A number of my friends visited Egypt and had a great time. I remember one lady who sold Egyptian items to dancers in the U.S. She said they’d gone to Egypt right after one of the terrorist attacks on tourists: the U.S. embassy gave them a personal armed escort, and the merchants were so excited to see them that they were treated like royalty.
It’s terrible the way things have changed. I used to think, “Okay, do your thing!” when I saw people in Islamic dress. Now, I think, “What the F is *wrong* with you?!?”
Recently, I met a couple in the produce section of Walmart who said they were Christian Iraqi refugees from Mosul. That was very profound. The man said, “Islam has no culture: only blood.”
I think that, because of America’s innocence in this matter, the extreme hatred of these people came as a profound shock. The first inkling was when Sirhan Sirhan murdered RFK, “Because of America’s siding with Israel against the Palestinians”. That had most Americans scratching their heads in bewilderment...You hate us because of THAT????
Then came Airplane hijackings, The Iran Hostages, the first WTC bombing, the USS Cole, and it has been escalating since then.
Some people STILL haven’t figured it out.