Posted on 10/21/2001 9:50:35 PM PDT by Atticus
This evening I had dinner at an Indian (Hindu) restaurant in Montclair, New Jersey. During the meal, several people at our table were discussing pictures of the World Trade Center (pre-9/11) that were on display at a framing gallery next door. When we left the restaurant, I decided to check the pictures out for myself. It was a wonderful tribute: an American flag surrounded by four or five balck and white posters and photographs of the twin towers taken from different angles, some during the day, some at night.
Then something surreal happened. As we started to walk toward our car, three Arab men in their early 20s passed us. I am no expert in ethnic identity, but I am absoltely sure the men were Arab and definitely not Indian or hispanic. They were speaking to each other in their native tongue. As they walked past the storefront with the pictures of the WTC, one of the men looked at the pictures and then said something to his friends to draw their attention to the pictures. Then the three of them bursted out laughing and walked away. My blood boiled and I shouted at them. I think my words were, "Hey, you think that's funny, you f*#%ing Arabs?" They just waled along, oblivious to me. It was a sad and chilling experience.
My post said noting about deportation, nothing about internment camps, and nothing about visiting any violence on these men. Nor did I say or even suggest that they are terrorists. At a minimum, I believe they are sympathetic to the forces that destroyed the WTC and terrorized and murdered thousands of civilians. I also believe they have no sympathy for Americans and no appreciation of our way of life. In sum, they are part of a cancer that has spread throughout our country. If I am mistaken and they were just engaging in a little harmless Arab humor, that's just too bad.I do not need sensitivity lessons. It is these three Arab men who need it. Go lecture to them. They made their comments in front of a group of "white" Americans including three children as well as a person (my father), who was on the 44th floor of the North Tower when the first plane struck and who witnessed unspeakable carnage incluing the sight of dead bodies, people leaping to their deaths, and the collapse of two buildings containing perhaps as many as five thousand souls.
Well said. The answer is obvious to everyone except Mr.Everyman: Call the authorities. Let them investigate and handle them. We are at war for our very survival, and wartime requires a different, more cautious way of thinking. At any other time, these fellows would be just 'nihilist jerks' but not today, not after September 11th. We cannot afford to take that risk.
And their apologist seem to be everywhere too.
Exactly! If these guys weren't such cowards, they would speak ENGLISH so there would be no question as to the nature of their remarks one way or the other.
What do you suggest?
Being forced to listen to the wrong end of horses like Richard Gere...
And worse.
Because we don't have a death wish, we are aware of how foreigners view our quaint "freedoms" and when foreigners commit Mass Murder, we get pissed off.
When Norwegians start flying airliners into skyscrapers, we can start picking on them too.
I'm not saying that makes them terrorists, but it does give evidence to a lack of sensitivity and appreciation for the current climate in this country.
It is easy to understand the feelings of the one who posted this thread. Everything that is American was violated on EVERY American on 9-11. There has been no broad based CONDEMNATION of fundamentalist Islam (the real agent of terrorism) by the Arab/Muslim American community. The silence is deafening to home-grown Americans. I can believe the poster of this thread because of a story I will now relate.
My cousin was contracted to work down in Brooklyn, right on the water's edge, just south of the WTC. He had a great view of the Twin Towers from the construction site; his construction hut was on the top of the high rise. On 9-11 he was on the roof of this high rise looking out over the water when he witnessed the first and then the second plane crash into the WTC. He watched both building crumble bringing to an abrupt end the lives of those inside. As this information was disseminated throughout the media and the public was witnessing this intrinsically evil act, he noticed a commotion at street level. He went down to the ground floor to see what was happening. Across the street was a middle-eastern deli. The B*stards, as he called them, were dancing in the street and in the store. If it weren't for the NYPD, the construction workers would have torn them apart. This display of JOY at the decimation of innocent humanity was too much to swallow and, IMHO, was perverted and nearly as evil as the act itself. This has been witnessed by Americans ALL over America in various cities and at different times. I am totally amazed at the self control of the U.S. and flabergasted at the sadistic rejoicing not only in the Middle-East but also here in the Islamic population of the U.S.
If Arab/Muslim Americans want to be seen as patriots you need to come out in force ABSOLUTELY condemning the acts of 9-11 and all terrorism coming out the the Middle East (no and, ifs or buts about it). Else you will continue to be portrayed otherwise. BTW, I have yet to see any Islamic Clerics in the U.S. do what I just said. They have all pre-qualified there statements with things like U.S. Midlle East policy, or Palestine/Israeli situation.....
We have lots of clues.
Typically they know just enough to spout crap and are legends in their own mind.
They have a knowledge base a mile wide and one milimeter thick.
And they actually believe that they are privy to insights that actually informed people are not.
And they love to hear themselves talk.
We should further DEMAND that all Muslims and their Temples be put under close and constant scrutiny by law enforcemnt officials.
If someone sets up a website for petitions along this line, I am more than willing to sign same.
NOT ONE SINGLE MUSLIM CLERIC HAS SUPPORTED OUR ACTIONS TO BRING TO JUSTICE THE MURDERERS OF THOSE AMERICAN VICTIMS AT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER.
NOT OONE SINGLE MUSLIM I HAVE HEARD ANYWHERE HAS COME OUT UNQUALIFIEDLY IN SUPPORT OF OUR ACTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN.
WOULD THE "GREATEST GENERATION" HAVE TOLERATED THESE ANTICS BY GERMANS, ITALIANS AND JAPANESE IN WORLD WAR II.
YOU BET YOUR BUTT THEY WOULDN'T HAVE - NOT THAT ANY SUCH ACTIONS EVER OCCURED. THE OVERWHELMING NUMBER OF GERMAN- ITALIAN- AND JAPANESE- AMERICANS SUPPORTED THEIR COUNTRY IN ITS TIME OF TRIBULATION.
SUCH IS NOT THE CASE WITH THESE FANATIC FOLLOWERS OF THE "PROPHET." "PEACEFUL RELIGION" MY BUTT!!
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