Ibrahim Awad, aka Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, must be chuckling in his Raqqa hideout.
After all, Walmart has made the perfect cake. An excellent replication of the Da'ish battle flag.
Da'ish probably has flogged or beheaded or burned, enough terrified bakers in their great "Khilafat" who didn't render an immaculate duplication of their logo on their iced cakes for iftari celebrations, before partaking in violent rape orgies with their Yazidi slave girls.
Given Walmart's predatory (read: small mom & pop businesses) and deceptive business model (example, false "Made in America" advertising for Chinese sweatshop made goods), a business partnership with Da'ish certainly remains in the realm of bizarre possibilities, with Da'ish bulk ordering these cakes from Walmart for their upcoming Eid festivities in Raqqa and elsewhere through one of their front companies.
After all, the Walmart employee did a perfect job. Impressive work for a first try. Or, was it? That is the disturbing question.
This CAKEGATE is good for Da'ish's terrorism business. More publicity/propaganda for Da'ish = more recruits.
So should the media have given this incident oxygen?
Absolutely.
Because it represents much of what is wrong with our society on so many levels in dire times. Just peel the onion. And, think.
Whatever one's views on the Confederate battle flag, the fact remains that this is a First Amendment issue. We are on a very slippery slope. First, banning flags; some are now advocating we should ban the American flag; remove historical statues etc. that constitute American history, even its unpalatable aspects that we've beaten like a dead horse in our "modern" school curriculum indoctrination programs. The burden of the "White man". For eternity and beyond.
What's next? Sculptures, Edifices, Books, Music, Art....hell, are we going to mirror image Da'ish soon and/or Nazi Germany?
Exploring the application of the First Amendment Clause of the Constitution would advocate that Walmart is prohibited from discriminating against one battle flag that many find offensive (the Confederate one); while accepting another battle flag (the Da'ish one) that, as I write, is still in the battle against Americans and others. That is what makes this so very egregious.
Yet, there is another aspect to this disturbing incident that needs to be highlighted. Da'ish's logo ---albeit a deliberate use of rudimentary Arabic calligraphy, in stark comparison to the beautiful calligraphy on Al Qaeda's banner-- is Islam's Shahada or testimony: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah's messenger." This is the first pillar of Islam.
Those who aren't born to a Muslim father/family must recite this to enter the community of believers (Umma). Hence, the first pillar.
Although, historically, since most people were illiterate, this was recited. To actually write this with icing would suffice in the minds of the more orthodox Ash'arite elements to constitute a "perfect recitation" i.e. icing on the cake.
Welcome to the fold aka Da'ish. Their perception.
So, the gullible baker who --fulfilling the Constitution's First Amendment requirements-- replicated Da'ish's banner was de facto "entering the faith" in the eyes of the Ash'arites and even quite a few mainstream Muslims, though generally less inclined to literal interpretations in the 21st century.
That is the bottom line. Underscored.
Actually, there is more than one takeaway from this absurd and shameful debacle.
Watch and weep. Then get Angry. Defiant. Determined. Educated. And, Clever.
