Azeem wrote:
> My personal answer is No, it isn't fair. It is by definition >racial
prejudice. How can you tell if someone is a >Muslim? You might end up
having to throw in Hindus as >well, as from skin colouring and physiognomy
it can be
> impossible to distinguish, say, a Pakistani from an >Indian. This may
look facetious, but I'm being totally >serious.
This has been proven here where many from other groups are being lumped in
based on their appearance. A Hindu man who some creature thought was Arab
was shot dead in Arizona a few days ago. Again, Azeem, it may not be of
much solace to you, but I still believe most Americans are just as concerned
about this as you are and think it's a hideous outfall from the tragedy. I
don't know if you heard President Bush's speech regarding any backlash
against Muslims here the other night at the mosque in Wash. D.C. but I wish
I had a transcript of it to post everywhere. We all know Bush is rarely if
ever eloquent or articulate, but in this case, I swear he was amazing. It
was up right there with the Gettysburg Address to me! I pray these incidents
stop.
>In the wake of the tragedy, there have been remarks >made about
isolationism and foreign policy (and I'm not >just talking about this list)
which suggest, worryingly, that >it's irrelevant.
Since this remark seems aimed at some of mine, let me clarify that I think
what was done to us is indefensible and there can be no justification for
it. There can be general reflection on what our government's involvement in
the Middle East has been but I just cannot see where any of it is relevant
as *justification* for what happened last week.
And don't worry, painful questions will eventually be asked and debated and
hashed out for years after we get back to normal. But we are nowhere near
normal now.
Kakki
