, you know, those crazy teenagers from Santa Clara, you know, these juvenile delinquents they’ve got down there in the leather jackets, these Santa Clara teens, beware of them. They’re crazy guys. The Santa Clara community, you don’t want to go near any of them. And we all know the reality of what is going on here. We know the success that the Islamic State and other groups have had in using social media to make jihad sexy and appealing. And it is grossly irresponsible for law enforcement, particularly who are usually very, in any other circumstances, they’re cautious not to rule anything out until all the facts are in, to essentially engage in this effort just to make Islam feel good about itself on days like these. That’s not their primary responsibility. And eventually, people will resent them for it, and won’t believe law enforcement, and won’t believe other parts of the bureaucracy, and nothing good is going to come from telling your citizenry that you can’t believe a word they say.
JH: Yeah, Mark, this is Jeff Hunt. I agree absolutely with you. I don’t understand why the police officers are taking this side. I mean, for the most part, you can understand why politicians do this. It kind of flies in the face of the narrative that there’s no terrorist attacks here, there’s no threat here in the United States on these types of things. But for law enforcement, who tends to be very neutral, to take that line and to note definitively that this had nothing to do with terrorism. Meanwhile, you have a stabbing epidemic that’s taking place in the Middle East, and we’re just kind of, like you said, this is just an 18 year old from Santa Clara that has nothing to do with the stabbing epidemics in the Middle East. I think it’s irresponsible of the police to jump to that conclusion so quickly. I don’t quite understand it.
MS: Well, you say police are neutral, but in fact, there is a politically-correct aspect to law enforcement these days, particularly where this issue is concerned. I could reel off a hundred examples – 19 men in Toronto were found to be plotting to behead the prime minister on live television. And the Toronto police chief stands up there at the press conference and says oh, these are men from a diverse range of communities. They were 19 young Muslim men. They weren’t in the least bit diverse. But he was concerned to de-Islamize the incident. The London Tube bombings in 2005, I believe it was the deputy chief constable in the Metropolitan Police in London, again stood up at the press conference and did this no Islam to see here, nothing to do with Islam. It’s become a standard part of the reporting of these kinds of incidents, often while the incident is still continuing. In other words, before they’ve even sealed the scene, there’s some police chief somewhere standing up and saying there’s no Islam to see here.
HH: Yeah, it might, Mark…That’s what’s amazing.
MS: And it really is a good example of how even institutions we don’t think of as politically correct, the same way, same with the United States Army in the Fort Hood incident when…
HH: Yeah.
MS: …the head of the U.S. Army said as great as this tragedy was, it would be an even greater tragedy if our commitment to diversity were to be damaged by this, and you know, there’s the same, it’s the same thing. Even institutions we don’t think of as politically correct have been infected, so that almost in a reflexive way, they feel the first thing to do is to soothe Islam’s feelings on these things.
HH: But sometimes, it becomes absurd. The sheriff said this was an act of an individual for a vendetta, nothing to indicate there is any political or religious motivation. He can’t know that, because he’s not a cyber expert. But every individual vendetta I know, for example, if Mark Steyn went after Donald Trump with a pie because he gets bumped by Trump all the time, that’s a vendetta. A vendetta doesn’t mean that you knife random people in a room and then knife the construction worker, and then knife the first person who see coming down the street. That’s not a vendetta, Mark Steyn.
MS: No, and what he’s doing there is he’s destroying language. The police, as you point out, a vendetta means certain things. A vendetta doesn’t mean some guy just stabbing random people. Stabbing random people until we know otherwise is very much what ISIS recommends. It says you know, everybody else is an infidel, kill the infidels with whatever you have at hand. And for him to rule certain things out before he’s even looked into the guy’s background is completely irresponsible.
HH: Mark Steyn..
MS: And that police chief should be held to account.
HH: You’re excellent as a backup to Donald Trump, and next week, you’ll be back in the front of the lineup again. Donald and Mark, together again on Thursday.
End of interview.
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