Pork As A Weapon Against Islam: Prank Or Hate Crime?

So, when someone harasses a Muslim, how do you tell the difference between a hate crime and a prank?

The Christian Science Monitor has an article investigation on growing unease in the US with Islam--and the use of pork to express anger with Islam:

Nationwide, polls show a growing ambivalence – or even anger – toward Islam among Americans, which has in part explained the opposition to a mosque near ground zero and mosques elsewhere, as well as the aborted mass burning of Korans by a Florida preacher. But subtler, more psychological attacks against Muslims have also become prevalent, say Muslim groups.


In those attacks, pork – which Muslims are forbidden to eat because it is considered unclean – is being used as a primary weapon, sent in packages to mosques, invoked in sharply worded letters, or, as in Florence, used to spell out literal messages.

To many experts, pork-laden messages, such as the one delivered in the heart of the barbecue belt last weekend, mirror what appears to be an increasingly conflicted view in America about the impact of Muslim culture on US politics and society.

Like protests such as "Everybody Draw Mohammad Day," some Americans are needling what they perceive to be an over-sensitive Muslim population with acts that – to non-Muslims – seem relatively tame. In the process, they are exposing the vast difference between what is considered acceptable by the measures of American free speech and by the believers of Islam.

"These are not hate crimes, but they're expressions of intolerance, really," says David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. "I think a lot of this is generated by a lack of understanding, anger about 9/11, and a great deal of misinformation about Muslims in America and Islam, all of which is in plentiful abundance on the Internet and on blogs."

One obvious question is who determine--for the purposes of legal prosecution--what is a prank and what is a hate crime. One thing is for sure: CAIR, which recently started an Islamophobia division, cannot be relied upon to judge--especially based on its record of distortions and abuse in this area.

But the distinction between hate and prank may still be elusive.
Here are some examples from the article of pork being used to harass Muslims:

1. In September, the US Postal Inspection Service reported that at least four packages containing hate letters and bacon were sent to American mosques from Denver. CAIR is a regular recipient of pork-related hate mail.
2. In March, two Minnesota high school students allegedly shoved bacon in the faces of several Muslim classmates, according to a CAIR complaint.
3. In 2007, a Texas farmer held afternoon pig races on Friday – the Muslim holy day – to protest a proposed mosque next to his farm.
4. In 2006, a severed pig's head was thrown into a Maine mosque during prayers.
5. Overseas, 7,000 protesters held a "pork sausage and booze" party in Paris this summer, which was designed as a provocation against Muslims and a protest against the perceived Islamicization of France.
6. On the Internet, bloggers are invoking pork to incite Muslims. In a recent column on the conservative Town Hall.com, Mike Adams, a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina, proposed several pork-related pranks against the "ground zero mosque," including "building a large bomb filled with bacon grease. Dubbed the 'Mother of All Bacon,' or MOAB, this bomb would not hurt anyone but would permanently defile the location so that no one could worship there."

The fifth case is not a hate crime, but what about the others?

Part of the issue is also to delineate Muslim red lines. I posted here and here on items in the news about Muslim cabdrivers refusing to drive passengers carrying alcohol and attitude towards pork Sharia does not forbid touching alcohol and Muslim cashiers in Bahrain have no problem ringing up purchases of pork that are carried in the supermarkets--albeit in s separate section.

The problem gets bigger, because although anti-Semitism is more rampant, there may be an uptick in anti-Muslm sentiment:

The share of Americans who have a "favorable view" of Islam has dropped from 41 percent five years ago to 30 percent today, according to an Aug. 24 Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life survey. Concern about Islam's influence on US society has entered the national political arena, as well, shown by a different Pew poll that found that 1 in 5 Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim – an 11 percent jump since a year ago.

There is a suggestion that part of the reason is the general instability and fear caused by the bad economy--if 9/11 did not cause a massive turnaround in attitudes towards Islam and Muslims, it is hard to imagine that a temporary economic downturn is going to create major problems.

Another source of anger are the growing perception that Muslims are demanding--and getting--special treatment.

The article opens with the case of a mosque in Florence, where someone spelled out the words PIG and CHUMP on the sidewalk outside of a mosque with bacon strips--

So far, police in Florence say the incident doesn't meet the criteria for a hate crime, but they are investigating the incident as a case of harassment.

That may be the way most of these cases will be decided--as harassment as opposed to hate crimes or as a mere prank.

Now--how do you define harassment?

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