The United Muslims Association of Florida, Tampa Bay Area Chapter held an "Activist Seminar" on February 22, reports its website today. The seminar's subject matter was intensely political – "workshops on the fundamentals of government and politics, media relations, and outreach and coalition building" – and concluded with some scenario playing. One scenario involved a mock press conference announcing a "Muslim American Society Civic Picnic where there would be a voting registration drive." My favorite part is this instruction given to participants (with spelling mistake left intact):
if a reporter decides to start asking questions that irrelevent to the picnic such as "What do you think of suicide bombings?", remain cool and remind the reporter that suicide bombings are irrelevent. (February 29, 2004)
