ESPN sidelines Curt Schilling for tweet comparing “extremist Muslims” to Nazis

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/08/espn-sidelines-curt-schilling-for-tweet-comparing-extremist-muslims-to-nazis

August 25, 2015 4:27 pm By Robert Spencer 56 Comments

Curt Schilling is under heavy fire for this, and has been removed from ESPN’s coverage of the Little League World Series. He is repentant and apologetic, but it may do no good: he may be facing more punishment, and is taking a beating in the mainstream media for being “insensitive.”

But what exactly is so offensive about his tweet? Is it that he compared “extremist Muslims” to Nazis? Surely that can’t be it. The Islamic State hasn’t murdered six million Jews, but surely would if it could, and meanwhile its gleeful bloodlust, sex slavery, terrorizing of non-Muslims and all the rest of it make the comparison reasonable.

Or was Schilling “insensitive” for daring to suggest that peaceful Muslims aren’t doing much to rein in their violent coreligionists? Well, let’s see. Last month, Muslims in Ireland held a demonstration against the Islamic State. How many Muslims showed up? Fewer than fifty. And in October 2014 in Houston, a rally against the Islamic State organized by the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) drew the grand total of ten people. In August 2013 in Boston, about 25 Muslims rallied against “misperceptions” that Islam was violent. About the same number showed up in June 2013 at a progressive Muslim rally in Toronto to claim that their religion had been “hijacked.”

And back in 2005, a group called the Free Muslims Coalition held what it dubbed a “Free Muslims March Against Terror,” intending to “send a message to the terrorists and extremists that their days are numbered … and to send a message to the people of the Middle East, the Muslim world and all people who seek freedom, democracy and peaceful coexistence that we support them.” In the run-up to the event it got enthusiastic national and international publicity, but it ended up drawing about twenty-five people.

Contrast those paltry showings to the thousands of Muslims who have turned out for rallies against cartoons of Muhammad or against Israel. Here are some headlines from the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo jihad massacre of Muhammad cartoonists in January 2015:

Chechnya: 800,000 Muslims protest Muhammad cartoons; protests also in Iran, Pakistan, Ingushetia, elsewhere

Pakistan: 10,000 Muslims protest against Charlie Hebdo’s Muhammad cartoons

Australia: 1,000 Muslims rally against Charlie Hebdo and the freedom of speech

Kyrgyztsan: 1,000 Muslims rally: “I am not Charlie, I love my Prophet.”

But given a chance to show how Muslims overwhelmingly reject “extremism,” only a handful show up.

So how exactly was Schilling offensive or insensitive, aside from having been a member of the Boston Red Sox? ESPN should restore him to active duty immediately, but it is much more likely that they will force him to issue a groveling apology first, or just fire him outright.

“Curt Schilling sends out insensitive tweet, deletes it minutes later,” by Israel Fehr, Big League Stew, August 24, 2015:

Curt Schilling, a 20-year major-league veteran and current analyst for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, is no stranger to giving his opinion on controversial and divisive topics.

This time however, even he realized he crossed the line.

Schilling sent out the following tweet Tuesday morning from his verified Twitter account @gehrig38 featuring a graphic that compared “extremist Muslims” to the Nazi regime, then deleted it minutes later as the backlash and questions began to pour in…

He has yet to address the tweet directly but has engaged with a number of people and has accepted responsibility for what was sent out from his account…
ESPN released this statement condemning the tweet and confirming that Schilling would no longer be broadcasting from the Little League World Series this week:

Curt’s tweet was completely unacceptable, and in no way represents our company’s perspective. We made that point very strongly to Curt and have removed him from his current Little League assignment pending further consideration.