"Americans are neither bigots nor gullible."
of course they are
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdCo...aspx?id=186290
Overall, the message that emerges from this discourse can hardly be missed: When Muslim grievance is at question,America is the culprit.
I have been trying hard to find an explanation for the intense controversy surrounding the Cordoba Initiative, whereby 71 percent of Americans object to the proposed project of building a mosque next to Ground Zero.
I cannot agree with the theory that such broad resistance represents Islamophobic sentiments, nor that it is a product of a “rightwing” smear campaign against one imam or another.
Americans are neither bigots nor gullible.
Deep sensitivity to the families of 9/11 victims was cited as yet another explanation, but this too does not answer the core question.
If one accepts that the 19 fanatics who flew planes into the Twin Towers were merely self-proclaimed Muslims who, by their very act, proved themselves incapable of acting in the name of “true Islam,” then building a mosque at Ground Zero should evoke no emotion whatsoever; it should not be viewed differently than, say, building a church, a community center or a druid shrine.
A more realistic explanation is that most Americans do not buy the 19 fanatics story, but view the the 9/11 assault as a product of an anti- American ideology that, for good and bad reasons, has found a fertile breeding ground in the hearts and minds of many Muslim youngsters who see their Muslim iden y inextricably tied with this anti-American ideology.
THE GROUND Zero mosque is being equated with that ideology. Public objection to the mosque thus represents a vote of no confidence in mainstream American Muslim leadership which, on the one hand, refuses to acknowledge the alarming dimension that anti-Americanism has taken in their community and, paradoxically, blames America for its creation.
The American Muslim leadership has had nine years to build up trust by taking proactive steps against the spread of anti-American terror-breeding ideologies, here and abroad.
Evidently, however, a sizable segment of the American public is not convinced that this leadership is doing an effective job of confidence building.
In public, Muslim spokespersons praise America as the best country for Muslims to live and practice their faith. But in sermons, speeches, rallies, classrooms, conferences and books sold at those conferences, the narrative is often different. There, Noam Chomsky’s conspiracy theory is the dominant paradigm, and America’s foreign policy is one long chain of “crimes” against humanity, especially against Muslims.
Affirmation of these conspiratorial theories sends mixed messages to young Muslims, engendering anger and helplessness: America and Israel are the first to be blamed for Muslim failings, sufferings and violence.
Terrorist acts, whenever condemned, are immediately “contextually explicated” (to quote Tariq Ramadan); spiritual legitimizers of suicide bombings (e.g. Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi of Qatar) are revered beyond criticism; Hamas and Hizbullah are permanently shielded from the label of “terrorist.”
Overall, the message that emerges from this discourse is implicit, but can hardly be missed: When Muslim grievance is at question, America is the culprit and violence is justified, if not obligatory.
True, we have not helped Muslims in the confidence-building process. Treating homegrown terror acts as isolated incidents of psychological disturbances while denying their ideological roots has given American Muslim leaders the illusion that they can achieve public acceptance without engaging in serious introspection and responsibility sharing for allowing victimhood, anger and en lement to spawn such acts.
The construction of the Ground Zero mosque would further prolong this illusion.
If I were New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I would reassert Muslims’ right to build the Islamic center and the mosque, but I would expend the same energy, not one iota less, in trying to convince them to put it somewhere else, or replace it with a community-managed all-faiths center in honor of the 9/11 victims.
Fellow Muslim Americans will benefit more from co-ownership of consensual projects than sole ownership of confrontational ones.
"Americans are neither bigots nor gullible."
of course they are
Jerusalem Post editorial trashing Muslims? Surprise!
What are you trying to say?
"Americans are neither bigots nor gullible"
Priceless.
Muslims and their leadership are under no moral obligation to change their message to be more palatable to non-Muslims, even in the wake of 9/11.
And in a country where rumors that its President is secretly Muslim are a strong source of fear and distrust for a significant portion of the country, I'm not sure there's anything Muslim leadership could say or do that would make any difference to the public objection.
Wow this is one of a failure of an article. Almost everything posted within it flat out incorrect.
It dismisses Islamophobia then says:
I mean REALLY?A more realistic explanation is that most Americans do not buy the 19 fanatics story, but view the the 9/11 assault as a product of an anti- American ideology that, for good and bad reasons, has found a fertile breeding ground in the hearts and minds of many Muslim youngsters who see their Muslim iden y inextricably tied with this anti-American ideology.
Did WC write this article because he might as well have said he's not racist he's just prejudiced against black surgeons.
Where is SnC with his thesaurus and dictionary to help the writer out?
Example of the young Muslim mentioned in the article:
Wow. This article really got under Manny's skin.
Oh I don't know about that. I find it rather ironic how quickly he dismissed Islamophobia only to come back and acknowledge it within a few paragraphs. The author may not want to be considered gullible but he's obviously pretty ignorant of what the US Muslim community has done within the past decade and just how much they've tried to be patriotic Americans.
Now that being said, I recognize that there are many people who are frankly that clueless and stupid. It doesnt' make me mad anymore.
I think he's being facetious and saying that he would actually expect an op-ed in the Jerusalem post to be Islamophobic.
Like you.
Well, the author may be a little bit biased because his son's head was cut off by jihadists.
What's your excuse?
This message is hidden because ChumpDumper is on your ignore list.
It's not really ignoring if you keep responding -- and it's not like any of your responses would be much more insightful than the statement of ignorance above.
you have chump on ignore?
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