Reza Aslan: When the House is on Fire You Can’t Just Calmly Describe the Flames

Reza Aslan

As much as Trump supporting fascists love saying “CNN is ISIS,” the network has no problem firing his critics. After Trump used this month’s tragic terror attack in London to once again whip up support for his travel ban on twitter, Reza Aslan, a religious scholar and host of the CNN series Believer, dared to use his own twitter account to express his outrage, calling Trump a “piece of shit” and “an embarrassment to humankind.” For this, Aslan was fired, production on his show was abruptly halted, and he was forced to apologize for using profanity. Even the New York Times called his tweets “vulgar.”

In a recent interview, Aslan said he was sorry for the language he used, but not the sentiment. “I’m not trying to exaggerate here but look, when the house is on fire you can’t just calmly describe the flames. You need to get onto the roof and scream at the top of your lungs, “Fire!” And I think that nothing less is tolerable at this time that we are living in.”

 

In fact, supporters of Trump took his travel ban tweet a step further and called for round-ups and internment of thousands of Muslims in Europe. This is the logical conclusion of fascist rhetoric  – mass deportations, concentration camps, ethnic cleansing, genocide. This should cause us to use profanity. We should be throwing decorum out the window and risking everything we have to stand up to these assaults on humanity. As Aslan expressed it so acutely, we should all be yelling fire.

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IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY, WE REFUSE TO ACCEPT A FASCIST AMERICA!

NOW IS the TIME WHEN WE MUST RISE UP and ACT to STOP the CONSOLIDATION of TRUMP MAGA FASCISM. For the lives of people here and around the world we must refuse unlawful and inhumane orders… we must fill the streets and town squares in non-violent protest—not stopping until we become millions — not relenting until this regime is no longer able to implement its program or maintain its hold on power.