#583 IWuvLGF 5/15/2005 09:36AM PDT
Firstly, there were NOT, by my estimation "100" Muslims there -- not even close. Aside from the speakers and a few what appeared to me to be relatives (but I could be wrong) there were virtually NO Muslims there.
Secondly, with that shot I tried to honestly capture my perception of the magnitude of the event. I have no axe to grind here -- I came hoping to find hundreds of Muslims and would have been overjoyed were that to be the case.
That shot captures the sad truth that of this moment this movement is very very small, with no visible support from the Muslim community.
I'm hopeful that will change, but please deal with the current reality as is -- yes, it's as bad as it looks.
#654 IWuvLGF 5/15/2005 05:21PM PDT
Joshua: that picture was taken at 2:15 pm. Unless there was a large influx of people afterwards (and someone present can confirm it, I'm sure) I find the claim dubious. Including media people, speakers and what appears to be relatives (possibly wives/daughters) I'd be hard-pressed to claim 150.
The bottom line is that between roughly 1:30 and 2:15 pm (and there was little to no influx during that time), in my estimation there were very few Muslims in the crowd. I don't claim perfection of judgement, merely an attempt to honestly discern.
Thanks for this report too. Daniel Pipes was talking about this a few weeks ago--too bad it did not get the publicity it needed. Or maybe there is no support for moderate Islam.