This just disgusts me. I just can't fathom how anyone can continue to support the Bush administration after reading something like this. Like I said in another thread: We need change. We need it now more than ever. Edit: I really like how he tied in the other major religions as well. It was a subtle move to point out that fundamentalism is not an Islamic quality, but a human one. -monkey
Honestly after reading that I am scared to buy his book. I'm sure it is being tracked. Maybe I can find it locally at a place that takes cash... and I will tell you how people can still support the Bush Administration... Ignorance, and their predeposition that the President or anyone else in a Power Position can do no wrong. I can guarantee these same people will read this and shout LIES!!!!
Funny you should say that. I'm not ginger; I look decidedly Arab. Arabs seem to think so too. Whether Kurd, Afghan, Egyptian, or Iranian, they all walk up to me and confidently address me in their native tongue. This has given the whole "war on terror" a rather personal aspect for me... Since Jean Charles De Menezes I'm always a bit nervous travelling on the London Underground, I can tell you.
I think that if he wants to reach Bush's mainstream support in the US he is going to have to consider a bit of a re-write to his book. Some of the language he uses is clearly a bit advanced, and if he uses big words there will be no space left for the pop up bits! Thats the problem. Bush gains a lot of his support from those that find a waffle menu taxing, or wont read anything but the bible. There are many good authors out there writing good, well researched books that tell the truth about what is going on in the world. They are well read, just as I know Beggs book will no doubt reach a lot of people. Begg's book however (like all the others) will be read by those that already know the facts on Gtmo, Iraq, the war on terror and the crimes of the Bush administration. I cant see it swaying public opinion in smallmindsville USA. Shame....
It really is shocking some of the things you hear about america doing, but this is seriously unjust - especially from country #1 on the "omfg we love freedom" list. People hate america, and if they dont start making friends soon then woe betide anybody visiting america next chance countries get an opportunity to bomb the **** out of it.
Cant believe I let this comment go! Scottesh National Liberation Army Time to get tough on Gingers methinks!
You only think that because we haven't rounded up all the ginger people and tortured them yet. I bet you more than one will confess if we ship them to Gtmo. I should be carefull what I say here, if the CIA are watching I could give them ideas.
I was flipping through the channels not too long ago, and I passed by The O'Reilly Factor on Fox. Normally I would flip right by it, very quickly and without another thought, but for some reason I stopped and watched for a minute. They were talking about Gitmo and the torture issue. At one point they talked bout a detainee who had committed suicide, and one of Bill's guests, Michelle Malkin, had this to say: "The reactions to the suicide should have been boo-frickin-hoo." I will never forget those words. I just could not believe how callous a person could be, right there on national television for all to see. Absolutely no regard, whatsoever, for human life. At the end of the interview, they figured there might be a handful of innocent people in the prisons, but the rest of them were all terrorists, because we wouldn't just go sweeping across Iraq, picking up random people on the street. This kind of hate-mongering really needs to end, or the situation will never get any better. -monkey
Its just annoying that the so called almighty "american way of life" has to include being white too. I just dont understand, cant comprehend why racism is what it is - in a sense this is a seperate issue (they arrest muslims on steriotypes rather than racism in particular) but im sure many of the people who initiate these "missions" don't goto the mosque on a sunday (or whichever day you goto mosque ). Hopefully this si the result of a transition generation who were taught as kids to steriotype people in this way - thankfully I know only 1 person who is actually racist, and he's a shithead anyway. Hopefully by the time were old and in power (supposing we are alive ) this will all be a thing on the past.
Nope, sorry. Racism and fascism are here to stay. It is in our nature to differentiate between in-group and out-group, on even the most trivial and bizarre differences. We will not be able to regard ourselves as part of a single human race for some time yet. To exceed such failings, we need to exceed our human selves. Many people barely attain humanity as it is, let alone exceed it.
We know what's at the bottom (and the middle) of the spectrum, but what about the other end? It seems to me that while slow, progress is being made, at least in this country. Overt racisim and most forms of bigotry are not widely tolerated, certainly not in public discourse. I think this is at least partially do the fact that it keeps getting harder every day to remain ignorant of other people and their cultures. Sure, it's possible, but you have to work at it now to isolate yourself from people who are different from you. The US anyway, and I think most of the industralized world, are becoming both more mobile and more interdependent. 30 years ago the area I live in was pretty much exclusively WASP farmers and loggers. Now we have a large Russian and Ukranian contingent living in the are plus a decent sized latin commiunity. You pretty much can't go to the store these days without meeting someone from another country. It's a lot easier to be biased against someone "over there" whom you've never met than it is to hate the guy ahead of you in line at the gas station. Not to say it isn't possible, but you have to work at it a little more. I think some of what we're seeing is more of a backlash against change and a desire for what is percieved to have been a simpler time. Or maybe I'm just full of it.
Remember that hostile in-group vs. out-group differentiation is a response to perceived competition for the same resources. When the out-group is way over there somewhere, they are perhaps a quaint object of curious interest (or indifference), but that's it. It is not until they come over here, or equally often, we go over there to compete for the same resources, that racism/fascism becomes an issue. There are generally few problems in a multi-ethnic community as long as they (are seen to) occupy specific socio-economic niches in society. The Asians can have their all-night supermarkets and take-aways, the Latin Americans can be labourers, hotel maids or drug barons, and the blacks can be boxers, musicians (jazz or gangsta rap, not classical, of course), athletes, pimps or dope peddlers. White people get to do all the middle- and upper-class stuff. Nice and tidy. But wait until someone crosses the line into another ethnic's territory. A black or Latino guy trying to become a business executive or classical pianist gets massacred as surely as a white college student straying into a black 'hood. Nobody likes out-group competition intruding on their niche. Especially if it is all they are allowed to have.