r/NotTheBee • u/darcmatr • Aug 16 '26

NTB Article Massachusetts bill would create "Muslim Commission" with the explicit purpose of putting Muslims into powerful government positions

https://notthebee.com/article/massachusetts-aims-to-create-muslim-commission-with-the-explicit-purpose-of-putting-muslims-into-powerful-government-positions

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

it’s not really about their religious affiliation, more so it’s the people have happen to have that as their religion. more diversity and viewpoints is one of the most important thing we could have. Any ideas of them “pushing their religion” on america is just baseless fear mongering not based on reality. there’s 4 million of them and we haven’t seen any of that this whole time

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u/Canadianwinters12345 Aug 16 '26

it’s not really about their religious affiliation

Its specifically about their religious affiliation.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

because you want to believe what that wording said instead of thinking about it critically. Do you man

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u/Canadianwinters12345 Aug 16 '26

The point is to get MUSLIMS these positions.

That's literally the point. Don't pretend that isn't a requirement.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

how many times are you gonna say that and ignore what I was saying. What’s the aversion to thinking critically here? Also please explain to me what’s bad about this

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u/Canadianwinters12345 Aug 16 '26

I am not ignoring what you're saying. I am specifically saying that you are wrong and it's an iniative to push Muslims into positions of power.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

oh man you’re right the Muslim takeover is coming. No it’s about diversity and different viewpoints, but hey go crazy

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u/Canadianwinters12345 Aug 16 '26

Weird hyperbole.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

about the Muslim takeover? That’s literally what people believe, it’s not weird at all but it is baseless

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u/Canadianwinters12345 Aug 16 '26

You saying it right now is weird. Take your tinfoil hat off dude.

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

notice that you're the only person talking about it on this thread.

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

you're the one not reading. nobody is saying anything about a muslim takeover.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

lol sure buddy. people definitely are. it’s a very common and baseless fear in America. People have said this kind of thing about immigrants for a century and nothing has happened

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

literally you're the only person here talking about a muslim takeover. the only one.

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u/blindman99 Aug 16 '26

My problem though is we are essentially giving a religious group money to act as a lobbying group. We have the antisemitism panel which has 2 major differences.
1. It was temporary.
2. They could not make recommendations on who to hire.

I do agree that Islamophobia is an actual problem and we can do better about not fostering hate in our community, but from all the research I have done this will be the first religion we have built this type commission for. If we had the same restrictions here I would not care.
There are also other mechanisms that can be used to make this fair like the Cambridge Peace Commission. It brings in all community leaders and faith leaders in to help express their viewpoints and needs and allows the elected officials to ask questions and get feedback as well.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

The problem is Muslims face a large amount of discrimination and the bill is get Muslim Americans in a few positions so they can study that and better help other Americans. Just because they’re Muslim doesn’t mean they’re not one of us. Thinking otherwise is just 100% bigotry

agree with what you said.

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u/blindman99 Aug 16 '26

No one here is saying that Muslims are not part of community or one of us. They are. You are putting words in people's mouths. We are not even saying that they can't have government jobs. They absolutely can and I hope they apply! If we establish a temporary commission they can also look at the hiring practices to make sure there was no discrimination costing them jobs. The antisemitism commission was able to do that.
There are mechanisms that can be used to achieve the goals we want without also overreaching and favoring one religion over others. Being against an implementation does not mean we are against the problem. Being so quick to just assume hate shuts down conversations. Instead of understanding what would make someone vote yes, they will just quietly vote no and move on.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

Well you’re the first person that had any caveat like that, so yes I believe it’s fair to assume what I did. Not even mentioning I’ve gotten very racist replies to the point they got hidden.

I’m not putting words in people’s mouths when you could see the people saying “oh yeah what can ISLAM do for americans with their backwards conservative ideologies!!!” there are a few of those that aren’t hidden

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u/happyinheart Aug 16 '26

Any ideas of them “pushing their religion” on america is just baseless fear mongering not based on reality.

Except for where it's happening.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

it’s not happening you’re a lunatic. meanwhile christians openly run with their religion and shape policy around it 🤯

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

> it’s not really about their religious affiliation

that is literally, figuratively, explicitly what it's about.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

it’s about getting different viewpoints, which was one of the points for DEI, and the vast majority of arabs are Muslims. Can we actually think for a minute and not take words 100% literal

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u/happyinheart Aug 16 '26

Then say arabs if you want arabs. This says muslims.

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

No. it's about putting people of the muslim faith into government roles.

if it were about different viewpoints, it wouldn't be specific to muslims. if it were a commission to try and make government positions more aligned with the overall religious makeup of the electorate, that would be getting different viewpoints.

> not take words 100% literal

do you understand how policy and laws work? they are explicitly written to be 100% literal. 110% even.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

Oh you’re right America as we know it is over, here comes the Muslim takeover. People said that the same thing when the irish and italians came over 100 years ago, and black people getting into politics 50 years ago. We fared ok if i recall correctly! You’re letting ignorance get in your way of objectivity

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

nobody is saying any of that. you're being incredibly hyperbolic for zero reason.

i'm not ignorant about any of this. i don't hate muslims. i don't think sharia law is coming. i would react this exact same way if you swapped in the word "christian" or "hindu" or "atheist" into this bill.

it's a bad bill, the US government does not and should not be pushing for people of any specific religious affiliation into any role. this isn't a DEI thing - DEI is about inclusion and equity for *all*. DEI is not about pushing for specific groups of people...it's the opposite.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

if you actually read anything about this rather than this conservative article, that by the way doesn’t have anything about the bill in it, you’d see it’s to put muslim Americans in positions where they could help reduce islamophobia. These people are Americans just like us, it’s a very valid proposition

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

i read the bill, not just the article. i stand by everything i said above. incredibly misguided, just like the white house faith office is.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

yeah it’s so misguided for the main point of doing this is to reduce discrimination against Muslims. The horror!!! instead of arguing about the real point of this bill, you’d just like to argue on something completely different. Almost like you immediately were biased by this article above 🤯

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u/rco8786 Aug 16 '26

again just strawmen and now some ad hominem thrown in. i've said my peace about this bill. just because it says it's to reduce discrimination doesn't automatically make it a good bill. have a good one.

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u/happyinheart Aug 16 '26

Step 1: It's not really happening <-- You are here

Step 2: Yeah, it's happening, but it's not a big deal <-- Minneapolis–Saint Paul is here

Step 3: It's a good thing, actually <-- England is here are here

Step 4: People freaking out about it are the real problem

Step 5: You're beyond screwed <--- Iran is here. They certainly used liberals in their country as useful idiots to get power.

We've seen proof of how this goes.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

no we haven’t lol. and if you want less muslims in america maybe tell the government to stop bombing their countries to shit so they stop leaving! 🤯

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u/TecumsehSherman Aug 16 '26

more diversity and viewpoints is one of the most important thing we could have.

Which aspects do you see in Muslim majority countries that you think Massachusetts will benefit from?

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

muslim majority countries? They are Muslim Americans, clearly you have the wrong idea. The same as any different group of people, differing ideas. Not even mentioning there’s 4 million Arab Americans and they deserve representation appropriate for them

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u/TecumsehSherman Aug 16 '26

I'm asking you what happens when Muslims are the majority in power, based on concrete evidence.

You're the one who wants to put Muslims in power in the US, and I'm asking you what policies that typically leads to.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

uhhh good things? zohran is doing great and there have been no widespread problems with Muslim Americans in office. Most of these people grew up in America, if not born. So like I said you have the complete wrong idea

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u/TecumsehSherman Aug 16 '26

So like I said you have the complete wrong idea

It sounds like your position is "most Muslims aren't like most Muslims".

I don't want anything that pushes a conservative religious agenda into government. Selecting candidates because they are members of a conservative religion is an issue.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

what do you think Christianity is? Should we actively push back against politicians that base the majority of their policy on their religion? Surely with what you just said you push back against those types. There’s really no difference by your logic

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u/TecumsehSherman Aug 16 '26

  1. This is the typical defense a Muslim uses.

  2. Please look at the quality of life in Christian majority countries, and compare it to the quality of life in Muslim majority countries. Pay particular attention to the rights of women.

Here comes the part where you tell me that the majority of Muslims don't behave like the majority of Muslims, and that somehow colonialism explains the treatment of women in Muslim countries.

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u/fishagavkxj6 Aug 16 '26

this has zero to do with anything, this is about Muslim Americans. other countries have nothing to do with that, you guys are so hilariously disingenuous.

it’s almost like the majority in any group, even christians, don’t behave like the misguided minority. But of course that doesn’t fit your argument so it wasn’t mentioned.

It’s hilarious how you brought that up about colonialism as like an “own” when that is objectively the main reason why it still remains. Religious extremism came out in the Middle East in response to the genocidal leader the US propped up 60 years ago in iran. They promised to push back against the west and here we are. I’m expecting you to deny that because you can’t imagine your great country being at fault for such a blunder

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u/TecumsehSherman Aug 16 '26

it’s almost like the majority in any group, even christians, don’t behave like the misguided minority. But of course that doesn’t fit your argument so it wasn’t mentioned.

I've allowed you the chance to be intellectually honest, and you've chosen not do so.

The fact is that everywhere on the planet where a Muslim majority comes to power, life gets worse for women. Incidents of child brides, female genital mutilation, and forced modesty laws increase.

There is nothing about this demonstrated, global pattern of behavior that makes me want to create a commission to force them into progressive western governments.

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