Miss Michigan Rima Fakih, 24, made history this week as the first Arab-American to win the Miss USA competition, here.
The extreme right has gone ballistic –painting Fakih as a mole for Hamas and part of some Islamic threat despite her appearing in a bikini and contradicting most conservative Islamic mores — including new allegations that she won a stripper contest, here.
One commentator put it this way:
It’s a sad day in America but a very predictable one, given the politically correct, Islamo-pandering climate in which we’re mired. The Hezbollah-supporting Shi’ite Muslim, Miss Michigan Rima Fakih–whose bid for the pageant was financed by an Islamic terrorist and immigration fraud perpetrator–won the Miss USA contest. I was on top of this story before anyone, telling you about who Fakih is and her extremist and deadly ties.
Another site laid out how Fakih is prancing around in a bikini to pursue her agenda of imposing strict limitations on women:
Rima Fakih, Miss Michigan USA, who will compete in Sunday Night’s pageant broadcast on NBC, is a Dearbornistan Shi’ite Muslim who is a supporter of Hezbollah and used the pageant name at a forum promoting Islamic subjugation of women. She was born in the Hezbollah stronghold of Srifa in South Lebanon, which Israel was forced to attack in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war because it was a site of Hezbollah weaponry. Her devout Muslim family comes from the Hezbollah-controlled South Lebanon. Intelligence sources confirm that at least three of Fakih’s relatives are currently top officials in Hezbollah and that at least eight Fakih family members were Hezbollah terrorists killed by the Israelis in past Israel-Lebanese wars and interventions. Some of her family members were originally in Harakat Amal [the Shi’ite Amal militia], which is now essentially a part of Hezbollah. There’s a reason that even Al-Manar TV–Hezbollah’s official TV network–is high on Fakih in the Miss USA pageant.
It is not clear if it is an Arab conspiracy or a 9-11 Truther conspiracy or some Islamic stripper conspiracy. Then again she could just be a beautiful woman who happens to be Arab-American.
It is a sad commentary on our contemporary politics that an Arab-American cannot simply win such a pageant without unleashing such a torrent of hateful conspiracy theories. I do not even like such pageants but it is astonishing how little it takes to vent such anger and prejudice. Of course, even a scarf on a donut commercial in enough to trigger a national boycott today, here.
Rima Fakih was raised in Dearborn with her parents and her younger brother, Rami. She attended St. John’s Catholic School High Foundation and graduated from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with her Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a minor in Business Administration.
I have no idea (nor do I care) what the views of this woman might be — nor do I see the relevance. The runner-up, Miss Oklahoma, was asked about her views on the controversial Arizona immigration law and said that she supported the law, here. While I believe the reasonable suspicion provision will unleash discriminatory enforcement, I do not look to Miss Oklahoma as a source of legal or policy wisdom.
As with the Prejean controversy, it continues to amaze me that people inject politics (and frankly substance) in this beauty contest. Usually it is an effort to elevate the competition but at times it is an effort to paint the contestants in a darker light. If Hezbollah planned to gain some advantage by winning the Miss USA competition, they are more desperate than I thought. Next they will be targeting the USA Spelling Bee.
From article: “As with the Prejean controversy, it continues to amaze me that people inject politics (and frankly substance) in this beauty contest.”
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Exactly. It’s about making money for Mr. Trump and the sponsors and T&A for the viewers. I’m amazed the Pageant even bothers with the expense of an audio track 🙂
Jonathon Turley, you are as bad as the people you are complaining about. That Jawa Report post about this all being a “Zionist conspiracy” was meant as sarcasm, which would have been pretty obvious if you had really bothered to read it. The only person I’ve seen with a major blog making a big deal out of this is in fact Debbie Schlussel. All the others are small, relatively unknown blogs written by obscure bloggers who mainly link to Miss Schlussel as their “source”.
Until I see otherwise, I have to say its really a stretch to compare the reaction of mostly obscure right-wing blogs to the visceral reaction from both the mainstream left and hard left towards Carie Prejean. Had Miss Oklahoma won the contest, the left would have been even more strident in their hate speech towards her.
If this post is meant to excoriate the right in general, its a massive fail.
Neo,
I heard about that pole dancin’ episode. I guess in white ‘Merica a polock dancin’ with a A-rab is still just too taboo…
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Rima Fakih Stripper PHOTOS: Miss USA’s Pole Dancing Past Revealed; Pageant Officials Investigate
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/17/rima-fakih-stripper-photo_n_579381.html
Sadly..pipes, schlussel, and company, are the source of many americans “knowledge” on Islam and arabs.
Hopefully this will help people check their sources a little more thoroughly when they criticize all-things muslims or arab in the future.
i have been in this country my whole life as a muslim and an arab, i never once saw a contradiction between being Arab/muslim and being a patriotic american. However, my whole life people like these sh*theads have been questioning our loyalty for years.
WE F*cking Love america!, and the new miss USA is as American as you can get.
Don’t care who won, they’re both gorgeous. I do care who the jerk was who asked a contestant’s political views. It was no more helpful than if they had asked the eventual winner how she felt about Israel, and was about as hostile.
You can’t tell that The Jawa Report is being funny blaming the Zionists?
mhw 1, May 17, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Arab or Moslem or whatever, this woman is far too skinny to be a model body for women of her age.
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oh I so agree…..
~Woosty’s still a Voluptuous Cat 😉
Well I think we’d all like to join *her* sleeper cell, wouldn’t we, gents?
Here is the AP on her Lebanese background:
The Lebanese immigrant who won the Miss USA 2010 pageant comes from a family that stood out for its tolerance in a religiously divided country, relatives said Monday.
Rima Fakih, 24, was born into a powerful Shiite family in a village in southern Lebanon that was heavily bombed during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. But she and her sister said the family celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths and prefer to be referred to as Lebanese, Arabs or Arab-Americans.
“We don’t take sides and this is strange in a country like Lebanon,” Rana Fakih said, referring to the civil war that was mainly between Muslims and Christians
Rima Fakih of Dearborn, Michigan, beat out 50 other women to take the 2010 Miss USA title Sunday night at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, despite nearly stumbling in her evening gown.
Her sister said the new Miss USA was born in their southern village of Srifa, near the port-city of Tyre, after her parents could not reach their home near Beirut because of heavy fighting during the 1975-90 civil war.
She then attended the Catholic Saint Rita school near Beirut and immigrated with her family to the U.S. in 1993. She was raised in New York, where she attended another Catholic school, and the family moved to Michigan in 2003. The sisters have two brothers, Rabih and Rami, Rana Fakih said.
Arab or Moslem or whatever, this woman is far too skinny to be a model body for women of her age.
@ rweaver
You will notice that when a ridiculous conspiracy theory (such as the birther theory, or truther theory) gains any traction that it is refuted by leadership on both the right and the left.
However when one loon (Debbie Schlussel) writes a couple of articles that are completely ridiculous, why would right wing leadership give any credit to her ideas by commenting on them?
This is the first I’ve heard of Debbie, so I doubt she is some sort of ‘right wing icon’. She is more likely a conspiracy theorist and a loon.
So my question is, does the democratic leadership publicly denounce EVERY TIME a SINGLE left wing loon makes a ridiculous statement?
I can answer that for you – OF COURSE NOT. It is a foolish waste of time. Just like it would be for right wing leadership to spend time worrying about the opinions of ONE internet author with a wild theory.
Comments (agree or disagree) are appreciated.
@Ron Moses
You know, I want to believe you. The problem is the listening closely part. I can’t hear from where I’m sitting! Maybe the problem is that this sort of loony sh*t never gets smacked down by anyone on the right with a voice loud enough to be heard.
Ok; look I’m Italian 100% and one side high Italian Royalty so I have final word on this topic!
This Girl is Gorgeous and Stacked!
What do these right wing wasp jerks, know about any of this…Cabish..?
Umm…
I just feel the need to point out that while you claim a ‘torrent of attacks from the right’ you posted two links, both of which had the same author (although on different websites.)
So… in this blog one author with a conspiracy theory is equivalent to a torrent of attacks from an entire wing of political thought?
Torrents? Really?? Your blog is the first I’ve ever seen of this connection. I must be reading the wrong blogs for senseless connection-making and conspiracy…or did I read the right one?
Check out Miss USA Rima Fakih when she won Mojo In The Morning’s “Stripper 101″ contest in 2007.
She brings a whole new meaning to “radical Islamist”
Donald Trump seems to attract a strange set of people to the Miss USA events. I guess it’s his lot in life.
“IF SHE REFUSES TO DENOUNCE HEZBOLLAH, OR THEIR TERRORIST WAYS, THEN SERIOUS QUESTIONS AS TO WHERE THIS WOMEN’S LOYALTIES LIE SHOULD BE BROUGHT INTO QUESTION AND HER WEARING THE CROWN SHOULD BE RECONSIDERED.”
Dude, it’s a beauty pagent.
and let’s be real, it’s not like she posed nekkid or something….
“@BARRY SHAPIRO:
Your caps lock key seems to be jammed.”
I don’t think that his keyboard is the only thing “jammed”!!