Bluestem isn't surprised to see the administrators of Minnesota's 7th Congressional District Republican Party Facebook page share their fantods about Planned Parenthood, transgendered athletes, or Islam.
We won't say that it's par for the course for Republican Congressional Facebook pages in Minnesota--witness that for MN01's Republicans, who focus their energies on their meetings and pointed jabs at incumbent Democratic Congressman Tim Walz, or even the CD7 GOP page itself back in 2014, when the editors promoted congressional challenger Torrey Westrom in posts like this.
What drew us short was the admonishment to eschew all cilantro in the wake of the FDA banning imports from a Mexican farm. One wonders why these patriotic Americans simply didn't advise buying local from the hard-working Minnesotans peddling cilantro at our many fine farmers markets. Or to grow one's own, which takes no special training.
What is it about cilantro that makes them engage in such blanket condemnation?
As we are not close to MN07's Republican Party, we cannot answer that question for them. Their lack of nuance and judgement about sourcing cilantro did prompt us to look a bit more closely at some of the other statements above shared links on the page.
Those related to Islam are the biggest head scratchers. A story about freedom of speech at Texas Christian University, in which a college Republican is suspended from participating in extra-curricular activities, though not classes, turns into a usage-challenged screed about Sharia:
Islam is becoming a deep deep concern for Americans, detrimental to our way of Life, and are demanding we dump our most basic Christian formed Laws in favor of the Islamic Sharia Codes. Some say Islam is an dangerous Political Ideology, not a real religion. What do you think? Why would an American be Punished for criticizing Islam? Free Speech being challenged like never before. Is TCU off its rocker in Political Correctness? LIke or Share
A Dallas Morning News article by Jeff Mosier, Controversial Tweets Ignite Free Speech Battle at Texas Christian University, reprinted on GovTech Social, looks more deeply at the free speech fight:
A Twitter fight with a Maryland woman has left a Texas Christian University student on probation and banned from most campus activities at a college he considered his new home. . . .
Robert O’Neil, former president of the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin system, said public institutions have to tread carefully not to violate students’ First Amendment rights. However, private, religiously affiliated colleges have almost no constraints — other than public, student or alumni backlash — on their ability to punish students for speech.
A private university is “free to — as least as far as the law is concerned — to do whatever it wants, to expel a student for whatever reason,” O’Neil said. “It’s unlikely that a court would intervene.”
Vincent’s penalties were the result of six tweets, including ones slamming Islam, using a derogatory term for Mexicans and saying “hoodrat criminals” in Baltimore should be shipped to the Sahara Desert. Vincent, who is unsure if he’ll return to TCU, said he wasn’t referring to race in those tweets, some of which were made about protests and riots over the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died in police custody in Baltimore.
The CD7 Republican page administrators skip over the dog whistling on race and head straight to their own fears about Islam.
Here's a screengrab of the post:
It's not hard to imagine that the People of the Internet might ask "What does this have to do with the Minnesota 7th Congressional District Republican Party?" and judging from a post made on Tuesday, the administrators have been asked.
Above a shared link to a WND article about the opinions of random Somali-Americans street interviewed in Minneapolis from late may, the page admin answers:
We have been asked 'What has this to do with the Republican Party?" The answer is 'Everything, if you love America, Minnesota, and our American Culture & Laws". Minnesota Muslims want their traditional Ideology to have precedence over American Jurisprudence and American Norms. They intend to use our Democracy against us to change America into a Muslim dominated County. Shariah Law Codes have already been accepted by several MN Judges in landmark decisions, and Gov. Mark Dayton and his Liberals have acclaimed triumphantly the Shariah intrusion onto our Laws and Culture. What do you really think of this? What if your local Judges are ordered to implement and accept Shariah Law codes in your little town? What if your church was outlawed?
If it weren't for the posts about Planned Parenthood, Socialism, and "Dark Donkey" money from the George Soros (whom the page administrator repeatedly calls a "former Nazi"--the Forward looks at that one here), we'd agree that the fear of Islam indeed has everything to do with the CD7 Republican Party Facebook page.
Here's the screenshot of the post:
We don't believe that this fear informs the entire Republican Party of Minnesota, as some of its members are Muslims, while others are trying to recruit Somali-Americans and other New Americans into the party. Nor has the party's state chair embraced Islamophobia.
Rather, the page bears witness to the silliness of judging all members of a group based of the beliefs and actions of a few, whether those folks be volunteer Facebook page administrators, or random Americans of any background interviewed on the street.
The later art form was perfected by the Jay Walking team on the old Leno Show. Great entertainment, but hardly the stuff of winning politics.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota's 7th Congressional District DFL Facebook page spends a lot more time on what DFLers are up to, regardless of what dark donkey nightmares their rightward colleagues share.
Screenshots: Posts on the Minnesota 7th Congressional District Republican Party Facebook.
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