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."
"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."
No, its not the war in Iraq, its 9/11, USS Cole and countless other terrorist attacks.
ConservativegreatGrandma wrote: "What do you want to do about them (Muslims)?"
It depends. For Muslim citizens who are not guilty of actual crimes such as supporting terrorists--not a thing. For citizens who are guilty of crimes--incarceration. For non-citizen Muslims who are here illegally, incarceration and deportation. For non-citizen Muslims who are here legally, profiling and efficient human intelligence to identify and remove violent ones. Bottom line: if they aren't guilty of crimes, I don't have a problem with Muslims, and I'm certainly not ready to shred the Constitution to punish an entire religion for the actions of some of their members.
If you've got a bunch of rattlesnakes slithering around your backyard, are you going to say "Most of them won't bite me, so I'll just let them be" or are you going to say "You're all out of here or you're all dead."?
Nathan Zachary wrote: "Have you ever even glanced at what their cult teaches?
In fact, I have. However, some FReepers here want to round up and incarcerate an entire group of people based solely on their religious affiliation. That is illegal, immoral, and impractical (as I've stated before). Frankly, that's about as ridiculous as liberals who are against any form of profiling.
We are already doing a lot of the right things in the WOT. You can be sure our intelligence services are trying to identify and eliminate violent Muslim groups--if the NYT doesn't blow the whole thing.
DuncanWaring wrote: "If you've got a bunch of rattlesnakes slithering around your backyard, are you going to say "Most of them won't bite me, so I'll just let them be" or are you going to say "You're all out of here or you're all dead."?"
That's not a valid analogy. All Muslims aren't "rattlesnakes."
Put me on the list of those who've missed it, too.
The only Muslim outrage I've seen is the outrage that there are still infidels (such as myself) on the face of the planet.
Well ignorance is correct.
100 percent of us shouldn't want them next door, next street over or next state over. We should all want all of them gone to their own rockpile in the middle east.
It is dumb that most don't perceive what this "religion' is
Require all those who want to saw of the heads of Infidels to wear a special armband?
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
DuncanWaring wrote: "How do you distinguish those who want to saw your head off from those who don't?"
The same way we identify other criminals from law-abiding citizens--good police work. If one of them commits a crime or even conspires to commit a crime, they can be imprisoned.
To think we could even identify every Muslim in this country, much less incarcerate or deport all of them, is ridiculous. What we do have the capability to do is the necessary HUMINT to identify and destroy violent Muslim groups.
There is something about this religion which makes for violence and strife with everybody who does not belong as well as those who do.
That's not "ignorance". That's an observation of 14 centuries. It's nothing new.
[...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...]
The War in Iraq my foot. My negative view of Islam comes
from the bombing of the World Trade Centers. CAIR is a
piece of work. Blech!
"That is illegal, immoral, and impractical (as I've stated before)."
No, it isn't. It's how a war is fought.
There's always at least ONE civilizational-suicide-for-political-correctness in Islam threads....
I, for one, want us to WIN this war. You fail to understand who the enemy is.
Duh! More brilliant headlines:
SUN TO RISE TOMORROW
NEW STUDY SAYS IT'S COLD IN WINTER
WATER CAN BE GOOD FOR YOU
"No battle is worth fighting except the last one."
Enoch Powell
The July 4 after 9/11, we were leaving a friend's house in a quiet neighborhood to watch fireworks. They have a large yard in South Orange, NJ. A bunch of Muslim men walked onto the lawn without asking, and kneeled down to say their prayers.
We were a little freaked out. We let them alone, but in retrospect I think, "Why didn't they at least have the courtesy to send one to the door and politely ask for permission to enter the property to pray? Why makes things worse by just traipsing onto someone's lawn?"
I also think they were so clueless as to politeness and American culture, or just arrogant. Who knows what was going on in their heads.
I think one way to reduce the threat of fascist Muslims, is to do what Giuliani did to clean up NYC -- use strict "spitting on the sidewalk" laws. Set a very high standard for behavior, encode it into law, and ruthlessly fine and arrest Muslims who don't comply. Then check their immigration status and use every possible means to get them out of the country.
I don't like having to take this attitude, but I see few options.
The education of our current leadership is wanting.
Here's another Powell quote:
"I will not surrender responsibility for my life and my actions."
For every story I hear about "Police disrupt criminal plan to ..." I hear a hundred about "Police are investigating < fill-in-the-blank crime> committed yesterday...".
If one of them commits a crime or even conspires to commit a crime, they can be imprisoned.
That certainly worked well with Mohammad Atta and his Merrie Band, didn't it?
Perhaps you're planning on hiring John Anderton to do this "good police work". You might want to sign up the Tooth Fairy, too.
And afterwards, we can all have milk and cookies.
Al Reuters rides again.
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