You've really opened my eyes

Submitted by Jeff (United States), Aug 12, 2006 at 20:39

Zee, you and Hifzha have certainly enlightened me. I'm so happy to hear that Muslims respect people. So, if I enter Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi customs agent finds a Bible in my suitcase, he rips it up, throws it in the trash and throws me in prison. That's a funny way of showing respect. What do you suppose the reaction would be if a US customs agent showed that much respect to a Muslim and his Koran at a US airport? (The word 'riot' comes to mind, doesn't it? Also words like 'lawsuit' and 'unemployment.')

In my ignorance, I was confused by the respect shown to Nicholas Berg, Daniel Pearl, Theo Van Gogh, Father Santoro, people in England and Spain minding their own business riding to work on the subway, people in America working at the world trade center, etc., etc.

And now, thanks to you, I know that referring to people of other religions as apes and pigs is actually a sign of respect. Thank you.

I used to feel a bit insulted when an eminent Islamic scholar put me on the same level with dog sweat. But now, I understand that's a sign of respect. Thanks for setting me straight on that one.

You say the Muslim community cannot be given the blame for the actions that these terrorists are taking. OK, so why I am I supposed to share the blame for a few cartoons done by a few cartoonists I've never heard of before in a country I've never even been in?

And, speaking of communities, I don't remember thousands of Americans dancing in the streets to celebrate those cartoons that we're somehow all responsible for. I do, however, remember thousands of Muslims dancing in the streets on 9/11, celebrating something all of you say none of you is responsible for.

Zee, please name those foundations and banks, and list the details of how they made money from slavery. So that's a reason to blow people up? What did the folks in those subways in Madrid and London have to do with those foundations and banks?

Please give me more details of the oppression you mentioned. Millions of Muslims attend mosques in the USA day after day, week after week. No mosques are ever blown up in the USA (as they commonly are in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan). Doesn't seem very oppresive to me.

Egypt has received about 50 billion dollars in aid from the USA over the last 35 years or so. Apparently that's not enough, though. Is that what 9/11 was all about? It should have been 60 billion?

The widespread murder of Muslims took place in the former Yugoslavia while the Europeans stood by. The mayhem finally stopped when the USA once again arrived in Europe and put our lives on the line to quell the violence. Is that what 9/11 was all about? Was the way we stopped the violence against Muslims somehow offensive to Muslims?

I suggest you look into history a bit more than you have. At its height, over 150 years ago, 1.4 percent of American citizens held slaves. By then, the anti-slavery movement, driven by Christian churches and nurtured by freedom of speech, was gaining in strength in the USA every day. Compare that with China, Japan, Saudia Arabia. The US outlawed slavery in 1863. China, 1948. Japan, 1945 (when you-know-who arrived). Saudia Arabia outlawed slavery (ostensibly, at least) in 1963. Okinawans were bought and sold as slaves on the streets of Japanese cities well into the 1930's. When did you last complain about that? Japan turned the Korean peninsula into one giant slave labor camp in the 1930's and 40's. Ever complain about that? Germany held millions of slave laborers in horrid conditions during the 1930' and 40's. (Something tells me you've never complained about that.) The Roman empire took thousands of slaves from around Europe. Arab slave traders from north Africa (the Barbary states) kidnapped thousands of Europeans and sold them as slaves in the 1800's. Thousands of slaves were brought back to the Moslem middle east from India. Moslem slave traders buy and sell slaves today in Mauritania. How many slaves did Mohammad have? Ever complain about that? So, if flying planes full of ordinary people in to buildings full of ordinary people will somehow make the world safe from slavery, why not do it in China, Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia or Africa? What so special about the USA?

That Islamic empire that 'ruled the world' did so with brutal armies that butchered thousands of people and enslaved thousands more everywhere they went. (Anybody know how the Hindu Kush got its name?) Non-Muslims were second class citizens at best; the ones allowed to live were forced to display that fact at every opportunity, with extra taxes and no legal rights. I guess that's your definition of a peaceful place, one you'd like to see again.

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