Nbadan
12-19-2004, 06:46 AM
Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans, according to a nationwide poll.
The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.
Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim Americans.
"It's sad news. It's disturbing news. But it's not unpredictable," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society. "The nation is at war, even if it's not a traditional war. We just have to remain vigilant and continue to interface."
The survey found 44 percent favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted in any way.
Yahoo News (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041218/ap_on_re_us/muslims_civil_liberties)
In Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire (an outstanding book for anyone wanting to know more about the intellectual foundations, such as they are, of neoconservatism -- check it out at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300104367/qid=1... ) Anne Norton made the exact same point. As is well-known, Arab Muslims are Semites just as Jews are, and one of her points is that, over the past half-century, as anti-Semitism directed against Jews has been placed outside the bounds of decent political discourse, it has been replaced by anti-Semitism directed against Arabs and Muslims. Indeed, many of the same slurs are used, characterizing the Semitic bogeymen as both a sinister threat to America and somehow not-fully-human compared to us "Westerners." The distance between a Father Coughlin in the 1930s and a Pat Robertson in the 2000s isn't all that far -- merely the specific Semitic target has been shifted.
The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.
Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim Americans.
"It's sad news. It's disturbing news. But it's not unpredictable," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society. "The nation is at war, even if it's not a traditional war. We just have to remain vigilant and continue to interface."
The survey found 44 percent favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted in any way.
Yahoo News (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041218/ap_on_re_us/muslims_civil_liberties)
In Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire (an outstanding book for anyone wanting to know more about the intellectual foundations, such as they are, of neoconservatism -- check it out at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300104367/qid=1... ) Anne Norton made the exact same point. As is well-known, Arab Muslims are Semites just as Jews are, and one of her points is that, over the past half-century, as anti-Semitism directed against Jews has been placed outside the bounds of decent political discourse, it has been replaced by anti-Semitism directed against Arabs and Muslims. Indeed, many of the same slurs are used, characterizing the Semitic bogeymen as both a sinister threat to America and somehow not-fully-human compared to us "Westerners." The distance between a Father Coughlin in the 1930s and a Pat Robertson in the 2000s isn't all that far -- merely the specific Semitic target has been shifted.