The Useless Confessions of a Former Infowars Staffer
American Muslims already knew it was all made up.
By AYMANN ISMAIL
I’m an American Muslim who’s lived his entire life in the New York area, and the only times I’ve heard anything about the so-called Islamberg—a rural community of Muslims in upstate New York—is when someone demands I answer for its existence. The unusual hamlet has a unique history and has operated on private property for more than 36 years, but it has, in recent years, become the target of lazy conspiracies that it’s a “no-go zone” governed by sharia, or maybe even a training camp for terrorists.
American sharia zones don’t exist, it should go without saying. (I once visited one identified by Fox News. It was, you’ll be shocked to learn, something much more boring.) The Muslims living in Islamberg have been described by local law enforcement as friendly. “I would say that the amount of crime that is associated there at the land is less than it is anywhere else,” James Barnes, of the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, told CBS News in 2015. At that point, he had maintained a relationship with the residents of Islamberg for more than 12 years.
America’s right-wing media, however, has been grooming its followers to believe that Islamberg is a terrorist compound secretly planning attacks on American soil. Fox News: “Islamberg: A Terror Compound in New York… or Misunderstood Neighbors?” Breitbart, in a headline that aggregated a debunked claim from another Islamophobic blog: “Jihadi Cult Associate Arrested in NY With Firearms Stockpile.” That same smear, which was rigorously disputed by local law enforcement, was repeatedly aired unchallenged on Fox News. All of these headlines are still online and surely still read and shared today. If all you read is right-wing news, you’d really have no reason to doubt that Islamberg is a Trojan horse for foreign terrorists. It’s a perfect boogeyman, and the persistent coverage has become a common, banal evil that it’s easy for me to drown it out, given all the other threats American Muslims face.
People still believe the Muslims next door are out to kill them. What does Owens’ lament do for them, and for us?
What’s less common is a henchman in these operations confessing in the New York Times, as happened last week. In a long-winded first-person piece that reads both like a confession and an extended attempt at atonement, one of the people who helped demonize Islamberg admitted to fabricating stories. In the Times Magazine, Josh Owens, who worked as a video editor at Infowars, detailed how the site invented conspiracies about Muslims. The site regularly reports on nonexistent sharia zones in America, Islamberg chief among them. Posts include headlines like “Drone Investigates Islamic Training Center,” “The Rumors Are True: Shariah Law Is Here!,” and “Infowars Reporters Stalked by Terrorism Task Force.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/12/infowars-writer-confession-fabrication-is-worthless.html
