“You worry me”
- July 23, 2002
- 5 comments
Taken from an email I was forwarded. This was supposedly written by an American Airlines pilot. Even if it wasn’t, this is how I feel as well.
“You worry me. I wish you didn’t. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don’t blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.
I notice you because I can’t help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don’t fully understand their grievances and hate but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.
On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children’s mothers.
So I notice you now. I don’t want to be worried. I don’t want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab /Muslim terrorist.
How do I differentiate between the true Arab-Muslim-Americans and the Arab-Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter those very same good neighbors and children?
The events of September11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of it’s religions, with ALL of it’s different citizens, with all of it’s faults. It is time for every Arab-Muslim in this country to determine it for me.
I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to it’s flag? Do you proudly display in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your “Jihads”?
Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.
Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. And no more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested in any more sympathy ...I am only interested in action. What will you do for America—our great country—at this time of crisis, at this time of war?
I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting “Allah Bless America”. I want to see young Arab-Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.
The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. Hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.
The very few Arab-Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States prove who was responsible before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing “leaders” like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat. If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true when your “leaders” are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance.
It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if large numbers of the world’s Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members defended Johnny Cochran and O.J. Simpson after the latter butchered his wife and murdered an innocent friend. A form whose members (some as young a five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth. A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the nameof Islam.
Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because our women proudly show their
faces in public rather than cover up like a shameful whore? Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because we drink wine with dinner, or celebrate Christmas? Do you and you fellow Muslims hate us because we have befriended
Israel, the ONLY civilized democratic nation in the entire middle-east? And if you and your fellow Muslims hate us, then why in theworld are you even here?
Are you here to take our money? Are you here to undermine our peace and stability? Are you here to destroy us? If so, I want you to leave. I want you to go back to your desert sandpit where women are treated like rats and dogs. I want you to take your religion, your friends, and your family back to your Islamic extremists, and STAY THERE!
We will NEVER give in to your influence, your retarded mentality, your twisted, violent, intolerant religion. We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.
I want to know where every Arab-Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand.
Until then ... you worry me.”
You won’t be catching a lot of fire, but you will be getting a lot of paragraphs! =]
I agree with you that the internment camps of WW2 were a mistake and were an overreaction to a perceived threat to the nation. Many Japanese people were very loyal citizens and loved America. But no where in this email I received does it even suggest something like an internment camp for Muslims.
It’s interesting to note that when a country has made grievous mistakes against its citizens in the past, like the internment camps for the US or the Nazi party for the Germans, it is much more afraid to even look like it’s heading in a direction that’s even remotely similar. If the government is worried about a particular group of people, it is MUCH more wary about looking like it’s racist or fascist, when in reality it is justified in its actions.
Your comment about the media hyping things up is true to an extent, but it’s not just our media that is showing the evil side of militant Islam. Their own media is not afraid to show its hatred for the Jews and infidels. I try to read accurate translations of Arab newspapers because I want to know how they are perceiving all of this. There are MANY stories about the evil Jews and the Great Satan. About how the US is the source of all evil and that Allah will crush us. These aren’t militant newspapers. These are national media outlets that most Muslims in those regions read. And this isn’t limited to the Middle East. Other major publications in England, France, Germany and the US aren’t much more subtle in their reporting.
Now what am I supposed to think when that kind of message is going out EVERY DAY to a large segment of the world? Am I supposed to just shrug my shoulders and forget about it? Am I supposed to just think that this is only a minority perspective out of all the Muslim people? When you read the vast amount of news bashing the West and especially the US and Israel, you can’t view it that way anymore. Am I saying that ALL Muslims hate the US and Israel? No. But a large number of them do. And if you read the Koran, it is VERY aggressive against the Jews.
Now most of that was dealing with the Muslims of the Middle East. What am I supposed to think about Muslims in the US? Every single one of the hijackers of 9/11 had been living in the US for a while. They all seemed normal. They all attended their local mosques and didn’t go around burning American flags or threatening Jews anywhere, but they eventually hijacked three of our planes and killed thousands of our people. They were a part of a tight-knit Muslim community in the US. They had help from other Muslims in that community, it’s a well-known fact. Now are we just supposed to ignore this in order not to offend our Muslim citizens? Of course not! To do so would be a mistake. I guarantee you that if more Muslims from inside America led more attacks against the US because of our not questioning Muslims, government heads would roll. The people would demand it.
When a crime takes place, what do the cops do? They follow up all leads that are relevant to the case. So how is questioning a Muslim who has been known to be around one of these hijackers a bad thing? If a black man has raped a woman and got away with it, are the cops not supposed to consider black suspects because it might be perceived as profiling? Of course not! If the suspect (or suspects in this case) are from a particular demographic, then you focus on that group of people. The same goes for any group. There’s a reason to be more aware of Muslims these days.
What you have to realize is that there ARE a significant number of Muslims that do NOT like the US. They want to see us fall. And even though it’s hard to accept, there are Muslims like that who live in the US. This email isn’t addressed to the Muslims who appreciate and are thankful for being in the US. It’s not addressed to Muslims who love this country and its freedom to practice your religion how you see fit. It’s not addressed to your Muslim store owner friend, who sounds like a nice guy. I also know some friendly Muslims, and I would be completely shocked if they hated America. The email IS addressed to Muslims like the hijackers though. It’s addressed to Muslims who aided them. It’s addressed to Muslims who ARE here to undermine authority, to secretly preach against the Jews and infidels, who lie about their identities and associates and reasons for being in this country. Always look for the conditional phrases of “if”, “if so” and “then”. They are frequent in this email.
I don’t see how your final example puts a twist to the story. I think it enforces my point of view. A black man in a southern US city during the 50’s and 60’s had every right to be worried about the hate-filled Christians. Or if you meant it was the hate-filled Christians who were worried about the black man, there is no similarity between the Klu Klux Klan’s actions and what this email is asking. It’s apple and oranges. In no place in this email is the writer saying he’s going to harm the Muslims. He never suggests a method of how regular Americans can purify the US of Muslims. He simple states that if you’re a Muslim who doesn’t support the US, who doesn’t appreciate the freedoms you have here, who wants the US to fall, then leave. And he proclaims that he won’t allow Muslims if that ilk to win. And in these basic thrusts of the email, I absolutely agree.
Russ
July 25, 2002
Yes, I have skimmed over a great deal of the Koran over the last 10 years. I was astonished by their aggressive stance against Jews and Christians. But their is also a great deal of intolerance and violence in the Hebrew bible as well. I guess they was just violent times. I also try to read different news sources from around the world, mainly to see how the world looks at America. I believe that “some” of their anger is justified, but I am also totally against their methods for dealing with it. We definately have our faults here in this country, but the world would be in sorry shape without us.
As for myself, I went from 20 years ago being angry and intolerant, to where I am today… almost too tolerant and laid back. Severe childhood depression combined with a highly warped intolerant Christian upbringing, has helped to open my eyes and shape the way I see things today.
I try to do my part to keep and eye open and help out in the war effort. I give blood, I don’t yell “anthrax” in a crowded post office, and I don’t stand next to people wearing heavy coats in the summertime. One thing I can’t do though, is be suspicious of Muslims. Even though Zaccharis Moussoui lived right here among us in Minneapolis, just as peacefully as anyone else, I just don’t have it in me anymore to be concerned about things like that. Timothy McVeigh and Jeffery Dahmer from all outward appearences, were nice guys too. It just goes to show you that anyone is capable of anything at anytime.
Back to the main point, I understand why the writer of that article feels the way he does, I just feel sorry for him for feeling that way.
I’m not sure what their is to feel sorry about. Is that because he is scared? Is it because he’s suspicious? If his suspicion was based on whims or guesswork, then yes, it would be sorry.
Think of it this way. You own several stores around Minneapolis. They’re all doing good business. But there’s a gang called the T-Birds (I know, cheesy) that have been harassing your customers and defacing your property. They all wear either a blue bandana on their head or arm. They’ve been harassing your stores for years. They openly say they hate your stores and want them to burn. The police have arrested several of them, but it hasn’t stopped the harassing. One day, one of your biggest stores gets burned down to the ground, some of your employees die in the fire and there are many witnesses who all point to the T-Birds. Now, you’re telling me that you wouldn’t suspect anybody with a blue bandana on their head or arm? Come on! You WOULD suspect them. You WOULD want to question them, even if they didn’t have anything to do with your store burning, they are part of the T-Birds. They could know information that would help you arrest the people involved.
It’s not just a simple matter of some people killed some other people. There is a history behind all of this. A pattern. There are public displays of hatred towards the US in many places. There are Muslim groups in the US who have been channeling money to terrorist groups around the world. And there have been less than a handful of Muslim leaders in the US who have spoken out against any of this.
Anyway… I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this one. =] But I am very glad you are taking the time to post your thoughts, Russ. I mean it.
Russ
July 25, 2002
On a much smaller scale where the lines are much more easily drawn, yes, I would be very suspicious of any T-Birds that walked by. I would even go as far as securing myself and my employees against further T-Bird attacks with whatever means neccessary.
Now, it would complicate things a great deal, if I had friends that were T-Birds. People that I felt comfortable around. That would complicate things a great deal.
But in your example the way it is put, I would have to agree.
On another note….. I got to play with the new 17” iMac yesterday! They had 2 of them at the Apple Store, and they were running on the 10.2 operating system. Unfortunately, both units were demos, and the OS was a beta version. They did look sweet though.
I’ll probably catch alot of fire for this, but here goes.
Understandably, many people are a bit jumpy at the sight of Muslims since the tragedy of September 11th. But I also think it is unfair to prejudge an entire segment of society simply because we do not understand their ways. We forget that 60 years ago, thousands of American citizens were taken from their homes against their will and put in internment camps simply because their ancestors came from Japan. Even though this was an improvement from the ethnic cleansing that our government engaged in during the 19th century, it still was a sucky way to treat our own citizens simply because we didn’t trust them or their motives.
Most of what we know about Muslims is what we see in the news. Typical media hype in an attempt to get ratings. True, there is a strong violent side to Islam. More so than most other religions it seems. It becomes a terrible mess when violent and evil leaders mix religion with ignorance and blind faith, and feed it to people who feel hopeless about their situation. If I were an American walking the streets of a Middle Eastern country today, yeah, I would be worried. Maybe it’s just that I have become more laidback with age, but I feel no fear whatsoever when I am amongst Muslims here in the United States.
In the 1990’s the Minneapolis area has seen a very sharp increase in the number of Muslims moving here from countries such as the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somolia, Yemen, Jordan, and Egypt. I work with Muslims and come into contact with Muslims everyday. Some of them have to be the friendliest people I see each day. The gas station I stop at twice a week nearby in Crystal is owned and operated by a Muslim from Egypt. Most of his customers are suburban white Christians who prefer doing business with him instead of going to the SuperAmerica across the street. I may be wrong, but I feel that people like doing business with him because he is a sociable happy guy. The store looks like crap, but the customer service is what brings people back.
The Muslim community seems to have blended in here very well. They still practice their religion, while others practice theirs. There is no mention of violence in the name of Allah. If the topic of religion does come up, it is out of curiosity and an attempt to learn and understand. I have had many converstations with Muslims about Jews and Israel, and I have yet to hear a single hateful word about it. In fact, the only hate crimes committed against Jews here throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, were by Christian extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
In a final note, to put another twist to the story, try changing things around a bit and think of it as a Black man walking down the sidewalk of a virtually any southern US city during the 1950’s and 60’s. Looking into the eyes of white hate filled Christians and thinking to themselves “you worry me”.