Woe to any celebrity who
dares even publicly hint at support
for Israel, lest he or she feel the wrath of fans lusting for the destruction
of that embattled Middle Eastern democracy. Like pop singer Katy Perry last year, reality TV
megastar Kim Kardashian found that out the hard way last week.
As Israel pushed back
against Hamas recently
with Operation Pillar of Defense, the normally apolitical Kardashian tweeted
this simple note of concern: “Praying for
everyone in Israel.” Well-meaning, right? Harmless, right? Not to the
Israel-haters among her nearly 17 million Twitter followers, whose illiterate response
was fast and furious. They bombarded her with angry, insulting tweets, some of
which wished death upon her. “Ill pray you will die kim” spewed someone with
the Twitter handle nashauzir. AishaJamil tweeted “pray for
palestine not that f***ing israel. U're so stupid!! U should die at there! Bitch.”
“Go die in a hole full of sh*t” wrote MusUp_.
Realizing that she had
accidentally stepped out of her depth into shark-infested political waters,
Kardashian quickly backpedaled, tweeting that she was now
“Praying for everyone in Palestine and across the world!” A saintly sentiment, but
there are two problems with that. One, there is no Palestine (except on Arab maps, which feature no Israel), and
two, it is a retreat into a moral neutrality so broad as to be meaningless.
I realized
that some people were offended and hurt by what I said, and for that I apologize…
The fact is that regardless of religion and political beliefs, there are
countless innocent people involved who didn't choose this, and I pray for all
of them and also for a resolution. I also pray for all the other people around
the world who are caught in similar crossfires.
One of the first necessary steps to take back our culture
from the insane stranglehold of political correctness is to reject the notion
that “being offended” automatically gives one the moral high ground. Decades of
indoctrination by the radical left have brought us to this place, where all
anyone has to do to overthrow common sense and bring debate to a screeching
halt is claim to take offense. The “offending” party is then expected to
apologize and cave in. If some internet bullies claim to be “offended” by
Kardashian’s simple prayer of concern, so what? Being “offended” doesn’t make
them right. Why are they not required to apologize for their
vile insults?
The truth is that they are not actually offended at all; claiming
that they are is simply a strategy for dominating any given issue under
discussion. Anything the unholy alliance of leftists and Islamists disagree
with or disapprove of “offends” them, and they use that as a bludgeon to crush
any opposition. The Satanic Verses
offends them. The Danish Mohammed cartoons offend them. The hilarious Innocence of Muslims film trailer
offends them. They’re so hurt that they proceed to riot, and pathetically, we apologize
because we have been conditioned by political correctness to tiptoe around the
delicate sensibilities of savages.
So as not to offend any Hamas supporters of terrorism ever
again, a contrite Kim Kardashian apparently plans to educate
herself about the Middle East conflict and even meet with local leaders to
hear both perspectives. According to a source: “Kim wants to be as informed as
possible... so she can use her celebrity to help those in need and raise
awareness about important issues in the area.”
It’s pretty amusing to imagine the sex bomb Kardashian
meeting with Bibi Netanyahu and Mahmud Abbas to discuss weighty matters of
international relations, perhaps even brokering a peace agreement. In any case,
if she had wanted to “raise awareness about this important issue,” she could
have begun by standing by her prayer for Israel and shaming her haters for
their hate speech. She could have refused to apologize, since she did nothing
wrong. And she could have defended her stance by explaining that our tiny ally Israel
is surrounded by genocidal enemies and is rightfully defending itself against terrorism.
In all fairness, we can’t expect much from Kim Kardashian or
any other celebrity in this respect. It’s better for their careers if they keep
their political opinions on the down-low in the first place rather than risk
alienating half their audience. But once she stepped into that arena, she
shouldn’t have backed down.
I’d written
previously about Kim’s ill-advised fashion foray into burqas in Dubai. And last
year I
wrote about another huge pop star, singer Katy Perry, and how, like
Kardashian, she was lambasted by haters in response to her own pro-Israel
prayer (Perry, a major Obama supporter, also backed down and claimed neutrality
about the Middle East conflict). So why repeat myself? Why bother to keep up
with the Kardashians and write at all about these vapid people?
I bother because Perry and Kardashian are among the most
famous women in the world (Kardashian is arguably the most). They are role models to millions upon millions of young
fans who hang on their every word, gesture, fashion statement, and yes,
political statement, uninformed though it may be. Pop culture may be faddish
and shallow, but we ignore it at our peril. Ceding the cultural battleground to
the enemy is a significant reason why we lost again to Obama, our celebrity
president.
When Perry or Kardashian
backs down from supporting an ally of the United States against a genocidal
enemy and then apologizes to that
enemy’s hateful supporters, countless numbers of her followers will absorb that
lesson and assume not only that Israel is in the wrong, but that “offending”
someone, even our enemy, is the height of unacceptable behavior. And so the
politically correct madness is perpetuated and – quite literally – the
terrorists win.
(This article originally appeared here on FrontPage Mag, 11/26/12)
