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."
GraniteStateDad wrote: "Where is the national voice of the pro-family, peace-loving Islamic community in America?"
What's a "national voice" in the first place? The MSM considers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton national spokesmen for black people, but are they? Conservative black organizations, on the other hand, seem to get very little airtime. Perhaps the problem isn't the lack of peaceful Muslim organizations but the laziness of the MSM to contact anyone other than CAIR.
Who is to blame for the distrust of Muslims?
You hit it righ ton the head my friend. The so called "moderate" Moslems say NOTHING when their terrorist brothers go wild . Their silence speaks voloums as well. Kick Em Out !
I fI hear any bullsh^t from a Moslem I let him know where it's at . I'm not afraid of them nor am I afraid to tell some
a hole American hater off either. CAIR needs to be shut down , why isn't it ?
Klien dosen't know it but he the would be the first one they would kill . At least they would respect me because I'd spit in their faces and go down fighting. These savages understand the warriors heart and laugh at those who apologize for them .
Gee , he was so worried about what the Nazis did to the Jews . Same thing his Moslem friends would do . Does he not see that ? Friggin moron .
Precisely. The segregation of Jews in Nazi Germany - and later, in Nazi-occupied countries - by distinctive markings was to facilitate the regime's genocidal plans, not to protect Germany from terrorism. In fact, the regime itself perpetrated terrorism on its Jewish population.
Your excellent point should be addressed to the likes of radio host Jerry Klein, who is quoted in the posted article. This is yet another example of how the concept of civil liberties is being perverted by the Left and its MSM lackeys: rights for foreign terrorists are concocted out of thin air and played up ad nauseum, while rights for American citizens are put on the back burner.
excellent observation: one has to wonder how many gas station attendents a country needs....
I think they worship themselves.
The tell us believe as they do, if you don't then you have rejected them personally. Such rejection, in their eyes must be punished with death.
The fact that the Moslems have found willing useful idiots in the media means they understand there is a media front on the war. We have no defenders, the American MSM is for the enemy.
The fact the MSM (like Reuters) is so entrenched with the favor to the enemy is akin to people seriously believing that Adolf Hitler "only wanted peaceful coexistence."
IMHO, the basic problem is that the elites of our society give Islam a respect it doesn't deserve, because they want MidEast Oil. Which is one reason why they oppose the exploitation of oil resources in the Gulf of Mexico etc.
"WIDESPREAD ANTI-MUSLIM SENTIMENT"
Bombing trains. Bombing buses. Bombing planes. Flying planes into buildings.
Slicing heads off while singing religious hymns.
Dragging bodies through streets.
Using "charities" to pass money to terrorists. The Sears Tower Plot. Slavery in Sudan,
Killing converts to Christianity. Cutting your head off if you don't convert.
Torturing and killing kids in a school. Nicholas Berg. Daniel Pearl. Margaret Hassan. Paul Johnson.
Calling for the death of the Pope. Rioting over cartoons.
Just to name a few reasons why normal people don't trust the proponents of the ideology
of death and destruction.
"IGNORANCE SEEN AS KEY PROBLEM"
See the above.
It is an old war, which actually began in the seventh century. It will not end until sharia is eliminated from the face of the earth.
[... We need another Churchill ...]
How 'bout Buchannon? (half serious)
Precisely. The segregation of Jews in Nazi Germany - and later, in Nazi-occupied countries - by distinctive markings was to facilitate the regime's genocidal plans, not to protect Germany from terrorism. In fact, the regime itself perpetrated terrorism on its Jewish population.
Your excellent point should be addressed to the likes of radio host Jerry Klein, who is quoted in the posted article. This is yet another example of how the concept of civil liberties is being perverted by the Left and its MSM lackeys: rights for foreign terrorists are concocted out of thin air and played up ad nauseum, while rights for American citizens are put on the back burner.
Yeah next time it happens...and it will...it's on.
You made your position clear in the above, and I don't find you to be particularly useful, so further dialogue would be pointless.
Things like this always bring to my mind the famous quote attributed to Golda Meier, late and very great Israeli Prime Minister, "We may one day forgive you for killing our sons...but we will never, ever forgive you for making us kill your sons."
There is a Solomon-esque quality {as with the dispute over the child between two women} to her statement which really says it all emphatically.
Israel may fight viciously and brutally, but she often fights reluctantly, and holding the lives of enemy soldiers in higher value than their own families - let alone their leaders and those stir their discontent and who incite them to riot.
thank you for the ping, Eagle!
A.A.C.
No - I will hasten to criticize the "SlimeStreamMedia" when they are guilty of something - and certainly laziness is one of their most prevalent attributes - but in this case, the simple truth is what is most hurtful to the moslem cause...is the moslems themselves and their "religion".
Granted, the media are complicit in continually "anointing" raving nutters like Jackson, Sharpton, Farrakhan, and others - you are right.
But there is no peaceful, forthright, tolerant monolithic moslem presence out there speaking up for respect towards Christians and Jews, respect for the laws of their adopted host countries...
All "credible" entities speaking for moslems are busily trying to increase others' understanding of THEM, others' respect for THEIR traditions...etcetera. Basically, their agenda is to co-opt other people's agendas to be favorably disposed toward moslems, without first conceding anything themselves.
They are engaged in nothing short of a public relations offensive, concentrated upon whitewashing their own image, changing the subject anytime the behaviour of adherents of their "prophet" engage in mayhem, and on crying foul every time one of their own is questioned or even mildly scrutinized.
A prime example was the situation in Portland/Hillsboro Oregon about three or four years ago surrounding one Maher Hawash.
The local paper repeatedly referred to him by his Americanized name, "Mike" - but they were only following the lead of CAIR and locally prominent moslem leaders.
There was an all-out campaign to portray Hawash as a simple humble, soft-spoken, completely gentle family oriented man who gosh! golly! gee whillikers! would never, ever do anything against the US, never do anything to jeopardize his wife or kids.
He was everybody's perfect neighbor next-door - except you couldn't get any pork spareribs at his barbecues!
I had some inside information about why he had been detained on a "material witness" warrant, so all I could tell the Liberals {who run rampant on the streets of Portland} I came into frequent confrontations with, was "Just keep your eyes on the news in coming weeks. There is more to this than meets the eye. You're stupidly swallowing this entire PR whitewash whole. He is not an innocent man. Just wait and you'll see..."
Wish I had been able to see all their faces when the truth came out. Google the story essentials if you want - it is involved...
Well over 80% of the moslem organizations in the USA contribute resources to CAIR, and identify/align themselves with CAIR - generated public statements. CAIR press releases become de facto talking points for moslems in public policy debates and "ecumenical" dialogues in community after community across the USA.
Whenever an incident erupts in Palestine or Syria or Lebanon, Iraq, or Israel - the general public waits for mohammadans and their "spokesmouths" to issue apologies, to utter vehement condemnations, to voice full, unqualified, and patriotic support for the United States.
We are greeted by the figurative sound of [crickets chirping]...
Followed closely by explanations, rationalizations, and justifications that would make a juvenile delinquent caught red-handed at mischief blush in shame...
Immediately couched by blame-shifting, a la "They felt they had no choice because," [choose one or more] a) America b) Israel c) "the West" d) Christians e) poverty brought about by a),b),c), or d) "left them with no other choice to draw attention to their plight"
Just because they are not openly warring with us in the streets {yet} does not mean they are in fact 'peaceful' by definition.
Just because many choose to be 'peaceful' now does not give us a reliable assurance they will continue to be so into the indefinite future.
They need a national voice of stature who will speak truthfully, forcefully, and unequivocally as to their peaceful intentions, their patriotism and loyalty to America, their unqualified contempt for all the violence occurring in the name of their "religion".
Like many here, I shan't hold my breath...
Like many here, I do not trust them. At all.
A.A.C.
bttt
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