The Five Mistakes
With the exception of the black student, who drew from heartfelt family experiences, the Five Mistakes on the panel had nothing to teach the small crowd especially of blacks at the Senior Center. The Five Mistakes should have spent their afternoon at McDonalds, supping milkshakes. I would have bought.
This was like watching the cartoon before the feature film at the movies. Who were they? Why were they there? Some came to rant, none came to educate or inspire.
Who Has Bad Strategy?
And these people think President Bush has a poor strategy for defeating the Apostles Of The Religion We Are Not Allowed To Mention By Name In Culver City Because It Is Just Like The Religions We Non-Terrorists Believe In Except It Is Spelled Differently.
In case nudge-nudge, wink-wink you missed the point being driven home none too subtlely by promoters of King Day, the true theme of Sunday and especially Mondays programs was:
Islam Feels And (Practically) Looks Exactly Like Christianity, Exactly Like Judaism Or Any Other Religious Construction You Can Think Of Or Start By Dinnertime.
The Day Everybody(?) Was Even
Let us call it what it is. King Day was an excuse to try and raise the credibility of Islam to the respectable level that Christianity and Judaism occupy in this town. This was King Day all right. What they didnt tell you, though, Freddie, was they meant it was more about the religion of the King of Saudi Arabia and the King of Jordan than about the Americas Dr. King. For a few hours on Sunday and Monday, the Senior Center and the King Fahad Mosque were converted into Disneyland for Shilly-Shally Believers. Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny were in evidence everywhere I looked. Elmer Fudd and Mortimer Snerd sat a couple of rows behind me.
King Day Out, Islam in
Unapologetically, King Day was borrowed or stolen from black people and from Dr. King. It was replaced by a promotion headlined as The Selling of Islam.
We Are All Alike I
This was Seduction 101. Versions of the slicked-up syllabus were within easy reach of all guests at the Senior Center.
We Are All Alike II
Seduction 101 was carefully planned and targeted. Nuance took the day off. A smoothly packaged, 4-color, American-style pamphlet 3 1/2 x 8 1/2 promoted Islam as a religion just like what your Aunt Fanny and Uncle Ike profess at their little church. Here, have a taste. Allah was nowhere to be found in a prominent position in the pamphlet. His name was buried deep, deep inside the pamphlet that was heavily edited for purely parochial American consumption. Allusions to Allahs name were intended to escape a casual scanning, which promoters counted on. Allah was replaced by presto the more American-ly familiar appellation, God. If there were a Golden Globes award for s-m-o-o-t-h religious proselytizing marketing materials, this piece would be a winner.
For Familiaritys Sake
With a picture of the traditional Westernized concept of heaven in the background, the seductive headline on the pamphlet cover reads, Loving Devotion to God. In case you slow-minded American rubes dont get it, the first three words are in white script, and God is in giant red lettering. Bracketed just under the word God is the reference for the quote, as in (Taqwa). The un-random quote at the bottom of the cover reads, Overwhelm your enemies with love and kindness. The 13 un-random, sweet-sounding, richly resonating aphorisms within the pamphlet would warm the Coliseum on a snowy night. A certain supreme being is mentioned in 9 of the 13 aphorisms. Did you peek? Eschewing the name used everywhere else on earth, God went 9-for-9, making the cut in every headline.
Postscript
By George, Freddie, the seductive promoters of the day must have forgotten and left the marketing material for the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Catholics, the Baptists, the Lutherans, the Jews all those old-fashioned American religions in their car, or back at the nuclear waste dump.
