Posted on 12/02/2006 12:10:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters)- When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.
The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."
Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."
At the end of the one-hour show, rich with arguments on why visual identification of "the threat in our midst" would alleviate the public's fears, Klein revealed that he had staged a hoax. It drew out reactions that are not uncommon in post-9/11 America.
"I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said," he told his audience on the AM station 630 WMAL (http://www.wmal.com/), which covers Washington, Northern Virginia and Maryland
"For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting.
"Because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous."
The show aired on November 26, the Sunday after the Thanksgiving holiday, and Klein said in an interview afterwards he had been surprised by the response.
"The switchboard went from empty to totally jammed within minutes," said Klein. "There were plenty of callers angry with me, but there were plenty who agreed."
POLLS SHOW WIDESPREAD ANTI-MUSLIM SENTIMENT
Those in agreement are not a fringe minority: A Gallup poll this summer of more than 1,000 Americans showed that 39 percent were in favor of requiring Muslims in the United States, including American citizens, to carry special identification.
Roughly a quarter of those polled said they would not want to live next door to a Muslim and a third thought that Muslims in the United States sympathized with al Qaeda, the extremist group behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
A poll carried out by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group, found that for one in three Americans, the word Islam triggers negative connotations such as "war," "hatred" and "terrorist." The war in Iraq has contributed to such perceptions.
Klein's show followed a week of heated discussions on talk radio, including his own, and online forums over an incident on November 22 involving six Muslim clerics. They were handcuffed and taken off a US Airways flight after passengers reported "suspicious behavior" that included praying in the departure gate area.
The clerics, on their way to a meeting of the North American Imams Federation, were detained in a holding cell, questioned by police and FBI agents, and released. Muslim community leaders saw the incident as yet more evidence of anti-Muslim prejudice.
IGNORANCE SEEN AS KEY PROBLEM
Several American Muslims interviewed on the subject of prejudice over the past few weeks said ignorance was at the core of the problem.
"The level of knowledge is very, very low," said Mohamed Esa, a U.S. Muslim of Arab descent who teaches a course on Islam at McDaniel College in Maryland. "There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world and some people think they are all terrorists."
Hossam Ahmed, a retired Air Force Reserve colonel who occasionally leads prayer meetings for the small Muslim congregation at the Pentagon, agreed. "Ignorance is the number one problem. Education is of the essence."
There are no hard figures on how many Muslims have been subject to harassment or prejudice and community leaders say that ugly incidents can prompt spontaneous expressions of support. Such as the e-mail a Minneapolis woman sent to CAIR after the imams were taken off their flight.
"I would like to ... help," the e-mail said. "While I cannot offer plane tickets, I would be happy to drive at least 2 or 3 of them. My car is small, but at least some of our hearts in this land of the free are large."
And optimists saw signs of change in the November 4 election of the first Muslim to the U.S. House of Representatives, which has 435 members.
Democrat Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old African-American lawyer, did not stress his religion during his campaign for a Minnesota seat, but said his victory would "signal to people who are not Muslims that Muslims have a lot to offer to the United States and the improvement of our country."
Exactly!
"Exactly!"
The "trust" balance with Islam and Muslims has long been in the red.... in more ways than one.
Keep your powder dry.
Chamberlain was a putz. Thank God for Churchill.
I want to believe...please help me to believe by giving me something other than terrorists and hate-mongering clerics. Where is this positive, neighborly, family oriented side of Islam that many speak of? Will somebody please tell me?
GSD
EnochPowellWasRight wrote: "They won't kill you last for helping them, Melas."
That's disgusting. Melas isn't taking "their" side. He's taking OUR side--the American side. You know, the one where you are innocent until proven guilty. To imply he's a traitor because he doesn't want to throw every Muslim US citizen is prison is grossly unfair.
Most Americans fear snakes even though only a few are poisonous.
A few Americans are fascinated by snakes and harbor them.
This is what few Americans want to deal with. At least 10% of the world's Muslims are active jihadists.
They are aided and abetted by at least another 25%, or they would never go operational. Add to that the overwhelming number of Muslims who listen to their imams' rantings and contribute millions, while keeping conspicuously silent.
That's more people who want us dead or converted than the combined population of the Axis Powers we faced in WWII. Yet, no one is allowed to say we are in a World-Wide War, if not a World War, with Islam.
I wonder why.
We are in agreement. I see it plainly and clearly. Islam is the enemy.
"Several American Muslims interviewed on the subject of prejudice over the past few weeks said ignorance was at the core of the problem."
If ignorance is the problem, it's because we haven't been shown anything else!
Where is the national voice of the pro-family, peace-loving Islamic community in America? Please don't tell me it's Jesse Jackson. I'm not trying to be funny - I want to know!
GSD
It's a religion of peace, of course,
You forgot this: < / sarcasm > LOL
... the peace of submission, slavery, death, and the enemy of our entire civilization, but you won't hear that from anyone in a leadership position in a Western nation today. Just like everyone in power in the 30s thought that Hitler could be reasoned with.
If this level of abasement of our great nation before Islam is what we can expect of a Republican Administration, what would Kerry's have been like?
It would have been bad, but the outcome would have been the same. That bunch of sissies in DC don't have what it takes to go up against an enemy like Islam. They would rather cave in to their demands, and try to pacify them with their phony "religion of peace" crapola. Bush and Condi have/will deliver us into the hands of the enemy!!!
GraniteStateDad wrote: "Where is the national voice of the pro-family, peace-loving Islamic community in America?"
A Google search for "muslims against terrorism" might be a good place to start. Peaceful Muslim organizations are out there.
The only time we'll be truly free of this Satanic cult is when there are no longer any Muslims in the world. And to think we allow them in the country at all is a travesty. They should all be sent back to the ME where they can chop each other's heads off as they wish. We don't need them here; that's for sure.
Although if RR were President today, that would probably be the very least of what he'd say. Or do.
Thank you for your reply.
I understand that there are organizations out there, but what I want to know is just what I asked...
"Where is the national voice of the pro-family, peace-loving Islamic community in America?"
GSD
EnochPowellWasRight wrote: "It's a WAR."
Yes, it IS a war. As such, it needs to be fought in an intelligent way that actually achieves our objectives. We, a nation of 300 million people, are not going to wipe out 1 billion Muslims. Right now, we are only facing a radical minority. Let's say we DID start rounding up every innocent Muslim, and let's say we DID start indiscriminately bombing every mosque. Do you think that would actually help win the war? No, it wouldn't. It would drive the vast majority of the 1 billion Muslims into our enemy's camp.
I'm no friend of Islam. In fact, I think it's heresy. But that doesn't mean I don't respect an American Muslim's right to worship peacefully. As long as they aren't doing something criminal, they have the same rights as any other American.
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