Posted on 09/14/2009 7:25:31 PM PDT by SJackson
'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat' Editor: Bin Laden, Holocaust Museum Shooter Driven By Same Hatred
Following the June 10, 2009 shooting at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, editor of the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, wrote an editorial titled "Crime at the Holocaust Museum." In the editorial, which was published June 15, 2009, Al-Rashed stated that anti-black racism was the same as anti-white racism, said that Osama bin Laden and the museum shooter were driven by the same hatred, and faults the U.S. for allowing such hatred to proliferate by protecting freedom of speech.
The following is the editorial, in the original English. [1]
"The Anti-Muslims Are The Same as the Anti-Semites; Those Who Are Racist Against Blacks Are The Same as Those Who Are Racist Against Whites"
"The body count may not have been large, it was an individual attack, and no organization has claimed responsibility for it. One victim was killed, while the perpetrator ended up in hospital awaiting trial on charges of murder, simply because the [U.S. political] system does not punish hatred or racism. This is just one more racially motivated crime in a multi-ethnic society where cultures are beginning to compete.
"The paradox is that this crime took place at a museum that deals with the history of the Holocaust - a story of racism that many reject, not because it did not occur, but because it is part of an ongoing ideological conflict. Evidence of this is that Holocaust deniers publicly call for getting rid of other ethnic groups and promote white European supremacy.
"The perpetrator of the crime has all the qualities that contradict the stereotypical definition of a racist; he is 88 years old, white - the most privileged racial group of all - and lives in an economically rich country. If one has these characteristics and lives in a country that allows freedom of expression and the right to [political] objection via elections, why would anyone need to take a gun to a museum and kill an African-American guard in order to express their hatred of the Jews?
"This is proof that hatred has nothing to do with poverty, literacy, political suppression, religion, or even youth; rather, it is tied to culture. This must be understood by those attempting to play down the security threat, as well as those who are searching for scapegoats in Islamic books and Muslim society. It is not difficult to find evidence to implicate the wrong people, which is what happened [initially] with regards to the Holocaust Museum shooting.
"The anti-Muslims are the same as the anti-Semites; those who are racist against blacks are the same as those who are racist against whites. They are all alike."
"Why Does a Young Millionaire Like Osama Bin Laden End Up Fighting Others?... This Is the Same Hatred That Made a White Christian American Head To a Museum" to Commit Murder
"Do not underestimate the power of culture, especially the power of the culture of hatred, and the influence that this can have on an individual. Why does a young millionaire like Osama bin Laden end up fighting others? What transforms an intellectual physician like [Al-Qaeda deputy leader] Ayman Al-Zawahiri into a killer on the basis of religious identity?
"This is the same hatred that made a white Christian American head to a museum with the intention of carrying out an act of premeditated murder in order to express his opinions. Hatred has the capacity to destroy the desire for respect and dialogue; it has the capacity to destroy the desire for coexistence."
"How Can We Fight Hatred When Its Sources Are Being Protected [By The Political System]?"
"According to statistics, the number of websites belonging to racist white supremacist groups has increased by the thousands. This is not because the situation on the ground has worsened, but because the means for spreading racism has become cheaper and more readily available. These websites are full of incitement against Muslims, blacks, and Jews, and are full of myths about Islamic conspiracies to occupy the U.S., or Jewish conspiracies to control the U.S. central bank, and so on.
"These groups operate in the open under the protection of the U.S. [political] system that allows this culture [of hatred] to spread in the name of protecting civil liberties afforded by the U.S. constitution. At the same time, the U.S. government travels around the world and urges others to fight against this same culture of hatred [that it protects].
"In fact, much of the racist literature found on extremist Islamic websites comes from white neo-Nazi websites that have fabricated much of their information. How can we fight hatred when its sources are being protected [by the political system]?"
[1] The text has been lightly edited for clarity.
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The white Americans did it.
Actually, we don't consider Egyptians to be "blacks" ~ in America we actually have "black" people, not just white folks with heavy tans.
I know it's a hard concept for an Egyptian to grasp since we all speak English, more or less, but really this level of ignorance has got to be put to an end. There's no excuse for any Egyptian to fail to learn something about the United States.
HATED THE RIGHT WING FOR BEING NON VIOLENT
WAS AN ANTI CHRISTIAN WHO POSTED ON ATHEIST SITE
WAS A BUSH HATER
HATED FOX NEWS’ O'REILLY
WAS A "NEO-CON" HATER
WAS A 9-11 TRUTHER
SUPPORTED THE INTIFADA AND PALESTINIANS
HATED FREE TRADE
HATED JEWS
SUPPORTED SOCIALISM HATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD
Because they interpret Genesis literally.
Goodness knows, every time I read about the First Racist Rednecks, Adam and Eve in the Trailer Park of Eden, it makes me want to go out lynch everybody who is "not like me."
Hey, I’m a “neo-con” hater, too. So I consider that a plus.
He makes an important point when he points out the similarities between an Osama who kills out of racial hatred versus anyone else who kills out of racial hatred.
Not many people are prepared to lump jihadism in with nazism and race murder; just giving the jihadist the cover of religion distorts what he has done when in fact the jihadist is little different from any nazi.
He's obviously wrong when he lays the blame at freedom of press and speech; yes the jihadists, and the baathists, and the arab nationalists all tap into the same kinds of literature that inspire the neo-nazis and racial identity thugs. But without freedom of the press those things would still be available; Mein Kampf is pretty readily available on arab news stands I believe, and the soviets never completely stamped out the samizdat. And the arabs are quite capable of writing their own racist claptrap, so don't blame our racist nimrods for your racist nimrods. Its fair to point out that they feed one another; hate feeds hate.
You contain these things by defeating the violent haters, and the normal run of the mill haters you overcome by teaching love and demanding respect. You have to defeat the violent ones, and then love can do its work.
He misses an important point. In our free societies, the racist thug is rejected, he's an outcast. In their unfree societies the racist thug is celebrated, revered, feared, emulated. Its the air they breathe. Freedom doesn't inspire hate. Freedom only exists where love of neighbor, respect for your neighbor, is commonplace. Hate doesn't prefer freedom, freedom can't exist in the absense of respect for the other. Hate's natural soil is the unfree society because "unfreedom" is its certain result every time.
You can’t equate a lone gunman with the leader of a worldwide terrorist organization; there’s quite a degree of difference between the two. And our free system keeps the former from turning into the latter.
The author’s research is sloppy. The Holocaust Museum wasn’t a Christian; he worshipped the Norse gods.
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