Posted on 02/03/2003 6:56:43 AM PST by white trash redneck
We are now hearing of how bad things are in East Africa for those who are fleeing war-torn areas and waiting in refugee camps to immigrate to the United States. Some are eating only once a day; a woman was raped and shot to death; many who were cleared for immigration before Sept. 11 are stuck in terrible conditions, all because of the way our intensified security has backed things up.
I felt empathy for those mostly Muslim people, but I also am opposed to anyone from any Islamic country coming into America for at least another decade. Everything I have seen gives me the impression that America is hated by the majority of those in such countries and that --- as a ''Frontline'' documentary recently showed --- there are even young women who look forward to their children becoming terrorists.
Consequently, I feel none of the oppressive sentimentality that those of Irish, Italian, Jewish, Eastern European, Latin and Caribbean backgrounds have when the subject of immigration is raised.
First, immigration hasn't done much for black Americans, who, more often than not, have been pushed aside so immigrants could get jobs that those who logged the most time in this nation should have gotten.
More than 100 years ago, when America was becoming a nation of immigrants, that meant many skilled blacks were kicked to the curb so some foreigners could get on the gravy train, however much hard work that train demanded. So I feel no great love for the idea of immigration as some high-minded aspect of American history.
Was American culture enriched, even so? Yes, in both bright and dark ways from the mountaintops of public policy, the arts, entertainment, technology and education down to the organizing of crime along the corporate model.
But we are now faced with something very different. I am not willing to see American lives put in danger to make an academic point about our history and our ability to rise above xenophobia and religious prejudice. All that sounds good among schoolteachers and those who become hysterical because their relatives fled disaster of some sort in Eastern Europe or elsewhere and made a way for themselves and their children in this nation. Good, I'm glad they did.
Such people are not the ones I'm talking about. I'm not even talking about Islam; I'm talking about a problem. I'm talking about those with Islamic backgrounds who can so easily seem civilized but who, given the nature of destructive technology in our time, can murder thousands if they are committed to it.
As cold as it might seem, I am not bothered if 50,000 people are kept out of the United States so we don't admit among them 19 more like the ones who brought off the murder raid Sept. 11.
Those who want to rant against such thoughts should take their complaints to the Islamic terrorists. They created this situation --- and redefined the meaning of immigration along the way.
So do the Taliban. Women show a little ankle, and whack!
By analogy, if we get a whiff of Islam - no entry!
I think they do when surrounded by a non-Muslim majority, as in the U.S.
CAIR constantly talks of the need for tolerance towards Muslims.
They all hate America but they never seem to turn away from the almighty dollar. Nor does their hatred from America and her people ever stop them from wanting to come here.
I wonder how long it will be before the moslems decide to petition the US government to allow them to practice Shariah law over their own people, such as they have tried to do in other countries like Thailand.
JUST SAY NO!
Not taking the side of moselms but I feel the same way about most Christians. If they all practiced tolerance then they would stop trying to convert each other.
"If you feel the need to spread the truth, try to convince me. Put down that gun first, though."
just to clarify, I did not mean my previous post in a disrespectful manner. I claim no faith in any form of organized or disorganized religion but if ever I were to choose one, it sure would not be Islam.
I disagree. All muslims are terrorists. If they read and follow the koran then they must use terrorism to reach their goals. They are commanded to fight against us wherever we are, using whatever tools they can. They are commanded to lie to us. Even if they claim to no longer be terrorists, you can't believe them.
The change in the Shintoist character following the Japanese loss in WW II and the American occupation is well-known. The other example: the fact that Menno wanted to establish his vision of the Kingdom of Heaven by military force, and that his followers only became strict pacifists after the Seige of Munster, is less so.
Nonethless, both hold out some hope for having a surviving, pacifist rump Islam after the current unpleasantness is over. (At which point letting them imigrate will be fine with me: in the meantime let those fleeing dhimmitude in, keep the Muslims--with the possible exception of Sufis and secularist Turks--out.)
The CIA Factbook says 280 million people live in America and of all the ethnic groups that are not White, Hispanic, Black, Indian or Asian; 4% are others.
Does that mean there are probably 11 million Arabs in this country willing to commit all sorts of heineous acts? They don't, which testifies that most if not all, people who immigrate to United States know it is the best country in the world to live in and they all should be welcomed with open arms.
It seems to make sense that most Arabs in the US are Christian Arabs. United States has a history of accepting unwanted people from other countries.
You probably don't want to get into the area of screening applicants due to religion. The reason is that sometime in the future, some political party (Democrats?) could use that definition as an excuse to screen out Christians.
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