A bloodthirsty desire to stick it to Arabs and Muslims. It doesn’t matter in the slightest whether Saddam Husayn had nothing to do with al-Qa‘idah. The WTC was destroyed by sand niggers. Towelheads. Goddamn Ay-rabs. Kill 'em all, what difference does it make? They’re all the same anyway. Get 'em back, show 'em who’s boss. Stomp 'em wherever you can find 'em. Blind rage.
I don’t want to believe that this explains the inexplicable continued support for Bush’s military adventurism among a large chunk of the American population… but I have a sickly feeling that it probably is the reason. Please convince me otherwise.
The reason I gave a sarcastic response is because I don’t take on impossible tasks.
You cannot be convinced of anything you are not willing to belive in the first place.
Any empirical evidence one way or another will be anecdotal until a reputable polling organization can get a large and diverse enough sample.
It is your own prejudices and fears which have spawned this “sickly feeling.” The “boogum” you’ve created in your own mind is a construct only you can defeat.
Chief Elgin : I don’t care if he’s from Johannesburg. I don’t want to hear Dune Coon or Sand Nigger from him or anybody else. Conrad Vig : Captain uses those terms. Sgt. Troy Barlow : That’s not the point, Conrad. The point is that Towel Head and Camel Jockey are perfectly good substitutes. Chief Elgin : Exactly!
Once again, some of you guys (Brian!) are being fast and loose with the racial perjoratives, something we would expect from SF’rs, right? I know how desperately you want to paint us as some sort of racists bastards who only want to put the <insert your favorite minority> down, but that simply isn’t the case. Not to mention, it doesn’t really help the discussion when you kick things off in such a melodramatic way.
Besides which, I personally don’t even see the need to confine my blind, pointless rage to people of Arab descent. I’m pretty much content to lash out at anyone with skin darker than my khakis.
Of course, calling it “blind, pointless rage” is not quite accurate either, as it fails to capture the unbridled, near-sexual sense of joy and fulfillment I feel at the death of innocents.
I don’t think it is this black and white. However, say this was over a country with a large Christian population and no oil, there would have been a lot more resistance. Along those lines, I believe that international intervention in Bosnia would have come earlier if Bosnia had a large Christian population rather than muslem.
IMHO this is more attributable to indifference than racism. It’s not like there is a big high profile Iraqi diaspora in the US or anything.
Jomo: Sorry, pal, but you have the debate process entirely backwards. Here’s how it works. You (ie, the guy starting the debate) states a thesis. You’re OK so far. Then, you state the facts that support your thesis and challenge others to either refute or accept those facts. That’s where you missed the boat.
So, let’s start over and have you state your case. Saying “I have this feeling. Prove me wrong.” is a logical fallacy called “burden of proof”. As it stands, youi hace lost this debate.
I saw a documentary that followed three Americans who joined the military at the same time. One was a dancer who wanted to add on to her existing college education and more discipline. One was a boy from the ghetto who wanted the money and the “free” education. The last one was a banker who joined for revenge after 9/11. He pretty much wanted to “stick it to the sand niggers”. By the end, the ghetto boy had gone AWOL and the banker was suicidal. The dancer was doing very well.
Everyone has their reasons for enlisting. Not all of them are good reasons, and I think that all comes out in the wash.
It’s not that we hate THEM, it’s that we hate their religion, their customs, the way they talk. We hate their smell, the way they dress. But not THEM personally.
I mean, why can’t they be more like US? Their new president looks like us wearing his nice suit and speaking english. Now why can’t the rest of them be like us?
If only we could build some Wal-Marts and a few Starbucks over there they could see that OUR way is better than THEIR way.
If they can’t change to OUR way, well, then we have to kill THEM.
In the name of democracy, or for our protection, or, or just because their not like ME.
Yes, speaking for The Great Satan, we hate everyone. Our real plan is to bring back the great Cthulhu. That’s it. MOST of us aren’t “into” racism or hate. Those who initally supported the invasion of Afghanistan did so out of shock and a desire for revenge. We were told it (the invasion) was to catch the terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks. Then, we were told Saddam was supporting, harboring and financing terrorists, and had WMD. For a while we believed that too. IF you believe there is a “neoCon” conspiracy, 9/11 was the Pearl Harbor they were waiting for. It would have been very hard to “sell” the war without that attack. The attacks served up an excuse, on a silver platter. Who is more racist - Joe AveragePerson who wanted to get the terrorists for what they did and then stop, or the people who call for holy war and extermination of all “westerners” and infidels? Sure there are plenty of morons on our side, but your side is not blameless either.
Well, despite the lack of proper form in the OP and the all the sarcastic responses, There is a kernel of truth here. Obviously there is some blind anti-muslim sentiment going on. A reference to this would be the extreme discomfort felt by muslims across america shortly after 9/11. Many were threatened, I believe a number were beaten, one to death, IIRC.
However, I don’t believe for a second that this is the cause of widespread support for the war in Iraq.
I think, rather, it stems from a need to do something, anything, that is strong and decisive. It is the same mentality that causes the family of murder victims to campaign tirelessly for the conviction of the main suspect, even when there are serious doubts about guilt.
And while I’m here, I must say that I’m kind of disappointed in the tone of this thread. A question was asked in all seriousness, and there has been very little of the “fighting ignorance” going on since then.
There were incidents of this. I believe one of the victims was not “arab” but was Indian. I did not say there are no stupid people here. But, they do not speak or act for the rest of us. I continued order food from the same take-out place I always had, even though the people are from somewhere in the Middle East (I never asked where). Apparently a lot of other people continued to order from them too, as they are still in business and are doing well. I still eat lunch at a Denny’s that has a manager who came from Iraq. They (the Muslim or Middle Eastern people) seemed surprised; I guess they expected everyone to "take it out"on them. Muslims had a fear that people would lash out at them. For the most part it didn’t happen. In another country (take your pick) it might have been widespread. We aren’t all racists.
Ah, well, the Jews stopped doing that at least 50 years ago. (Well, except for the ones in Brooklyn.) It’s good to know somebody is taking the trouble to keep a quaint old custom from dying out entirely!
