OTBL Celebrates Discrimination
It should come as no surprise to us that our favorite masked friends are celebrating our thumbs up to racial, religious, or ethnic profiling but nonetheless I was sick to my stomach this morning to see this post.
Like I posted on OTBL (We'll see if they approve it).... I am more scared of what's brooding in Heartland America than I am of your average Muslim...
EDIT: My mistake, this isn't in The US. (Thank you Cato for pointing that out) Regardless of where this is happening, the fact that its being celebrated is wrong.... The fact that my siblings are growing up in a town with people that celebrate this kind of thing scares the hell out of me.
15 comments:
CATO:
It seems no matter what the issue, for you the government is always to blame.
Josh: The reality is Racial profiling has never stopped. They only search the least likely so that they can search more of the most likely and the stats even out. I know of a wheel bound woman in her 50's being told to stand up and get out of her chair so they could search it more thouroughly.
How stupid. The woman can not walk that's why she's in a wheelchair.
You should also read Jill Carroll's account of her kidnapping in Iraq.
The Jihadists, after shooting killing and celebrating the Jihad decided that they'd take her home to meet the family.
Here are a few excerpts of from her account. I don't think you'd categorize her as a racist or bigot.
"One of the guys had a suicide vest on that he had made himself. It was a vest full of like, TNT and dynamite. He said, 'Come look at my vest,'" she said.
Throughout the experience, Carroll also noticed a few small children in the houses, including a 5-year-old, whose parents helped capture and guard Carroll.
"He was really cute," she said, talking about the 5-year-old. And he wants to be a holy warrior," she said. "It was this entire family unit. … If you're going to combat insurgency, you have to kill the entire family or something. Or imprison the entire family. That 5-year-old boy is going to grow up and pick up a gun one day and start shooting. Obviously, he's being trained for that."
One night in the kitchen, one of the men explained proudly that his wife wanted to be a suicide bomber; she blushed from his praises.
"And she had three little kids sitting there playing … and they're making dinner and she's four months pregnant. I was stunned, I didn't know what to say," Carroll said.
CATO:
Ignorance is abundant both here and in the Muslim world.
Jill Carroll's abductors could not understand why she didn not have blond hair and blues eyes since she was an American.
Also, An informal ABC quiz ( not that this is even remotely accurate because I think it was done for entertainment purposes ) Howevever,
I believe only 20% could name 2 Supreme Court justices and 30% knew
that Tony Blair was the U.K. Prime Minister. Before you blame it on the
goverment schools, these were adults.
It's appalling how ill informed the public at large is and the Coporate Media Giants are largely at fault for creating news as an entertainment commodity to increase their bottom line.
Josh,
I'd like to be able to agree with this:
"The solution for fixing that lies in understanding where they are coming from and doing what we can to break down those barriers."
But I can't entirely..
How do you understand where a pregnant mother of three announcing that she wants to become a suicide bomber is coming from?
This type of religious fanatism is growing not deminishing.
This is beyond my comprehension.
I'm sorry to dwell on this Jill Carroll abduction but you have to watch this video of her descibing her abduction.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0814/p13s01a-woiq.html
or Tiny
http://tinyurl.com/mwwa3
"Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!" my abductors shouted, excited and joyful. "Jihad! Jihad!"
These people are F*ing nuts.
CATO said:
"As more an more is picked up by government there isn't much left to worry about, other than who is this week's American Idol or whatever. Apathy has sticken the land, this much is true."
I have to disagree. I'm no spring chicken and I see less and less picked by the govt. not more and more. In the 70's anybody with the slightest aptitude could afford to go to college without accumulating a lifetime of debt.Today, you once again have to be wealthy to attend college or mortgage your entire future for it, and that's no guarentee of an upper middle class standard of living.
For any thinking person, there is more and more to worry about.
Avoiding unmanagable debt., insuring
your property from disaster. Avoiding financial ruin if you become disabled. Rising crime.. Elaborate scams everywhere you turn etc. etc.
I believe the apathy comes from the constant barrage of diversions placed before people who are in denial of the real dangers of modern day living or are simply overwelmed by the number of them. So they "tune out" to American Idol, Survivor, The Fox "News" channel, talkshow radio etc. ( I admittedly listed my favorite scapegoats here, All TV news is guilty )It's like they live in a big dream world while real problems continue to mount that they take no part in trying to alliviate.
JOSH,
"These people are f'ing nuts"
Generally, I am not of this opinion.
It's not an opinion that I desire to
hold.
But after hearing the account of someone who has been in their world and I'm assuming was generally sympathetic to their plight (Jill Carroll) Who took the time to learn their language etc. And others who traveled to Iraq with a sincere desire to help these people and are then murdered for the Jihad,
I can come to no other conclusion than.
"These people are f'ing nuts"
I agree that they current policies of the U.S. only make the situation worse, not better. It is a very disturbing picture, I see there with no practical or realistic solution in sight.
CATO:
you said:
"Yes andy there is not even civility in debate with some people."
Am I correct in assuming you're pointing that finger at me? I do get passionate on occation I know.
Josh:
"Andy.. an increased set of circumstances and responsibilities, to me anyway, puts me on my toes even more. I find it very frustrating that a majority of this country sits back and relies on others to take care of everything."
You obviously haven't been in a circumstance where these "responsibilities" become humanly unmanagable. That doen't put you on your toes, it puts you in the grave.
I don't care how ruggedly individualistic you are, at some point you people need a hand up, not bootstrap lecture.
There are thousands of people in these situations and they are by and large swept under the rug while we all text in our vote for the next Idol. I too agree with CATO. Apathy abounds...
CATO:
"I was talking about the same people who you call "fucking nuts.""
Do you disagree with that assessment?
Generally, I try to see other perspectives. In some instances I find it impossible.
I think we may also agree the "Idol voters" have become the majority. Ignorance IS bliss.
CATO & Josh,
I was incorrect on some factors about a poll I alluded to earlier.
Check out this video.
http://tinyurl.com/pv74x
I think both you guys will laugh your butts off, or maybe not. It's a sad commentary on American Culture.
What I find disturbing is that the commentators find this stupidity "refreshing". How can anyone not think they are intentionally promoting ignorance.
I swear I did not see this video until 5 min. ago. and it hits many of the points we discussed here.
CATO: I'm eagerly awaiting for you to find a way to blame the government for this one.
To me it reinforces my opinion that Corporate Media is intentionally trying to make people ignorant and then celebrating their success.
"Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!"
CATO said:
"IE?! You're killing me Smalls."
Sorry, I need an interpreter for this?
As far as everyone showing up to the town hall meeting knowing everything.
I think we might actually agree here, that Zogby comment's is about the stupidist thing I've
ever heard. What would we have if people did came armed with knowledge? Democracy? What an idiot!
And then they call it "refreshing" that people are ignoramuses.
I can't help but think there's an agenda behind this little "study". It's popped up in national media at least twice today. I don't think it's so attention grabbing that it has a life of it's own. What do you think CATO?
CATO:
I hate IE too. Sorry you needed it to see the video.
I'm not really connecting to the sandlot dialogue. But I know how that goes. Some comedy bits just stick with you and you think there funny even when others aren't really sure what you're talking about. It's one of those "Guess you had to be there" things. I vaguely remember seeing the movie. I recall liking it. Isn't it sort of a Disney type, remember you boyhood movie?
Anyway. We agree, the video and the study are pitiful on multiple levels.
I'm going to try to explain my take on this, if for no other reason than in hopes that you may see where I'm coming from.
From what I remember in the 80's, news, healthcare and an number of other industries started changing. From my perspective this was because of the political climate created by Ronald Reagan and the Repbulicans.
I remember when Dan Rather was a real journalist, and so were a number of other good reporters. As a matter of fact Rather fought tooth and nail to stem the tide of news departments starting to be run by bean counters instead of journalists. As far as I'm concerned that was the begining of the end of the profession of journalism. Why?
Profit. News was never a commodity back then, it was news. I even think that journalists made an honest effort to be objective back then, dispite their biases leaking through. Look at the crap we have for TV "news" today. This video is a prime example.
I'm guessing that from your perspective the decline in objective
reporting and the profession of journalism has something to do with the government wrecking it.
I'd like to read your take on it?
Sorry, You are wrong.
Watch PBS Frontline, or the old CBS whitepapers. Reporters like Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Chet Huntley
David Brinkley and Edward R. Murrow were not "yellow journalists" This was not tabloid journalism, That was REAL journalism.
Sorry to be so emphatic.
Josh,
You're right. Frontline actually does about the best job possible of covering an issue fairly and objectively. I saw the link on you blog too. Nice job BTW.
http://www.onthebottomline.blogspot.com/
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