When Does The Hate Stop?
Posted: Tuesday, September 21, 2010
by Dan Bimrose
Liberal Fix
Recently it has become apparent that many of us, in fact the majority of us, in the United States have failed to draw that line of distinction between mainstream and extremism. In layman's terms it would be that line between being average and being a nut job. It has become acceptable in the United States to indict the whole, based upon the actions of a few. Less surprising is the fact that we find fault with others who do the same to us good Americans.
More disturbing is that 2 million Muslims live in the United States. What do they think about this? Perhaps we should not care.
These two million Muslims have access to everything that I have access to, yet have failed in the now 9 years since 9/11 to stop our flow of traffic by bombing railways or leaving a well-placed bomb in an airport. They have failed to alter our leadership through the use of a well-placed snipers bullet. There have been no bombings at Wall Street, or the New York Times, and they have failed to destroy our morale by hitting us at one of our sports or entertainment venues.
Yes, we do have the failed Times Square bombing attempt by a naturalized citizen. We also have the horrific Ft. Hood attack. Do we not all know, far too well, that there are crazy Muslims out there? I am certain that there are currently terrible plots going on right now in the United States. I pray that we are able to stop them.
It is unfathomable to me that there are people out there who agreed with Pastor Jones. They state we cannot bow down to extremist Muslims, we must send them a message and that we cannot let them know that we are scared. Yet, we cannot hold trials for the real perpetrators of 9/11 in New York because that will make the city a target, as if New York City needed any help with this. Is that not fear? Is that not being scared? Is that not bowing down to them?
The Imam that President Bush utilized to send the Islamic world the message that America is not at war with Islam is also coincidentally the same man who is heading the effort to build the "two blocks from Ground Zero" Mosque. Is it not ironic that when Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, suggests that if the Mosque is moved now that it will inflame extremists elements of Islam, that Fox News hosts repeatedly suggest that the man just made a threat? My gosh, where on earth would he get the idea that those extremist elements react to what we do in the United States?
Maybe you will allow me to suggest most of the moderate American Muslims might just be as President Obama suggested in his press conference just before 9/11, "going to school with our kids. They're our neighbors. They're our friends. They're our co-workers."
Then President Obama asks a good question, "And, you know, when we start acting as if their religion is somehow offensive, what are we saying to them?"
Nor does he let us forget, "I've got Muslims who are fighting in Afghanistan in the uniform of the United States Armed Services. They're out there putting their lives on the line for us, and we've got to make sure that we are crystal clear, for our sakes and their sakes, they are Americans, and we honor their service."
President Obama would also like us to remember that, " part of honoring their service is making sure that they understand that we don't differentiate between them and us. It's just us. And that is a principle that I think is going to be very important for us to sustain. And I think tomorrow is an excellent time for us to reflect on that."
So President Obama is capable of drawing that line, but what about President Bush, what does he believe?
In his own words, "I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace. And I believe people who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives aren't religious people, whether they be a Christian who does that we had a person blow up our blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City who professed to be a Christian, but that's not a Christian act to kill innocent people."
Can Bush draw the line? Can he ever, "And I just simply don't subscribe to the idea that murdering innocent men, women and children particularly Muslim men, women and children in the Middle East is an act of somebody who is a religious person." Let me clarify that he is addressing the fact that extremist Islamic groups kill thousands of their own people.
If these two people who represent different political parties can draw the line, why can't the rest of our leaders? I am assuming most of them are at least as intelligent as President Bush. Oh wait, I know, they are currently running for reelection. Or perhaps it is because once you have been given the power of the Presidency by the American people, you are obligated to uphold the essence of our very First Amendment of the Constitution for the benefit of all American people.
Presidential hopefuls such as Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and Mayor Giuliani cannot draw the line. Are they missing that "drawing the line" gene?
Perhaps we can discover some cases where they can draw the line. In order to do this let us look at a different religion. Perhaps all of us can draw the line when it comes to Christians and Christian extremists.
Many of us have heard of the Westboro Baptist Church, the proud owner of the website godhatesfags.com and made even more famous due to their frequent protests at soldier's funerals. Do the members of Westboro Baptist Church and their hate filled message represent all Christians? No, of course not, we can draw that line.
Then there is the KKK. They have a history filled with an over-abundance of hate. Historically their cup overflows with hangings, church bombings, beatings, and burnings. They hate many people including blacks, Jews, Catholics. Yet they draw their inspiration and yes, their justification from the Bible and their faith in Jesus. They are all too often guilty of cherry picking Old Testament scriptures which seem to allow for violence, all together ignoring the compassionate words of Jesus Christ. Does the KKK represent all Christians? No, of course not, we can draw that line.
Although Timothy McVeigh does not appear to be motivated by his religious beliefs, he did claim to be a Christian. McVeigh was strongly influenced by the Patriot movement. This militia movement exploded in the 90's in response to the last President that Conservatives were sure was the Anti-Christ, Bill Clinton. Many of these groups were strongly influenced by Christianity and belief in the end times. Does Timothy McVeigh represent all Christians? No, of course not, we can draw that line.
More recently the Hutaree, a militia group based in Michigan made headlines with their plot to kill a police officer and then kill even more at that police officer's funeral in an effort to incite an even greater uprising. Their website absolutely dripped with Christian scriptures. Do the Hutaree, represent all Christians? No, of course not, we can draw that line.
That leaves us with Pastor Jones, the gun-toting wannabe Koran burner, who although operating fully within his rights as an American, would ultimately completely twist the message of the bible. His was a message of intolerance and hate not for the 9/11 attackers and their leaders, but rather for an entire religion. Does Pastor Jones represent all Christians? No, of course not, we can draw that line.
Daily we have to draw lines. We must ask our leaders if we cannot trust them to draw the line between freedom of religion and persecution, can we trust them to draw the lines between right and wrong, freedom and oppression, or constitutional and unconstitutional.
The title of this article asks a very important question. When does the hate stop? Should it not stop with us? I would argue that it should. By seeking tolerance instead of our compulsive desire to judge those different than us we become the better people, dare I say it the better nation.
Al Qaeda deserves our judgment. The Taliban deserve our judgment. Peace loving Muslims do not deserve our judgment for the acts of radical Muslims, nor do I expect to be judged for the actions of extremist Christians.
We should all realize that there are crazy people out there. If we fail to recognize the difference between the "crackpot" elements of any religion and mainstream elements of that same religion we are in danger of becoming one of those very same "crackpots".
At some point many of our nation's leaders need to put our reputation as a nation of inclusion and more importantly the message we are teaching our children before their need for press and desire to win an election.
Bill Maher, who as most of us know, does not have any love for either religion, nevertheless made a very accurate declaration. "We're the land of the free and the home of the brave. We should act like it."
This Article has been viewed 561 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)A breath of sanity!Please log in to respond to this comment.Thank you, Sir.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Good article, Dan. Prejudice, fear of losing status quo, unresolved anger - I think these are the things that really motivate all this neurotic behavior, but of course it gets neatly cloaked in "moral and spiritual righteousness". None of it is logical or even vaguely humane.Please log in to respond to this comment.It is all about fear Jennifer. Sometimes all it takes for the Republican's to win is to wrap their candidate or proposal in the Flag and hold up a Bible.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Very nicely done. Intolerance from anyone is intolerance of everyone. Great job, sir.Please log in to respond to this comment.Thank you Michael.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Divide and conquer Dan. It is not so hard to follow the proverbial, "little green bouncing ball". Peace among men is not a prescription for maintaining wealth where it currently resides. Can you imagine a united people allowing the rape of it's natural resources for the advantage of wealth building? Of course not. Yet, if they are fighting amongst themselves on trivial issues, they have no time to unite against well financed corporate corruption. You have an entire news organization designed and financed to implement this agenda, for Christ's sake. Wonderful article.Please log in to respond to this comment.It is disturbing to see so many people blindly following an organization whose agenda is so, and I quote Ms. Palin's Twitter writer, "antithetical" to their own.Please log in to respond to this comment.
Good article, Sir.Please log in to respond to this comment.And thanks to you, sir.Please log in to respond to this comment.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.