The Soup That Eats Like Jihad

All summer, demagogues have been stoking the fires of religious bigotry against Muslims. Sometimes it's rank politicking, like when Republicans couldn't wait to get in on Pamela Geller's jihad against the Muslim community center in downtown Manhattan. Sometimes it's downright scary, as in the arson attack against an under-construction Islamic center in Tennessee.

And sometimes it's just plain dumb.

Campbell's Soup has been around forever, inspiring everything from classic TV commercials to Andy Warhol's iconic artwork. But did you know that when you open up a can of tomato soup, you're actually supporting jihad? That's the latest conspiracy theory from professional Muslim-haters.

You see, the Canadian branch of the Campbell Soup Company recently decided to expand their customer base by certifying some of their products as halal, or compliant with Muslim dietary laws. The halal laws are generally very similar to the kashrut dietary laws for Jews: no pork or blood, animals must be slaughtered in a specific way, etc. In fact, the Koran says quite clearly, "The food of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] is lawful unto you and yours is lawful unto them."

But since Muslims are involved, the usual suspects are screaming that Campbell's creation of a new market for their products is actually a surrender to the Global Islamofascist Boogeyman Conspiracy™:

• Justin Phillips of Tea Party Nation: "Campbell's now making Muslim approved soups. Mmmmm Mmmmm not good. No more campbells for me."
• Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch: "ISNA has admitted ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. So why is Campbell's Soup rushing to do its bidding? 'M-M-Muslim Brotherhood Good?'"
• Pamela Geller: "Boycott Campbells, I say. Good in the Muslim Brotherhood. Warhol is spinning in his grave."
  

And so on. You get the picture. The official reason for the outrage is that the certification is being done by the Islamic Society of North America, a group which has been accused of being connected with terrorist groups in the Middle East and elsewhere. Never mind the fact that no actual evidence has ever been presented beyond nebulous claims of unspecified "ties."

Of course, the real reason for the outrage is Campbell's acknowledgment that Muslims with purchasing power exist. In the alternate universe inhabited by those who are freaking out over this quite ordinary business decision, all Muslims are terrorists who must be force-fed pulled pork sandwiches to exorcise the Islamic demons.

Now, if all this sounds oddly familiar, that's because it is. Decades ago, food companies decided to get new customers by selling their products to observant Jews. So they hired rabbis to come in, look at their operations, and certify that the products were kosher. Jew-haters went berserk, shouting that the Jews were imposing a secret "kosher tax" on food to fleece honest Christians. (While it is true that companies pay a fee to have their products certified as kosher, the fee is far more than offset by increased sales.) The rumor eventually died down and was mostly forgotten, although some anti-Semitic groups still claim the so-called "tax" exists.

The hullabaloo over Campbell's is exactly the same thing as the "kosher tax" canard. Just replace "Muslim" with "Jew" and "halal" with "kosher."

Someday, people will go shopping, see a little "H" or "ISNA" logo on the packaging, and think nothing of it, just like people today think nothing of kosher foods marked with a "K" or a U in a circle. And they will look back on this freakout and wonder how anyone could be so paranoid and gullible.