October 24, 2002
I, I, I, ME, ME, ME:
Muslims Fear Sniper Backlash: Muslims Fear Arrest of Muslim Man in Connection With Sniper Case Could Trigger Backlash (The Associated Press, Oct. 24, 2002)The arrest of a Muslim man on charges connected to the deadly Washington-area sniper shootings has the Islamic community bracing for another round of threats and attacks like those that followed the Sept. 11 terrorism."The whole Muslim community was praying day and night: 'God, please. There has to be no connection to Muslims,'" Faiz Rehman of the American Muslim Council said Thursday.
"We'll probably have a backlash. People in a hurry will think that this is just a Muslim thing again. The community really fears it."
No. I'm sorry, but that just won't cut it. There are ten of your fellow Americans dead, several wounded, their families shattered, and many thousands who have lived in terror for weeks now--you don't get to try and win pity out of this story. No one's in the mood for whining about how hard this makes it to be a Muslim in America. We too hope that this will not provoke unjustifiable attacks on innocent folk, but just for one minute, while the entire country is breathing a sigh of relief, put patriotism ahead of religion and express your thanks that these scum were caught, whatever their backgrounds. Pray for the victims, then yourselves. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 24, 2002 7:55 PM
If Mr. Rehman is not like THEM, then instead of whining, he ought to be taking steps to show he is like US.
If I were a Mohammedan, here or elsewhere, I'd be petting dogs, eating ham sandwiches in public for lunch, and wearing an ankh, a crucifix and a Star of David around my neck and a Yankees cap on my head.
Hard rain's gonna fall, and all Mohammedans who act alike are apt to be treated alike.
When 9-11 happened, our church offered to guard the local mosque, and to escort Muslim women out in public if their men were otherwise occupied. For shopping and the like.
It's getting tougher to summon up a memory of those days. That's too bad. We're all Americans. I hope.
Harry:
I don't want them to blaspheme, just to think about the victims first.
I agree with Orrin. When the sniper was finally caught, their first reaction wasn't "Thank Allah he's been stopped and can't kill anymore people," but rather, "Oh Allah, I hope he's not Muslim."
Posted by: Anne at October 24, 2002 11:12 PMI am going to hope this guy is not typical.
Now, for balance, I have seen reports that amount to a bit of "its good for Republicans that the sniper is not an angry white male". However, I can promise you, my first reaction when I heard the news that he was caught was not "what color was his skin". Nor do I get a sense of that reaction from reading other reports.
Regards,
I think this discussion wll soon lose relevance. If you think the Left's reaction will be to defensively ask for tolerance ("let's not ge caried away, etc.) you don't understand how Clinton/McCauliffe have transformed American political discourse.
First, the Left is Never Wrong and Is Never Defensive. Witness Hillary's unmitigated gall, in the wake of the N. Korean announcements, to take the OFFENSIVE, and claim (against any chance of her claim being possible) that it was Bush's war mongering that forced the N. Koreans to violate their agreements.
From today onwards, the spin on the Sniper will not be about Muslims, terrorism, or even evil in general (lets watch the death penalty debate here). It will be about out of control military types and lax gun control laws that allow them to get guns.
And executing juveniles, MG
Posted by: Harry at October 25, 2002 8:00 PMBy the way, Orrin, I don't care if they blaspheme just whether they can behave. With each attack, it gets harder to make the argument that most Mohammedans are peaceful. If they are, how to they demonstrate that?
But, considering blasphemy, I have considered non-violent methods of correction. How seriously do they take their religion, or are they really just resentful because we have pretty eyes? Well, here's a way to find out.
Instead of bombing Baghdad, get out the old Ranchhand equipment and load it with pig blood. Announce a list of 100 important mosques and tell the peaceful Mohammedans, "Round up your own extremists or we spray your mosques."
That ought to result in some quick values clarification.
guard the local mosque, and to escort Muslim women ?
Nice, how many Americans did you finally have to protect them from?