Letters to the Editor
-
Semi-Random Reactions to This Post
Attacking civilians is as American as apple pie. Many (perhaps most) Americans regard U.S. participation in WW2 as our most heroic national achievement, one in which we quite intentionally incinerated hundreds of thousands (millions?) of German and Japanese civilians. America doesn't do anything unjustified, so of course attacking civilians can be justified in some circumstances, like when America does it.
Evidently Malkin et al want me to be terrified of terror bombings in America by Muslim Americans. As of now, I'm still more concerned about terror bombings by white, ostensibly Christian Americans, which have, you know, actually happened.
This is pure guesswork, but with respect to those American Muslims who indicated that civilian attacks could be justified in some circumstances, I'd bet at least some of them were thinking specifically of Palestinian attacks against Israel, and declining to implicitly condemn them by branding all civilian attacks as unacceptable. This merely reflects the bilateral savagery of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and has nothing to do with the spectre of home-grown "suiciders" in the U.S.
-
Comic book thinking.....
they don't naturally think of attacks on domestic soil, but rather American foreign policy in developing countries?
There are probably 5 different senses of the term by which Americans can be described as "sheltered". I'm no exception - I've lived almost 50 years but have only heard gunfire about five times and have only seen 1 fatal explosion. While Michelle Malkin and her friends aren't completely ignorant, most of their audience is. In all this discussion about the evil Muslims, what proportion of the participants even know any?
But hatred is big business. Who am I to stand in the way of commerce?
-
L.W.M.
Namecalling is the first haven of the Salonista. thank you for hammering that point home.
-
Zahed
I don't have time to park at this thread all day, but can you explain why my alarm (at the fact that only 40% of poll responders believe Arab men carried out the 9/11 attacks) is misplaced in any other way than to say "Yeah but look at the stupid things that lots of Americans believe?" I'll try checking in one more time before the day's over.
-
Sysprog
FYI, those haloscan comments are not me. I've posted hundreds of letters to Salon - going back nearly 12 months - and I've been consistent about Iraq.
Oh well, at least Salon's registration policy has greatly reduced the screechs of "Golden Boy posts under multiple names." If someone else adopted my pseudonym (Damn them!) on a different forum I can't help that.
Now, care to address the poll or is that all you had to say?
-
Golden Boy
is a concern troll whose mission on the boards is to instill loathing of Muslims. He argues so softly, so persuasively, never gets mad or calls names, just the drip, drip, drip of "reasoned" argument.
He is an excellent propagandist and a very dangerous one, an internet Goebbels, with a similar goal, except in his era it's against Muslims rather than Jews. Demonization 'R Us. Beware.
-
gorgona.
indeed la! Thar was what a whining puritan may say. Shakespeare uses the phrase oh la when he eats good corn-on-cob, sweet potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, or fish-nought-man on white rice. Pumpkin or apple pie Alamo can make you say, "doggoner I want some chow soup."
It's important that baser sort of journalist (False Pale Face Phonier) go to the dog kennel. A shote's head can be a 88 pond fat skull. Didn't DC politico's say they were hungry and wanted some shotty heads on a platter served up from Iraq?
How about a bowl of mince tongue stew and garnish it with a green dill pickle? Butter Wonderbra's Neocon's Brand (rats won't eat wonder-bread) Bread with chocolate Buffalo paddies for a sweet tooth snack.
-
Goldenboy, why the distraction?
25% of Muslims in America refuse to condemn al Qaeda. One in four.
So what's the correlating non-Muslim view? 20% 10%? You've nothing to compare that statistic to. As a Muslim I would (and do) condemn them wholeheartedly, along with the vast majority of Muslims.
But part of me would be offended by the very question and its insinuation. Of those who answered the question, 80% condemn them. Spinning a "refuse to answer" as "wholeheartedly support" is disingenuous.
For the one question that was asked of both Muslims and non-Muslims in separate polls, American's showed a 4x greater tendency to support bombing civilians than Muslims. You've still offered no explanation for that, nor why Muslims are getting 4x the grief for an explicit viewpoint.
-
Polling American Muslims vs. American Jews
Piggybacking on Gator90's comment that it's likely that many respondants may have been specifically thinking of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, I wonder if you asked the following questions to 2nd-generation plus American Muslims and American Jews, what their responses would be:
Can a military occupation of another country to suppress violence be justified?
Can suicide bombings of civillians be justified?
I imagine the responses would be drastically different than one another, and also different than the general populace as well, simply because both of those questions are going to be viewed through the Israeli-Palestinian lens.
-
Stephen
I don't have time to park at this thread all day, but can you explain why my alarm (at the fact that only 40% of poll responders believe Arab men carried out the 9/11 attacks) is misplaced in any other way than to say "Yeah but look at the stupid things that lots of Americans believe?" I'll try checking in one more time before the day's over.
There are naive/ignorant/gullible/misguided people of every race, religion, and nationality. That's all there is to it.
-
Comparison
The correct standard against to compare the acceptability of killing civilians is the general American populaces' acceptance of bombing Iraq.
Unless American Muslims favor suicide attacks on civilian populations at a rate greater than the rate the American populace favors bombing attacks on Muslims, no correlation between Muslim faith and acceptance of violence toward civilians can be drawn.
-
Bless your heart.....
Typical Shooter - skirt around the awkward issues that plague the Christian Right as well. While we talk about Islam, why not also talk equally about the Christian rights homophobia and subjugation of women that is on an equal par? Oh, right - it's easier for you to point the finger at others than look inward. Last time I checked it was the Christian right that virulently opposes any type of gay rights in this country not Islam. And the Christian right is just as happy to have women back in the homes letting men be the deciders. So tell me, which religion is more dangerous? -- Nealus
Exactly. Let's see you people treat Muslims as badly as you do Christians. You know, equal treatment? Tsk.