EXTRA: Muslims Not Offended!

Remember the pig races in Katy, Texas? The ones that were organized in a lot next door to the future site of a mosque?

Craig Baker, a resident of the community, felt that the Katy Islamic Association was pushing him around and trying to get him to move, so he decided to exercise his constitutional right to race his own pigs on his own property. The Islamic Association tried to mau-mau him into submission in the usual CAIR fashion, but he’s a Texan, and stuck to his plan.

His idea generated a lot of local enthusiasm. Donations poured in to help him fund the races, with at least one case of a $1,000 gift. Now he’s ready: the first race was officially run last night while local Muslims were at their Friday prayers.

And what do you think happened? Rioting in the streets? Burning cars? Torching of the American embassy in foreign countries? Death threats to Mr. Baker and his family? Well… No, not quite:

Muslim group not offended as Katy pig races start

KATY — A Muslim group said it is no longer offended as Katy resident Craig Baker made good on his promise to stage Friday pig races next door to an 11-acre property the group has purchased to build a mosque.

While members of the Katy Islamic Association attended afternoon prayer services, Baker was busy next door at 1918 Baker Road lining a track for 25 pigs to race on and assembling merchandise to sell to the spectators.

About 100 people showed up for the event in the pouring rain.

A spokesman for the association, Yousef Allam, said members are no longer offended by Baker’s decision to race pigs, a forbidden meat in the Muslim culture, despite a Dec. 1 letter an attorney for the group sent to Baker demanding that he immediately remove the pigs from his own property.

“He knows that Muslims can be emotional, but it does not bother me,” Allam said. “I don’t care if he races, roasts or slaughters pigs.”

Baker, 46, said his intention is not to offend anyone with the races but to make clear that he will not be forced to move or relocate his marble-fabricating shop as he claims a member of the association previously urged him to.

“I am just defending my rights and my property,” Baker said. “They totally disrespected me and my family.”

Can you believe it? Muslims weren’t offended! That has to be a first.

There’s a video of the event that you’ll all want to see.

Mr. Baker described the pressure applied to him by the Islamic Association:

“Things changed with them saying maybe it would be a good time for you to consider packing up your family and packing up your business and moving somewhere farther out in the country,” Baker said.

Baker said Kamel Fotouh, the association’s president, deeply offended his family whose ties to the land goes back some 200 years in suggesting that they pack up and leave. His 90-year-old grandmother, Anna Baker, was the first female bus driver for the Katy Independent School District.

Allam said if any interaction between the group and Baker was interpreted as a threat for Baker to vacate his land, it was unintentional.

“If we somehow communicated that to him, then we apologize,” Allam said.

A Muslim apologized! Stop the presses! Hell has frozen over! Pigs Camels have flown!

Mr. Baker is a 21st-century American, so it is only natural that he has set up a website, “American Pig Race”, to promote his cause. The site is liberally decorated with a variety of pig icons, and has pig-related merchandise for sale — with all proceeds going to charity.

Here’s a quote from Mr. Baker’s account of recent events:

My Moslem neighbors have decided to take their fight with me to the media, hoping that by making this fight public I will come off as a red neck racist from Texas. On 11/29/06, ABC Channel 13 News reporter Ted Oberg came out to check on a dispute between neighbors. Oberg sat in my office filming me for over two hours to produce a 3-minute segment. Since that time I have done two other TV interviews one with CBS Channel 11, and one with Fox Channel 26. I also gave interviews for the print media to the Houston Chronicle, the Katy Times, and the Associated Press. I have done one live radio interview for the Fox News Radio with Spencer Hughes. On Thursday 11/30/06 Rush Limbaugh made mention of this for almost three minutes, then again on 12/07/06 Rush brought the matter up again. The situation was talked about by Michael Savage on 11/30/06 and was found on his website.

Now, to be perfectly frank, I couldn’t care less about all of that. My only objective here is to protect my property rights and the American values and traditions that the Baker family has enjoyed on Baker Road since the early 1800’s

Now, there’s a Texan in action.

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What I notice in all this brouhaha is the similarity (albeit on a smaller scale) between the Danish Motoon Crisis and the Baker Road Pig Races. The Texans in Katy reacted like the Danes did to the Motoon violence, and had a similar effect.

Here’s the typical process, as I see it:

1.		Muslims get offended by something an infidel does.
2.		The infidel is immediately reviled by Islamic organizations and vilified by the dhimmis in the Western press.
3.		The Muslim “street” rises up to toss Molotov cocktails and break windows.
4.		Lawsuits and other legal actions are initiated against the offensive infidel.
5.		Muslim leaders “regret” the violence, but point to the understandable rage of the average Muslim whose Prophet has been insulted, with a veiled threat of more violence in the absence of concessions.

Now we come to a fork in the road. The infidel at this point can take either the dhimmi fork, or the Holger Danske fork.

The Dhimmi Fork:

6.		Infidel engages in submissive behavior: apologizes, appeals for mutual understanding, expresses good intentions, etc.
7.		Muslims ramp the rage up a little higher to gain more concessions.
8.		Infidel authorities adopt full dhimmi position, increasing funding for outreach programs (paying the jizyah), passing legislation to protect Islam from disrespect (acknowledging the supremacy of the Koran and the religion of Allah), and making concessions on some Muslim issues, such as allowing the wearing of the niqab (accepting shariah).
9.		Muslim leaders pat the good dhimmi on the head and accept his apology.
10.		Muslims occupy their new and more strongly fortified position, awaiting the next opportunity.

The Holger Danske Fork:

6.		Infidel resists dhimmification and takes legal action, raises funds, publicizes his case, etc.
7.		Muslims up the ante, and hit him even harder with more lawsuits and threats.
8.		Infidel refuses to give in, and launches a counteroffensive in the press and the courts.
9.		Muslims suddenly abandon their position, concede that the infidel is not really that bad a guy, and pledge to “work for full understanding with members of other faiths”, etc.
10.		Things go quiet. Muslims bide their time, awaiting the next opportunity to foment a useful crisis.

Note that both forks end with Muslims biding their time, awaiting their next opportunity to create yet another crisis. But the Holger Danske fork leaves them occupying a much weaker position.

We all know that the cessation of hostilities is only temporary, and that the resulting calm is that of the hudna — the tactical truce that Islamic forces accept until they can renew their offensive from a stronger position. But the dhimmi fork doesn’t even result in a hudna.

If Holger Danske stands firm every time, the aggressive Islamic forces gain no ground and are pushed ever-so-slightly back. There’s a lesson here for all of us in the West.

Dymphna and I have been promoting the “Denmark = Texas = Australia” meme. In these three diverse locations the spirit of the Men of the North runs the strongest, and in all three places ordinary citizens have drawn the line, saying, “This far and no farther — we’re not going to take any more!”

Of the three, my money’s on Texas. It has the fewest gun control laws.

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Hat tip for the video: Pierre Ménard.