What Followers Of Islam Say About Being Asked To Snitch On The Neighbors Want to find out the true colors of someone who claims to be an American and is asked for specific help in rooting out dangers to the rest of us in their midst? Just ask people to keep their eyes open and send an anonymous tip to the FBI when they hear what sounds like terrorism being planned. Were talking about the same sort of thing that got the UniBomber into a secure mental facility where he cant blow up anyone elses mail. (Remember, it was Ted Kaczynskis mother and brother who gave the FBI the tip they needed to find him after they recognized a phrase in his manifesto.) And so it is that the same sort of request has gone out to members of mosques all over America, and people who live in muslim communities. If you hear or see a member of the tribe planning acts of terrorism, storing pipe bombs under the sink, or using a map of the United States for target practice, give the FBI a ringy dingy. The response? Ed Morrissey over at HotAir provides a few quotes from an NPR piece that halfway attempted balance on this issue: We would never ask any other faith community to stand up and condemn acts of violence committed by people within their groups, said Palestinian American activist Linda Sarsour, who has worked extensively with the Black Lives Matter movement and other minority groups. The fact that this is only directed at the Muslim community is something that I personally cant accept. Were not law-enforcement officials, said Shahed Amanullah, a Washington, D.C.-based Muslim American entrepreneur with Silicon Valley connections. He has worked with the U.S. government on combating online extremism, but he said its unrealistic to expect Muslim Americans to confront violent people in their midst. Were community members and Americans like everybody else, he said, and we should have the same relationship with law enforcement that everybody else has. To expect us to be on the front lines without having the capacity or the support would not be [productive]. It wouldnt be productive with any community. These two woe is me examples were countered with small business entrepreneurs far more sympathetic to the request from the FBI, and law enforcement. These are the peaceful sorts that really are trying to live the American dream and see the violence as a barrier to that. Well, at least they give lip service to it. One person quoted has been in the U.S. for 25 years. The feeling among Muslims that more is expected of them than of other religious groups seems to be widespread. Hamad Hahsy, an immigrant from Afghanistan now operating a kebab restaurant in South Philadelphia, agrees he has a duty to confront extremism when he sees it, but not because hes a Muslim. Its everybodys duty, he said, not Muslim or Christian. As Americans, its our duty. I just told my wife, Youre not Afghan anymore. Ive been living in this country for 25 years. We are first American, then Afghan. This is our duty, to protect this country. Well, NPR tried for balance. Sort of. Just so that we have this straight, Christians are the first to condemn other Christians who do violence in the name of Christ. No other faith has really been charged with violence or violent acts in this country. When it comes to the Westboro Baptist Church, fellow Christians are also the ones that come up with creative non-violent ways of stopping them, too. (Anyone else remember the time they were blocked in a parking lot by a bunch of double parked trucks?) The fact that automatic condemnation of violence in the name of faith without formally going to war is absent is most telling when it comes to Islam and following the tenets of that religion. All the FBI is looking for is a direction in which to look when it comes to preventing the next San Bernardino, and muslims pout about being put upon, and singled out when Christians understand that we are expected to report when a member of our tribe has nefarious plans. If these people are serious about living in peaceful harmony, this is expected of them, just like it is the rest of us. That needs to be understood, right along with memorizing the phone number 1-855-TELL-FBI. Unless all these muslims who have been committing acts of terror are on the same psychotropic drugs that so many of the caucasian mass shooters have been, the lengthy list of atrocities in the name of Islam have been done by perfectly sane people. Somebody out there is planning something. 