Conspiracy theories about a Muslim invasion of the USA hit a new low over the weekend, when residents of Limerick, Maine reported one of their neighbors to the police for having Christmas lights outside his house that appeared to spell out “ISIS”.
Why report the Christmas lights to the police? Was there a threat to public safety posed by the lights? Could there have been some secret plot by the Islamic State to invade the United States of America, starting in Limerick, Maine, and beginning the attack with Christmas lights?
There was no law, local, state or federal, that was being violated by the lights, but the local sheriff visited the home anyway, just to see if the homeowner was, in fact, a terrorist sympathizer. The homeowner informed the Sheriff that no, the display was meant to display opposition to the Islamic State by showing Santa Claus urinating, in a stream of light, on the name “ISIS”. Upon reflection, the homeowner said, he should have used yellow lights to represent the urine, rather than the white lights he strung up.
Just how stringing up a display of electric Christmas pee on the side of his house would contribute to the defeat of the Islamic State, the homeowner wasn’t able to say. There is no word that the display was seen by any members of the Islamic State, which exists on the other side of the globe, thousands and thousands of miles away from Limerick, Maine.
Ever vigilant, the residents of Limerick have only reminded us that fear and hate never lead to sensible foreign policy.
