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@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
 Posted - 09/16/2001 : 18:36:19
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I was shocked to hear people phone in to CNN advocationg rounding up people of Arab decent and basically all darker skinned middle eastern types because "after Tuesday you can't tell what they'll do."
Over a week ago if I suggested that to someone I bet people would say that it's ridiculous to imagine that happening again. I wasn't so confident before and now that I see such talk right out in the open I want to be sick. All the rationalizations I have heard, though I admit it's not that widespread(yet) remind me of the rationalizations used against Japanese-Americans in 1941. Why do we have to admit how wrong such acts are after they are committed and the damage done?
I am at least happy that I haven't heard an elected official suggest rounding anyone up. I would prefer not hearing it from anyone. If you happen to get into a conversation with someone like this you will be suprised at how fast you find yourself branded "UnAmerican" and told that you should get out of the country if you hate it so much. That's certainly a familiar one.
It's scary how fast an "advanced culture" can degenerate into an ugly mob. I think that after all is said and done a lot of people are going to have a lot to regret.
@tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law!
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Zandermann
Skeptic Friend
USA
431 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 18:53:29 [Permalink]
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yeah...it's started
We can only work toward making responsible decisions, and work so that the irresponsible folks like that caller are overruled.
"If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead." |
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Espritch
Skeptic Friend
USA
284 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 18:59:55 [Permalink]
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The local news here in Charlotte reported on a Moslem worship center receiving various threats and hate filled rants on their answering machine. I can only hope that we as a nation have grown up a little since the 1940s and that the people leaving these messages represent a vocal minority rather than majority opinion. Bigotry simply has no place in this situation and should be condemned by every rational human being.
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 19:36:52 [Permalink]
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quote:
I was shocked to hear people phone in to CNN advocationg rounding up people of Arab decent and basically all darker skinned middle eastern types because "after Tuesday you can't tell what they'll do."
Over a week ago if I suggested that to someone I bet people would say that it's ridiculous to imagine that happening again. I wasn't so confident before and now that I see such talk right out in the open I want to be sick. All the rationalizations I have heard, though I admit it's not that widespread(yet) remind me of the rationalizations used against Japanese-Americans in 1941. Why do we have to admit how wrong such acts are after they are committed and the damage done?
@tomic:
How awful! That is so very, very sick. The Islamic Americans are being branded for the crimes of a few Islamic American crazies. Islamic Americans need protection of some kind from the mob mentality and lunacy going on right now. The only people I have heard who spoke like that were deranged (perhaps *off their medication*).
quote:
I am at least happy that I haven't heard an elected official suggest rounding anyone up.
Just wait. If it means votes for coming elections, who knows what the politicians will do?
quote:
I would prefer not hearing it from anyone. If you happen to get into a conversation with someone like this you will be suprised at how fast you find yourself branded "UnAmerican" and told that you should get out of the country if you hate it so much. That's certainly a familiar one.
I never back away from something like that. Of course, it is a way to lose a friendship, but who wants friends with that lack of compassion and/or without the intelligence to be able to figure it out that most Arab Americans want nothing to do with this terror.
quote:
It's scary how fast an "advanced culture" can degenerate into an ugly mob. I think that after all is said and done a lot of people are going to have a lot to regret.
Of course, the rancorous would never realize that they (the angry mob) were wrong, wrong, wrong. Then again, there are a very few who might be dangerous, but good surveillance will work to prevent repeat occurrences. If the airlines continue to have strong surveillance at airports and at other places, then perhaps such negative passions might die down and sanity may return to the United States.
I, myself, am also worried about the innocent killings of civilians in these countries which we are preparing to fight. We would be doing the same thing to the innocent people there in those countries as the Islamic idiots have done to the innocent people here in this country. The old saying that *two wrongs do not make a right* still holds for all circumstances.
I have expected this (understanding the psychology of most people). Of course, there may be some Islamic people who are guilty of crimes already committed against the country, but the innocent majority should be protected from the maniacs who want revenge for the deeds of others.
Sick!
ljbrs  [:!] 
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
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ljbrs
SFN Regular
USA
842 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 19:44:29 [Permalink]
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Zandermann and Espritch (in the order of posts):
Excellent. If everybody passes the word, perhaps an awful injustice to Arab Americans and to other Islamic Americans can be prevented. I am more afraid of the flag-waving Americans who want revenge than I am of anyone else.
ljbrs
*Nothing is more damaging to a new truth than an old error.* Goethe |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 20:48:19 [Permalink]
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Maybe some of this is just knee-jerk reacion? I remember how I felt on Tuesday morning. I wanted blood, and I wasn't in the mood to be choosy. Good thing I'm not in elected office.
After several hours of cooling down to think clearly, of course my opinion has changed. I still want blood, but it's a little more specific. I'm curious as to how many of these calls were made the first hours after this tragedy.
Of course this is a mob mentality. America is after all made up of a mob of malcontents. If my grandparents had been happy where they were, I'd probably be serving bier in the Hofbrauhaus.
There was an Arab-American kid on TV today who said it best: "I am an American".
Lisa
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rubysue
Skeptic Friend
USA
199 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 20:52:28 [Permalink]
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quote:
I am more afraid of the flag-waving Americans who want revenge than I am of anyone else.
Gee,lbjrs, does that mean you're afraid of me? I'm waving the flag, because more than 5,000 of my fellow citizens were brutally cut down without warning and with no compassion and mercy, to promote some bizarre fanatical quest for glory and terror.
Now, having said that, let me make it clear that I do not agree with the xenophobic attitudes of others who blame those who came here for a chance for better lives and freedom. However, because our law enforcement agencies have now arrested four persons of middle eastern background in this country as material witnesses to this devastation, should they be released immediately because we're "waving the flag"?
rubysue
If your head is wax, don't walk in the sun.
Edited by - rubysue on 09/16/2001 20:53:07 |
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comradebillyboy
Skeptic Friend
USA
188 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 21:13:22 [Permalink]
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well said rubysue
i want revenge, but not on the innocent, and not at the expense of subverting the constitution.
comrade billyboy |
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@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 21:31:30 [Permalink]
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quote:
However, because our law enforcement agencies have now arrested four persons of middle eastern background in this country as material witnesses to this devastation, should they be released immediately because we're "waving the flag"?
This is hardly the same as arbitrarily rounding up Arab-Americans such as was done in WWII. I don't know who out there could fault arrests that are for valid reasons and follow the rule of law.
@tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law! |
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Rift
Skeptic Friend
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 09/16/2001 : 22:38:45 [Permalink]
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quote:
The local news here in Charlotte reported on a Moslem worship center receiving various threats and hate filled rants on their answering machine.
There's hope.
A station here in Kansas City reported the same thing a couple of days ago. The next day the Islamic center that had all the threats was absolutely FLOODED with calls of support and acknowledgements that most muslims had absolutely nothing to do with this. They played one recorded message on air that ended with something like "You guys are americans too, don't let those narrowminded bastards get you down".
I really do think it is just a highly vocal minority of idiots.
"Goddammit! The world is just filling up with more and more idiots! And the computer is giving them access to the world! They're
spreading their stupidity! At least they were contained before--now they're on the loose everywhere!"? |
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Kaptain K
New Member
USA
45 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2001 : 03:51:05 [Permalink]
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Had an idiot here picketing a convenience store with a placcard saying we should boycott all Arab-American businesses. I wanted to ask him if, after the OKC bombing, we should have boycotted all American owned businesses since McVeigh and Nichols were "Americans".
Come to think of it should I have boycotted my sister since she married a man named Nichols?
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Greg
Skeptic Friend
USA
281 Posts |
Posted - 09/17/2001 : 07:03:16 [Permalink]
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I wonder how many Arab Americans died in the attacks with "the rest of us".
Greg.
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