A frend of mine actually met one of the people who are happy about the attack.
She, an Australian, was walking to work here in Sydney and was spat on by a person of middle eastern origin. He began sprouting all sorts of anti-American garbage and said they deserved it.
Why did he pick on her? We assume it was becasue she had a Ralph Lauren bag with a US flag on it.
I told her I would have punched him in the face but she said she was to scared and shocked to do anything.
I think the ‘celebrating’ will turn to collective pant-shitting when is starts to become clear that Americans, instead of being scared, will be mad as Hell. And when the sight of American (and perhaps allied) warships, planes, and troops replaces the images of rubbled cities, will make it clear some heads will roll. And then the former revelers will suddenly start saying ‘It wasn’t us…really’.
Having said that I would say that these particular Palestinians represent the most backward and ignorant sentiment of the West Bank and Gaza population, not the ‘mainstream’ community.
You are a far more gentle soul than I.
Ignoring gobear’s ignorant fucking racist comment above, let me ask: what was y’all’s reaction when you heard bombs were going off in Kabul? I daresay for many people it was something similar to the celebrating going on in the WB.
Does’t make either group right to be celebrating that.
We don’t get scared. We get even.
Very grim, actually.
Amen, brother.
Let me put it this way: the Palestinians who were celebrating the attacks are pieces of shit, and I would happily cheer their dismemberment–preferably with sharpened pig bones. But to condemn an entire people based on the actions of a relative handfull makes about as much sense as judging all Americans based on the Ku Klux Klan.
However, I agree with the proposition that American sympathy for the Palestinians is gonna take a dive now, especially in light of those celebrations.
I do not pity the Palestinians…Sure, they did a VERY dumb thing by allying themselves against the only power in the world who could have potentially gotten even a fraction of what they wanted…but that was THEIR choice…
In fact, I don’t pity any Arabic peoples in the Fundementalist Muslin culture…They honestly believe that this is the right thing to do, that they are in a total war ordained by God…They MADE themselves our enemies, despite our every effort for peace…If war comes to their soil, then that is exactly what they want…
Who I do pity?..American citizens and immigrants of Arabic decent, especially students and shopkeepers…these folks are probably going a tough time for a while…at the very least, they will be viewed with suspicion, as even the most enlightened of us wonder if maybe, just maybe, this guy isn’t as innocent as he seems…At worst they may be beaten, have their property destroyed, or even killed…that would be a terrible shame, and I sincerely hope it doesn’t happen, but I’m not going to kid myself into thinking it won’t…
Who I especially don’t feel sorry for…the terrorist bastards already in American Prisons…I hope they are in the general population…
Yes, this is my take on it too. Israel can do anything they want now with the Palestinians, and the US will help. Public opinion in the US on the issue of Israel and its dealings with the Palestinians, which seemed to me to be split, will now fall squarely with the Israelis. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to see an Israeli offensive within the next week, out to crush Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And Americans will applaud.
Monty, you’re absolutely right. The sight of one set of people celebrating this atrocity should not be used as a reason to spout hate filled rhetoric against whole nations.
If you just start lashing out at whole groups who had nothing to do with this, it’ll just confirm their feelings about you. It will also be used by those who commited this atrocity as validation of their actions, and proof of what a great evil the USA is.
Oh God, I pray that won’t happen.
Southern California has plenty of people who are of Middle Eastern descent. Some have been friends or acquaintences. Many only want to “fit in” and be an American, and are afraid of being associated with their violent homeland(s). Like they are so glad they got out of there. I’m sure they still love their homeland (because it’s like, home) but they hated how scary it had become. So they got out, and came here. So, in regards to all the dear souls who came here to escape the violence of their homeland - I pray that no one blames them for this. It would be so totally wrong.
But then again, I understand the hysteria, paranoia and fear that we all feel right now. This is an utter tragedy, on so many levels.
There were groups of Americans celebrating the bombing of the Murrah building. I don’t recall anyone suggesting that we should drag all Americans out in the street and shoot them.
I did feel my stomach sink when I saw the people dancing in the streets, just as I did when I heard of the militia groups that thought the OKC bombing was a good thing. There are idiots everywhere, but I doubt if there is a country in the world where every citizen is of the like mind as every other citizen.
My reaction was “Jesus, we’re bombing already?!? We don’t even know for sure yet that it’s Bin Laden–how could we possibly be retaliating yet?” When I heard more details, I said “Oh, okay, that’s not us then. Glad we aren’t popping off prematurely.”
When we do retaliate, I won’t be dancing in the streets, but I will certainly fully support any just response.
I don’t condemn all Muslims, or all Arabs, or all Palestinians. But as for the fucking scumbags who were dancing in the streets, I say–fuck them. I’m not saying we should bomb the Palestinians. But I heartily concur in saying “Fuck You!” And, from a purely objective point of view, I agree that the Palestinians–or rather, the dancing in the streets element of the Palestinian population–have about as much political sense as a sack of gravel. You think the U.S. is “tilting towards Israel” now? Fuck you, dancing-in-the-streets, let’s-take-our-own-political-cause-and-fuck-it-up-the-ass-sideways sorry-ass motherfuckers.
And if some deranged Iraqi opposition group had commandeered a jetliner full of civilians and crashed it into a civilian office complex in Baghdad with 20,000 people in it as part of some fanatic plot to topple Saddam Hussein (a man for whose death I would not shed a single tear, and might even permit myself a smile of satisfication), I would be utterly horrified.
FWIW, the Whitehouse has categorically denied that they are responsible for the bombings in Kabul. Then again that was a few hours ago and things change…
Be careful what you ask for then, sport, because what we’ve seen here is just the beginning.
These guys have shown how a group of people armed with cardboard cutters can improvise their own cruise missle. You think there won’t be other causes prepared to use the same tactics?
Excuse me? I’m not “asking for” anything. I just said, if any group stooped to tactics like this, I’d be horrified, even if it was the fucking World Front for the Liberation of Butterflies and Little Fuzzy Kittens.
Figure of speech - not implying in any way that you’re hoping it’ll happen.
I was horrified, and hoped that it wasn’t us. It was too soon to know who was responsible, and a knee-jerk attack was NOT what we needed. I was very relieved to hear that we weren’t behind it.
Gomez: The idea here is to eradicate ignorance, not perpetuate it.