It's not that I hate you, it's that I could never fully trust you. There have been Afghanis who have trained, and perhaps even fought alongside NATO troops, and then later turned on and killed NATO troops.
Do you really think that 1-2 billion people suffer from insecurity? Unless by insecurity, you mean lack of security, this doesn't make sense. OBL was within the world's 1% and that wasn't enough. People here have noted that some of the 9/11 terrorists were in fact well off and educated. I think financial security is important, but is only one of a number of factors. On their own, wealth and security would not be sufficient IMO to quell the attitude of Arabs and Muslims. One especially important factor in the case of Arabs I think is experience (or lack of) with free speech. Arabs were in a horrifying state before Islam and certainly there was no freedom of expression. Probably sometime after the 4th caliphate, a lack of freedom of expression was enforced again and has persisted at the hands of various native and non-native forces ever since. Take for example a child growing up in Mubarak's Egypt - more often than not such a child would be raised to not infringe upon the boundaries of free expression. Reason being, the child's parents would have witnessed or heard what happens to this person. So wanting to protect their children, the parents played along teaching their kids that it is wrong to say certain things and that this should not be up for discussion lest they get into trouble for being unknowingly critical about it. It is hard, almost impossible, to remove from a human being something they have been taught from a trusted source since childhood. By the time this person reaches an age where they want to test these boundaries, they were under the impression that restricting speech is a really cool way to surround yourself with things that you want to hear - so while they may not like Mubarak's criteria, they certainly would like to set the criteria to their own belief system > something which their scholars would have told them was synnonymous with the rise of the Islamic empire. Of course things are different today with the emeregence of the internet in even the poorest parts of Muslim majority countries. Whereas previously, people relied heavily on state tv, censored international tv, parents, schools, scholars and allowed books - there is new media and there is ease of communication which has gone a long way towards re-calibrating these values. People, for example, are starting to see that the message of the Prophet was in fact the most liberal of his time, a stark contrast to what's normally taught which is that the Prophet's message was to revert to the past. Things will not change overnight, but they will change much faster than they have anywhere else historically and that's thanks to technology. That's just one factor. If you think about how there are a variety of factors, a variety of circumstances and 1-2 billion Muslims it is probably unfair to reduce the problem simply down to: they're insecure because of wealth and status. People with more wealth and status are generally less likely to engage in criminal actions because they have more to lose, but I'm not sure this would significantly minimize the problem or reduce the amount of offense taken to these small provocations. For a disproportionately large number of Muslims, religion is the only thing standing in the way of suicide, it is the only thing which convinces them that to have patience with their circumstances - if we attack that string then obviously the reaction will not be pleasant.
Seriously... I'm not going to have some douche bag civilian tell me that can't trust me when I literally spilled blood for this country.
You seem to have forgotten that the blood you spilled was in support of my right to hold an opinion that differs from yours.
Given your keen attitude, do you feel threatened when you see Muslims in public? Hoping something bad happens to them, that they leave your space, and so on?
No, but I do wonder whether they want to be peaceful citizens of this country or if they want to see it destroyed. I also wonder whether they want to see Israel destroyed.
As the post from Gwayneco shows, there are idiots everywhere on this planet. When you lack education, desire for knowledge, and an ability to think for yourself then you are easily manipulated into believing all sorts of things. Does Islam play a role in violence in the ME/North Africa? Sure, to a certain extent. Though it's definitely not the only factor at play, socioeconomic and political influences are surely major contributors. For those observing from the outside though it’s easier to nail it on one thing, as it’s more painless to digest and process. I guess it was better back in the day when idiots didn’t have information on their fingertips. These kinds of people lack the ability to process information logically. Problem is we are living in the Paris Hilton/Kim K era where all the morans are getting the attention. The public are just not able to look beyond it. Conclusion, most people are idiots, EVERYWHERE!
public where? The U.S.? Why don't you look at up yourself? American Muslims have a lower crime rate than the average in the U.S. They also have a higher percentage of bachelor degree holders than the average American. They are too busy with their careers and their families to care about Israel one way or the other.
I don't think they will rob me or kill me for a couple of dollars. It's just that after following 30 years of news stories involving political acts of violence directed at my country in the name of Allah, damn straight I am reflexively suspicious of such people. i know this is not politically correct, but I can no more vanquish these thoughts than I can unring a bell.
You have a better chance of being hit by lightning bro. In the past 30 years there have been 2 attacks by Muslim extremists in America.
This is just way too far man. You are clearly being a troll or are just a very sick person at heart. Don't say that a man who put his life on the line for this country is less trustworthy than you are, or should arouse more suspicion when it comes to loyalty. Just appalling and downright dirty.
Its laughable and just down right silly that I know men who have fought in wars that have had their best friends killed by Muslim extremists trust a Muslim and a civilian who is scared from "news stories" cannot.
Thank you. I just hate this sad state of affairs that Muslim Americans have in this country where they have to PROVE their loyalty to their home country.
