# Please help me debunk that Muslims laughed and cheered as the Notre Dame Cathedral burned **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 17, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650 "2019-04-17T00:03:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/1 "2019-04-17T00:03:03Z")
I’m seeing this on Facebook. Please tell me this didn’t happen, because I seriously don’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/2 "2019-04-17T00:10:59Z")
Tell them that says it to put up or shut up, cite-wise. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/3 "2019-04-17T00:14:23Z")
While I have no way of knowing exactly how every single one of the world’s Muslims responded to the Notre Dame fire, the odds seem extremely high that any such report is merely [Islamophobic made-up bullshit](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/notre-dame-hoaxes). My favorite bit: > [@](#): > > 1. This is not a video of people shouting people shouting “allah akbar,” it’s people shouting “allais, en avant” which in french means “go on, move along.” (“Allais” there appears to be a typo for “allez”.) ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/4 "2019-04-17T00:15:00Z")
This is even a step more lazy than having us debunk a “friend’s” YouTube video. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/5 "2019-04-17T00:19:42Z")
It’s always going to come down to someone posted that someone they know saw it happening, and that’s their proof. How much more proof do you need? (rhetorical) You can’t convince people who want to believe something that it didn’t happen. All you can do, in my opinion, is to keep saying or posting some version of “I have seen no evidence that this happened, including the anecdote of your friend’s cousin’s mother-in-law. With all the cell phone cameras around surely there must be verifiable video of this happening? No? Then you have no evidence and I don’t believe things like this without evidence.” Of course, the other side is “so what?” If two or twenty or two hundred people who are allegedly Muslim clapped and cheered, so what? Did no-one else in the world have that reaction? Does that small number speak for all Muslims? Does that give everyone the right to hate Muslims because they are Muslims? Because that’s what they really want, they already hate Muslims (because stupid reasons) and they just want validation and pats on the back for being hateful. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/6 "2019-04-17T00:33:36Z")
Stupid ass Facebook implemented a choice of several emojis if you want to click something other than the like button a few years back and some users whose identities and religions are unverifiable and may have appeared to be Arabic/Muslim clicked “Funny” on the news. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/7 "2019-04-17T00:33:50Z")
So, here’s how I responded: “I see no verifiable evidence of this from reputable news sources. This seems to me to be a made-up story by racists and bigots. Can you provide a reputable cite for this bigotry? Believe it or not Muslims are God loving pacifists. There are just as many Christians who are radicalized.” ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/8 "2019-04-17T00:36:19Z")
I await the reply with bated breath. ---
**Author:** ![poweroftheglory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@poweroftheglory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poweroftheglory)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/9 "2019-04-17T00:39:10Z")
The only proper response is to tell anyone spreading this nonsense is to “go fuck themselves”. Liberals really need to learn to stop trying to debate bad faith racist assholes. It is a waste of time and effort. Jean Paul-Sartre comment about anti-semites easily applies to gross Islamophobia. “Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/10 "2019-04-17T00:40:06Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > There are just as many Christians who are radicalized." And some, I assume, are good people. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/11 "2019-04-17T00:43:13Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > And some, I assume, are good people. Of course. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/12 "2019-04-17T00:43:53Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > …Does that small number speak for all Muslims? Does that give everyone the right to hate Muslims because they are Muslims? Because that’s what they really want, they already hate Muslims (because stupid reasons) and they just want validation and pats on the back for being hateful. ^This. In another thread someone posted links to stories about Shep Smith of Fox News shutting down an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist; here’s another account: > [@](#): > > Fox News anchor Shep Smith kicked a French media figure off the network today after he began conspiring about the supposed malicious cause of the fire at Notre Dame. > Smith’s guest, Philippe Karsenty — the deputy mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine — was at the scene at the start of the Paris fire. > …“So, of course, you will hear the story of the political correctness which will tell you it’s probably an accident, but I don’t think,” Karsenty added before he was abruptly cut off by Smith. > > “Sir, sir, we’re not going to speculate of the cause of something that we don’t know,” shot back the Fox News anchor. > **[Shep Smith Cuts Off Notre Dame Fire Conspiracist: 'Not Doing That Here"](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/shep-smith-ends-interview-with-french-official-floating-notre-dame-conspiracy-were-not-doing-that-here-not-on-my-watch/)** > > "The man on the phone with us has absolutely no information of any kind about the origin of this fire and neither do I." So not everyone is willing to let the hatred flow. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/13 "2019-04-17T00:44:49Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > I await the reply with bated breath. I’m guessing she won’t respond. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/14 "2019-04-17T01:21:05Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > ^This. > > In another thread someone posted links to stories about Shep Smith of Fox News shutting down an anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist; here’s another account: > > [Shep Smith Cuts Off Notre Dame Fire Conspiracist: 'Not Doing That Here"](https://www.mediaite.com/tv/shep-smith-ends-interview-with-french-official-floating-notre-dame-conspiracy-were-not-doing-that-here-not-on-my-watch/) > > So not everyone is willing to let the hatred flow. I don’t know how I feel about Shep Smith. At any given time, I hold one or more of the following opinions: - Smith should find a job on a respectable network where his decency would not be wasted. - Smith is a villain for applying a veneer of legitimacy over the rotten core of Fox. - I applaud Smith for sticking it out as the lone voice of sanity and trying to reach at least a few of the deplorables. - It’s all a game, and Smith would play whatever role he’s paid to. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/15 "2019-04-17T01:34:23Z")
I had this exchange with a friend yesterday: Friend: Of course the conspiracy theorists are spinning that Jews & Muslims conspired to burn it down. Me: Satanic Atheist Jews and Muslims, no doubt. I saw thousands of them dancing in the streets of New Jersey just now, celebrating it. So there you have it: proof positive. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/16 "2019-04-17T01:43:03Z")
At the same time as Notre Dame was burning, Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, reportedly the “third-holiest site in Islam” also experienced a fire. This has been widely under-reported in the West, unlike the Notre Dame fire (which, to be fair, seems to have been larger and more destructive). This is the [Palestinian President’s](https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=783230) reaction: > [@](#): > > RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Foreign Ministry expressed deep sorrow in two separate statements at the Notre Dame Cathedral massive fire in Paris, on Tuesday. > > Abbas stressed his “solidarity and sympathy with France and its friendly people for this incident that is painful to all of us because of what this historic place means to civilization, to the history of France and to world heritage.” > > The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the people of Palestine stand by France on this sad occasion and shares with it its sorrow as a result of the fire that affected an important international site. Expressing sympathy for others’ grief while dealing with your own troubles? Classy. Those Facebook dudes - not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/17 "2019-04-17T01:44:11Z")
> [@Defensive\_Indifference](#): > > I don’t know how I feel about Shep Smith. At any given time, I hold one or more of the following opinions: > > - Smith should find a job on a respectable network where his decency would not be wasted. > - Smith is a villain for applying a veneer of legitimacy over the rotten core of Fox. > - I applaud Smith for sticking it out as the lone voice of sanity and trying to reach at least a few of the deplorables. > - It’s all a game, and Smith would play whatever role he’s paid to. Those are clearly all within the realm of fair reactions (though I lean toward the third, most of the time). ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/18 "2019-04-17T01:45:29Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m seeing this on Facebook. Please tell me this didn’t happen, because I seriously don’t believe it. Assuming this is a serious request, personally I’d tell them that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. There is no way to prove a negative, so it’s on them to provide evidence to prove their assertion. Oh, then (when they either provide nothing or some unrelated bullshit that is about something else) tell them to go fuck themselves. Sideways. With a rusty cactus. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/19 "2019-04-17T02:41:23Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I’m seeing this on Facebook. Please tell me this didn’t happen, because I seriously don’t believe it. The best way to respond to fake news is not to acknowledge it…which isn’t easy. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650/20 "2019-04-17T03:16:35Z")
The only actual “cheering” I’ve seen is coming from your typical teenagers and college students who want to sound all “edgy” and “shocking”. The kind of thing you say when you want to make yourself look like a rebel, but you really only come off like a dumbass, and you’ll end up being really, really embarrassed five years from now. Most of it’s just a bunch of nonsense posted over at Twitter or tumblr. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-me-debunk-that-muslims-laughed-and-cheered-as-the-notre-dame-cathedral-burned/832650.md?page=2)