Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
I see where you are coming from, but that's terribly close to blaming all people of a certain type for racist treatment in our nation, another thing I don't subscribe to.
I don't look at somebody and tell them that it's their problem to fix "their people". If anything, I'd expect a person who doesn't agree with something like that to stay as far away from those idiots as possible.
Why would I want to get near somebody who might want to "put me to the sword" for being a "traitor" or whatever.
For example, I know I'm not going to walk into a Klan meeting and try to convince them that their religious beliefs are incorrect. That job is for the FBI and the police.
I understand what your motivations are, but what you are talking about is impractical.
Well Islam is a religion, the KKK is a group. And not a very large one. On the other hand, Muslims are a massive group of people, people who we interact with regularly (unlike the KKK) in society. They aren't really comparable. Something has to be done about these extreme sects and organizations like the FBI simply do not have the manpower to deal with something on this scale. That's a big part of the reason as to why we are bombing the middle east (again).
What we have here is a growing intolerance for Muslims based on the actions of a few. I'm not saying I ascribe to that philosophy but I am readily aware of its existence and understand why it does. You'd have to have your head in the sand to not see why the backlash against Muslims and Islam is starting to happen (again). And I will add that I think it is an unfortunate thing, but not one that is unexpected.
And while I personally am not blaming all people of a certain group, you are going to find that this is going to be what will happen. People simply don't have the patience to try and figure out which Muslim has a bomb strapped to their chest or wants to cut their head off and which is your regular law abiding citizen who happens to be practising Islam. If this sounds insensitive and a whole heck of a lot like stereotyping that's because that is exactly what it is unfortunately
This is ultimately why the non-extremists need to make it readily apparent that they are NOT in support of these people. That they do NOT support the atrocities that these people are committing and this is NOT the face of Islam. THEY need to identify themselves as being different because unfortunately they will otherwise be lumped all into the same basket even though they've done nothing wrong. You get people mad enough and they simply don't care enough to try and figure out the difference.
History has taught us a lot and this is one lesson I think we should reflect upon and recognize. The potential for genocide and other such horrors is only a charismatic leader away. Getting people angry and behind a cause is surprisingly easy when they fear for their lives and the outcome of such actions can be horrific as I'm sure you are acutely aware. Not everybody is capable of taking the high-level view of the situation and separating the bad from the good. Some people just want to feel safe and will get behind a cause in order to exact that.
That is ultimately why these situations are so dangerous. Lines need to be drawn and the powder keg diffused. People are scared, the media is sensationalizing and making that worse and the result of those things can only be bad. Pearl Harbour is a pretty strong reminder as to what happens when you scare the [censored] out of the American people and get them behind a cause. God help those who make that same mistake.
