Pulitzer Prize winner David Shipler also investigated this sketchy 1991 memorandum for the New Yorker when he wrote that “virtually all the alarm over the coming Islamic takeover and the spread of Sharia law can be traced back to an old document of questionable authority and relevance entitled 'An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America.'” Mr. Shipler also wrote that this dubious memo is still regularly cited on numerous right-wing websites, and also in articles, videos, and training materials, which quote one another in circular arguments about the Muslim boogeyman coming to take over America.

XREF: Connects to broader patterns of how dubious documents become canonized through circular citation in ideological communities.

XREF: Connects to broader discourse on how dubious documents seed recurring fear narratives across right-wing web content.

Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Gl…, loc. 655