Posted on 12/30/2004 2:08:16 PM PST by Marine Inspector
If they were smart, surely they'd exile the moderate Muslims so they wouldn't have that violence. /sarc
"Desperate times sometimes call for disparate measures".
Do you think we are currently in "desperation" in the US?
First of all, the quote was from Michelle Malkin, and I do agree with her.
Definition:des·per·ate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (dspr-t)
adj.
Having lost all hope; despairing.
Marked by, arising from, or showing despair: the desperate look of hunger; a desperate cry for help.
Reckless or violent because of despair: a desperate criminal.
Undertaken out of extreme urgency or as a last resort: a desperate attempt to save the family business.
Nearly hopeless; critical: a desperate illness; a desperate situation.
Suffering or driven by great need or distress: desperate for recognition.
Extremely intense: felt a desperate urge to tell the truth.
Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
And:
Desperation
n 1: a state in which everything seems wrong and will turn out badly; "they were rescued from despair at the last minute" [syn: despair] 2: desperate recklessness; "it was a policy of desperation"
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
You asked: Do you think we are currently in "desperation" in the US?
According to the above definitions, and the MSM opinions: Probably; in my opinion: Possibly.
Let's look at what our country is faced with:
1. An enemy who attacked us without provocation, in our own land.
2. An enemy that has a ruthless reputation and is proud of using homicide bombers to kill and maim everyone they consider an enemy.
3. An enemy who has no conscience about killing the innocent.
4. An enemy who does not play by any rules, save those found in the Koran. Said rules encourage lying and destroying whomever is considered an infidel (that would be us, the US).
5. An enemy who willingly murders their own people in the name of their God, to further the Jihadist cause.
Looking at this list, do you not think Americans have a right to be scared or worried about this enemy?
During the Cold War you could pretty much substitute "Commie" for enemy in most cases, exceot they did not sucker punch us like 9/11, nor did they use homicide bombers, but Americans, "True Loyal Americans" hated them as much as many Americans, "True Loyal Americans", hate the Islamofascists today.
BOTH groups sought to take over America, to "bury" us, to destroy our way of life. We sought to destroy, to end the Communist way of life, but we NEVER sought to do the same to Muslims. Those charges were fabricated by the Islamofascists.
Americans have every right to have a feeling of desperation, since the enemy looks like us, dresses like us, and generally fits in, but Americans don't like seeing the stereotype either: ant traditional dress, beards, turbans (even though they are of the Sikh variety, not the Muslim type).
Every time the MSM reports on the "problems" in Iraq, or asks "Is this a NEW Vietnam?", or suggests that we are "losing" the war on terror because of inadequate security, people, common, ordinary, everyday folks, get a little more desperate, and those in "targeted" areas are at a higher level of desperation, etc. Not everyone can feel as secure as you do (what's your secret?).
Now the other word:
disparate
adj 1: fundamentally different or distinct in quality or kind; "such disparate attractions as grand opera and game fishing"; "disparate ideas" 2: including markedly dissimilar elements; "a disparate aggregate of creeds and songs and prayers"
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
Right or wrong, Muslims will not be looked at equally, or with any trust, as long as the msm keeps showing the pix of terrorism around the world on a daily basis; most harmful to the Islamic "cause" was the Beslan massacre, you DON'T shoot children in the back...FOR ANY REASON!
Being shot in the back means you are running away (take note Sen. sKerry), and not a threat. Beslan destroyed any hope of trust returning, and made a lot of people not care how any Muslim was/is treated.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm saying that's just how it is right now.
Uh... mmmhmmm... sure.
Someone hand her a tissue.
Yeah, very good, what's your point?
Just another smarta$$ answer, or do you have something to contribute?
You asked and I answered, and your response is a definition of PANIC? I suppose you are making a veiled reference to how people feel, well you are somewhat correct: many people in this country are close to panic, the simplest incident may set them off, and that is somehow their fault, in your estimation?
I guess because they are not the super-cool Defender of the Constitution and Sayer of the Law, as you are.
In the real world, many people who have witnessed an attack, whether in person, or on TV, are affected by it because of the violence, the wanton disregard for human life, etc., (/11 was different to Americans: these were OUR people dying, in OUR country, at the whim of an enemy who claims the attack was part of a "Holy War" against us.
This showed our vulnerability, our mortality, and gave us an enemy that had the face of UBL as the primary one to fear.
Americans see anyone resembling that face, or those of his followers, and they will react, sometimes in a panic, as you defined it, and that's just the way it is.
Perhaps if we ask nicely:
"Show US oh Brave and Wise Gondring how WE may be as BRAVE as you!" /sarc.
I'm not saying that we should not feel what happened on 9/11 (and the aftermath), but you are asking us to just give in and react the way our enemy wants us to react.
To use a less-emotional analogy, imagine if Walter Alston had yanked Johnny Podres after the first Yankee hit of Game 7 in 1955. Sure, he didn't get a perfect game, but you don't throw out the entire game just because it's not perfect. You have to go with what's best in the long-term--what's going to get the win.
Americans see anyone resembling that face, or those of his followers, and they will react, sometimes in a panic, as you defined it, and that's just the way it is.
So how about helping to fight against that panic, against that knee-jerk reaction? "That's just the way it is" is a policy of fatalism. Please don't condemn me, and our country, with it.
BTW, Podres held the shutout, didn't he?
The first step is admitting there's a real problem:
1. America was attacked by MUSLIM terrorists on 9/11;
2. we were caught unaware because we believed it couldn't happen HERE;
3. Border Security, physical and ALL ports of Entry, was, and still is pretty much, a sieve;
4. Internal Terrorists, including ALL militia types, and street gangs, are also a part of the problem.
The second step is usually admitting we are powerless to fight the problem, not in MY 12 (or whatever) step program.
The 2nd step is finding viable solutions for the problems, while trying to maintain a democracy, and that's the tough part, sad as it is to say.
Solutions?
Anyone...anyone? (Beuller?)
Only ignorant bigots would so "react" to a resemblance - not Americans.
Perhaps in a "perfect world", CG, and Utopia means "Nowhere";
Americans are human, and human reactions always reflect a sort of bigotry, such as your bigotry when you slam people simply reacting in an emotional way.
Once again, I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it's reality.
Your bigotry is showing by this statement, because bigotry is based on people not fitting a perfect ideal.
Admit your bigotry and it's a start.
The problem you always try to put forth is nowhere near the bigotry of the deep south from the 9th Century through most of the 20th Century, nor is it similar to the bigotry of Nazi Germany.
It is not even close to the anti-Catholic Bias that infected Ireland under British rule after the Reformation and culminated in the sectarian "troubles" of Northern Ireland, the Arab - Israeli conflicts, the "Indian Wars" of the American West, the Hutu - Tutsi conflict in Rwanda, the Serbian Ethnic Cleansings and other Balkan "fun", and so many other bigotry based conflicts that are just a sad part of a human - fallible - society.
Anti-Islamic feelings in the US and elsewhere are as justified as Anti-US or Western feelings are in the Islamic world.
The difference is: US and Western lives ARE in danger in those areas (how many executions in Iraq?), the Muslims in America will be protected, and you KNOW it!
Since you brought the phrase to the table, CG:
"And since you fail to enthusiastically condemn it, you endorse and celebrate it."
You cannot condemn any non-Muslim who feels the same way about Muslims who do not "enthusiastically condemn" terrorism.
Correct?
Nope - I'm just demanding that people hold themselves and their ideological allies to the same standards they wish to impose on others.
Since they fail to enthusiastically condemn anti-Muslim bigotry and violence, by their own standard they are endorsing and promoting it.
So what anti-Muslim Bigotry or violence , equal in scale to what has happened to Americans at the hands of Muslims, has occurred?
Being questioned at the border and asked for fingerprints is equal to having your throat slit, or being rammed into a building at 300 MPH?
Getting yelled at and berated for wearing traditional clothing is equal to being shot, stabbed, mutilated, set on fire and hung from a bridge (Haliburton employees in Fallujah)?
Yes, it is a ridiculous comparison, as are your comparisons, and pronouncements about BIGOTRY in this case.
Muslims ARE free to worship and dress as they like in this country, give me an example of where they have been attacked for it, unlike some Coptic Christians in Jersey City, allegedly.
Prove your point that there is a great plot against Muslims in this country, and ONLY YOU are the one voice to prevent a Holacaust from happening.
Whoohahahahahaaha!
That's rich.
You can start by looking at this, or any FR thread that has anything to do with Islam.
Bull!
PROVE your point or stop making outrageous statements.
What is on FR is talk, a release of frustrations in many ways.
Give me some solid examples of your allegations.
If you can.
Oh, stay in this century, the 21st, no more examples from the Bible and Medieval History, for example. Examples of incidents in America since 9/11 that are proof that there is a plot to DESTROY or muzzle Islam.
I smugly rest my case.
WRONG!
You are still just a troll, a contrarian and a purveyor of male bovine excrement.
You have only been asked to "keep it recent", the past 5 years or so, and you cannot even do that.
You seem to be trying to get me angry, and I have dealt with it, I have steadfastly kept myself from getting angry, because you are just a foolish troll, with nothing better to do than be an annoyance.
Scheherezade told 1001 tales, none of them true, but at least they were entertaining. Looks like one of her relations is trying to practice her skill here on FR, but has ceased to be entertaining and has simply become a useless boor.
You just don't get it, do you?
New Yorkers have committed crimes, murder in some cases. I suppose that my going in and stealing from your house should be fine (by your logic) because that action wouldn't be equal in scale to what some NYer did to someone else. Great logic.
Obviously (well, not obvious to you, I suppose) it's unAmerican to blame a group of people for crimes of some individuals who are part of it. In using your point from elsewhere: no matter how ANGRY you are, you are not justified in this approach.
Still waiting to hear how fingerprinting those citizens at the border would have helped.
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