# NYC cabbie stabbed for being Muslim. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 25, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428 "2010-08-25T18:22:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/41 "2010-08-26T00:05:10Z")
This story sounds fishy to me-I expect it has a lot to do with the “anti-mosque” controversy. It sounds like something some reporter invented. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/42 "2010-08-26T00:10:19Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > This story sounds fishy to me-I expect it has a lot to do with the “anti-mosque” controversy. > It sounds like something some reporter invented. I hope you’re kidding. The notion that the cabbie was genuinely mugged and made up the story for attention or to grind a personal political axe is somewhat possible, but the idea that the entire incident is an invention of the news media (in conspiracy with the police?) is just absurd. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/43 "2010-08-26T00:13:15Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > This story sounds fishy to me-I expect it has a lot to do with the “anti-mosque” controversy. > It sounds like something some reporter invented. You mean it could be completely unrelated to any anti Muslim sentiment and the Muslim angle created by a reporter. That’s possible except the cabbie could easily refute such a ploy by revealing the story was fake. Someone suggested it could be the cabbie playing the bigotry card. Also possible but the stabber doesn’t appear to be the average mugger , or denying the “Are you a Muslim?” story for now. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/44 "2010-08-26T00:41:31Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I don’t like fear mongering by Muslims any more than than my Beck. I just don’t have any say at AL Jazeera Al Jazeera is actually a pretty sober international news agency. They’re basically an Arabic/Muslim BBC: there are differences of priority and terminology, but the approach and much of the core content is almost the same. Look at [their site](http://english.aljazeera.net/) and see if you can find some fear mongering. It’s not really fair to compare them to Glenn Beck. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/45 "2010-08-26T01:32:50Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@cosmosdan](#): > > > > I don’t like fear mongering by Muslims any more than than my Beck. I just don’t have any say at AL Jazeera > > Al Jazeera is actually a pretty sober international news agency. They’re basically an Arabic/Muslim BBC: there are differences of priority and terminology, but the approach and much of the core content is almost the same. Look at [their site](http://english.aljazeera.net/) and see if you can find some fear mongering. > > It’s not really fair to compare them to Glenn Beck. Thanks for fighting my ignorance. I’ve never checked them out before. It was interesting to see that some of the comments were just as stupid any other web site. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/46 "2010-08-26T01:42:21Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > The latter happens? I’m seriously grasping for examples. There might be some cases of _overreaction_ to events rather than underreaction/support, but when has a conflict inspired both sides to engage in dialogue? How about the conflict over Park 51? > [@](#): > > Like what? > > Fear _mongering_ isn’t done due to ignorance, and when it comes to the ‘professional’ hatemongers, I don’t think they’re powered by ideology, either. I think it’s money that drives them. I know. > [@](#): > > And so to stop the hate, you’d have to either stop the money, or make it illegal to say such things. Problem is, the money tree waters itself; persons who actually buy their line often refuse to listen to opposing views, 'cause the guys proposing them are The Enemy. So I don’t think you can cut off the audience or the sponsors or the funds. > > Unless you make something about their speech illegal. Which has been done in places…but do we really want to go there? I think I do yes. In another thread someone was talking about the guidelines in the UK that would make a lot of the shit we hear on Fox and other irresponsible speculation and created controversy actionable. I think I’m for it. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/47 "2010-08-26T15:12:16Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@furt](#): > > > > We are waaaay better than the average. Miles beyond. > > … > > We have the same DNA as people in those “benighted” places you expect us to be so much better than. > > So, how do you account for that? All kinds of stuff, from specific legal protections to a multitude of cultural factors to the fact that generally people are more tolerant of “others” when we are materially comfortable ourselves. We’re learning to control it, but the drive to hate is bred in the bone. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/48 "2010-08-26T16:11:06Z")
According to a [new article](http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/46449/20100826/mosque-islam-hate.htm) other incidents of anti Muslim sentiment are springing up across America. > [@](#): > > An Islamic center in Madera, CA, was vandalized Tuesday with a sign that read, “No temple for the god of terrorism at Ground Zero.” this one related directly to the Park 51 controversy. and this > [@](#): > > “When you have the level of anti-Muslim hate rhetoric that we are now experiencing - on the radio, over the Internet - these sorts of incidents are inevitable,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “The daily diatribes against Islam, especially regarding the manufactured controversy about the planned center in lower Manhattan, are triggering certain unstable individuals to perform these violent acts.” so thank you very much scum suckers at Fox news for spreading hate for profit. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/49 "2010-08-26T16:16:11Z")
> [@furt](#): > > All kinds of stuff, from specific legal protections to a multitude of cultural factors to the fact that generally people are more tolerant of “others” when we are materially comfortable ourselves. > We’re learning to control it, but the drive to hate is bred in the bone. I agree. That doesn’t mean we accept it as an inevitable and without trying to curb that part of our humanity. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/50 "2010-08-26T16:51:06Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > > [@furt](#): > > > > All kinds of stuff, from specific legal protections to a multitude of cultural factors to the fact that generally people are more tolerant of “others” when we are materially comfortable ourselves. > > > > We’re learning to control it, but the drive to hate is bred in the bone. > > I agree. That doesn’t mean we accept it as an inevitable and without trying to curb that part of our humanity. And yet your OP says we are “breeding intolerance, bitterness, and resentment,” which implies it was not in us to begin with. Your OP asks “Is it inevitable that we will experience these kinds of events to finally confront our own inner fears and bigotry and to test our resolve concerning our founding principles and American Character?” which implies that somehow this is an American impulse rather than a human one. Your OP asks “Can we curb the profit driven controversy and the dishonest inflammatory language that feeds this beast? How much blame do the fear mongers deserve” … and the answer, with what we now know about the assailant, seems to be “zero.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/51 "2010-08-26T16:58:10Z")
Okay, now I’m really confused. It sounds like the alleged stabber was basically… one of us. _Quoi_? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/52 "2010-08-26T17:05:22Z")
The current assertion on the right-wing forums (I read 'em so YOU don’t have to!) is that Enright stabbed the driver because the driver was a Muslim \*against \*the building of the mosque. You read that right- according to them, Enright is a Liberal who actually wants the mosque to be built and was simply angry that an actual Muslim wouldn’t want it to be built. It’s all some big leftist conspiracy, you see. By asserting this, they distance themselves from the racism \*and \*are able to point to a Muslim who is against the mosque. Genius! ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/53 "2010-08-26T17:13:14Z")
Here’s another one: > [@](#): > > In another brazen anti-Muslim incident, a man wandered into a mosque in Queens Wednesday night, shouting racial slurs and urinating all over prayer rugs. > > According to police, a drunk Omar Rivera shouted “terrorists” before relieving himself in the Iman Mosque. > > SOUCE: [Omar Rivera Urinated On Mosque Floor: Police | HuffPost New York](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/26/omar-rivera-urinates-on-m_n_695461.html) Now, if people can show such thing generally happen anyway then, while offensive, is not a sign that the current anti-islam climate has anything to do with it. Otherwise it would seem the hate-filled climate is indeed pushing people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t have. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/54 "2010-08-26T17:13:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Okay, now I’m really confused. It sounds like the alleged stabber was basically… one of us. _Quoi_? Yep…a nut. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/55 "2010-08-26T17:15:33Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > The current assertion on the right-wing forums (I read 'em so YOU don’t have to!) is that Enright stabbed the driver because the driver was a Muslim \*against \*the building of the mosque. You read that right- according to them, Enright is a Liberal who actually wants the mosque to be built and was simply angry that an actual Muslim wouldn’t want it to be built. It’s not _that_ unlikely. I mean, not that much more unlikely than him being a member of the Cordoba Initiative who was secretly trying to block the whole thing. Either way, more information needed. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/56 "2010-08-26T17:49:55Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It sounds like the alleged stabber was basically… one of us. Just a slob like one of us. Just a stranger on the bus … oh, wait, he got into a cab. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/57 "2010-08-26T17:53:48Z")
So it was an act of God? This religious war is really escalating. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/58 "2010-08-26T18:03:46Z")
> [@furt](#): > > > [@cosmosdan](#): > > > > I agree. That doesn’t mean we accept it as an inevitable and without trying to curb that part of our humanity. > > And yet your OP says we are “breeding intolerance, bitterness, and resentment,” which implies it was not in us to begin with. No it it no way implies that. Stop applying your own faulty logic to my posts and then responding as if I said something I didn’t say. When I go out to the garden I try to encourage the plants I want to grow rather than the weeds, even though they both exist there. It’s the same concerning what’s within us. Acknowledging it’s there doesn’t require encouraging it and nurturing it as if it’s a good thing. > [@](#): > > Your OP asks “Is it inevitable that we will experience these kinds of events to finally confront our own inner fears and bigotry and to test our resolve concerning our founding principles and American Character?” which implies that somehow this is an American impulse rather than a human one. Wrong again for pretty much the same reason. It only implies that the subject of this specific conversation is this issue in America. It says nothing one way or the other about human nature in general. If you have a point to make about human nature in general that’s fine but please refrain from putting words in my mouth by reading implications I never made. > [@](#): > > Your OP asks “Can we curb the profit driven controversy and the dishonest inflammatory language that feeds this beast? How much blame do the fear mongers deserve” … and the answer, with what we now know about the assailant, seems to be “zero.” And I agreed that this single incident didn’t show much in any absolute way but my concern about it being a hint of things to come was legit. Now we’re seeing other acts connected to a general anti Muslim sentiment which IMHO can be logically connected to irresponsible media purposely fanning the fires of religious intolerance. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/59 "2010-08-26T18:12:59Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > The current assertion on the right-wing forums (I read 'em so YOU don’t have to!) is that Enright stabbed the driver because the driver was a Muslim \*against \*the building of the mosque. You read that right- according to them, Enright is a Liberal who actually wants the mosque to be built and was simply angry that an actual Muslim wouldn’t want it to be built. > It’s all some big leftist conspiracy, you see. By asserting this, they distance themselves from the racism \*and \*are able to point to a Muslim who is against the mosque. Genius! Wow, just Wow. Not that crazed illogical liberal is impossible. It isn’t. His background does baffle me but there are suggestions he was drunk or off his meds of on them or something. Police reported he was kind of babbling incoherently when they arrested him. So to clarify for those who like to read things into posts It’s possible this incident had nothing to do with anti Muslim sentiment although it seemed that way at first. We are seeing other reports though. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428/60 "2010-08-26T18:47:20Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > Now we’re seeing other acts connected to a general anti Muslim sentiment … :dubious: Cite for actual acts of anti-Muslim violence? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nyc-cabbie-stabbed-for-being-muslim/551428.md?page=4)