The mosque controversy exploded only when far-right bloggers weaponized it against a homegrown-terror backdrop

Evidence

This story might have been lost in the media landscape had it not been for the mobilization of the new McCarthyites. On May 6, 2010, the New York City Community Board voted unanimously to approve the project. In response to the board’s decision, Pamela Geller, a right-wing blogger, posted an entry titled “Monster Mosque Pushes Ahead in Shadow of World Trade Center Islamic Death and Destruction.” In it, she wrote, “This is Islamic domination and expansionism. The location is no accident. Just as Al-Aqsa was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem.” Casting it as a religious conflict and a provocation, Geller sought to inflame her base. The next day, her group Stop Islamization of America, which she co-founded with Robert Spencer, launched “Campaign Offensive: Stop the 911 Mosque!” While this was not the first time the network had blogged about the community center, its moment had finally arrived. The immediate backdrop was the “homegrown terrorism” hysteria and the green scare (see Chapter 6), which created space for the Far Right to push the rhetoric further to the right. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 658

Categorization

• QUESTION: Reader’s comparative test: did equivalents of this ‘small blogger triggers national panic’ cascade require a US war-on-terror infrastructure, or would it recur in any Islamophobic state?
• XREF: connects to: The Park51 mosque controversy took off because of homegrown-terrorism hysteria — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 646; Homegrown terrorism hysteria enabled far-right Islamophobes to seize the national debate. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 511; Liberal homegrown-terror hysteria amplified right-wing Islamophobia — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 671 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Homegrown terrorism hysteria enabled far-right Islamophobes to seize the national debate. #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 511
• Liberal homegrown-terror hysteria amplified right-wing Islamophobia #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 671
• Homegrown-terror hysteria in liberal media enabled the Ground Zero mosque campaign #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 671
• Islam-as-violence framing migrated from the right into mainstream liberal media #complicates (0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 346