Pamela Geller is at it again. Of course, she's still reveling in her triumph over the framing of the Park51 debate as "Monster Groundzero Mosque" and in her undeserved climb to prominence with last week's New York Times' unduly long profile. Just look at how she rejoices in this attention by 'the paper of record'. Her new 'cheval de bataille' as of late in her blogging war against the Islamization of America is the release of Muslim halal Campbell Soup in Canada (actually the halal soup was unveiled eight months ago!) In a recent post, M-M-Muslim Brotherhood Good?, which reflects the deranged nature of her Islam-baiting, Geller asks her readers to boycott Campbell because they've cowered in fear of terrorists. The terrorists in this case are ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) which sets the standards for halal products in North America since 1988, and Geller is convinced without much evidence that they support Hamas, mostly through the poorly-conducted investigations of her friend and fellow Islam-basher Robert Spencer, author of the blog Jihad Watch. As the Campbell soup cans will carry ISNA's halal seal, Geller says that buying Campbell soup now is like endorsing terrorism.



The best thing about the NYT's article is that it shows how the Islamophobic campaign is growing so complex and transnational as Geller and Spencer team up with European extreme right-wing groups to organize their on-the-ground activism and lend more structure to their disjointed rhetoric. They seem to have found a common cause and their agenda now is to convince more people that Western culture is under imminent threat by Islam (not a minority of radical Muslims, but the core of Islam is belligerent and anti-West) and that, more than ever, the West needs to wake up and man the barricades of its civilization. International conferences and rallies against Islam are held in Europe and in the US in which Geller and Spencer are invited as keynote speakers, joining other protagonists of Islam-bashing like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Anders Gravers, leader of the Stop Islamization of Europe movement based in Denmark. These are the people who are framing the debate on Islam these days and if their apocalyptic vision of the world is not challenged, we could be heading down a dangerous path of devastating religious wars. The panic is felt by a fringe group, but it's real and prominent enough that it effectively influences the way we talk about Islam in the West. The reaction over a Campbell Halal soup is indeed laughable, but it's scores of nonsensical examples like these that help stir up passions in these circles against an impending Muslim takeover. We could argue about the paranoid 'logic' of this anti-Islam rhetoric, but as we argue and laugh at these things watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, more and more people buy into the fear. Just watch Christianne Amanpour's so-called townhall debate a couple of weeks ago where the starting point of discussion was: Holy War: Should American Fear Islam? That's exactly what Pamela Geller hoped for and she's well served beyond her wildest dreams. Don't be surprised if she gets her own show on Fox News!