We really are getting off topic, but then just about every group on
the net has become this way.
The moderator may wish to come behind us and clean things up by
deleting such posts, particularly with this post.
Max Dashu:
> After the terrible plane-bombings on Tuesday, we were
> all horrified. Now, adding to my horror, come attacks
> on Arab-Americans. Fire-bombs, shootings at mosques,
> attacks on schoolchildren and Moroccan gas station
> attendants and Palestinian businesses.
I've not seen any coverage of such things, tho' I am sure some such
actions have taken place; I am certain they are isolated
> These are also Americans, also innocent people. My Arab
> friends and loved ones are terrified, and with good reason.
I don't think they have anything to fear, unless they are known
for having a pro-Yasir mouth, and then only if they live in a very
redneck neighborhood.
> Are we to relive the Crusades over and over again?
Probably. A rather fashionable thesis is that, now that Communism has
been defeated, the only remaining ideological enemy of 'the West' is
(militant) Islam. By this is meant the 'liberal democracy' model
followed by the first world, vs. the human-rights sewers you get in
most Islamic countries. These are strong words, but they are the
truth. Taliban, the Iranian Ayatollahs, Saddam, Qadaffi, et al. and
the regimes they represent are ALL *appropriately* demonized. The
quarrel is not with the people of these nations, but with the, oh, 13%
ruling elite. If we of the West are to live as we wish to live, we
will have to wipe out these regimes, and install and maintain
something more conducive to *our* notions of how the world must be.
[...]
> Joao is right, demonization is not going to help. It is part
> of the problem.
We cannot sweetly turn the other cheek indefinitely. The only solution
is a permanent change in the world order. We have to finally
understand that *WE* are right and that *THEY* are wrong, and that
they will kill us unless we render them incapable of such violence. By
'we' I mean those nations following the 'first world' model, or
following it as best as local circumstances allow (in the MidEast,
Jordan and Egypt are such states).