4th of July in the US: All we believe is not what it seems
July 4th, 2007The most disturbing part of being American is we often are not satisfied with reality. The goodness that we are is never enough.
Last week, Charles Lindberg died. He’s not the famous pilot of the similar name (Lindbergh) whose child was kidnapped and murdered, but one of the five Marines who raised the original flag over Iwo Jima.
That flag symbolizes our struggle to “plant the flag of freedom” everywhere in the world.
Well, Lindberg is not in the famous picture. The picture is phony. A re-enactment. Staged. Set up to replicate an important moment.
Isn’t that what America is all about these days? A Hollywood movie. A spin doctor’s clever message. A Fourth of July fireworks display that bring tears to our eyes.
Well, my tears don’t come from nostalgia but from the pain of listening to longwinded speeches by politicians from Orland Park to Chicago who exploit patriotism for their own selfish benefit.
Can’t we cut the stupid political speeches? Unless you served in the military, I don’t want to listen to a politician talk about patriotism when they could easily quit their jobs and go fight in Iraq, if they believe in that war so much.
Patriotism. It can be so phony. So self-serving.
My dad was a patriot, at a time when patriotism didn’t come easy.
He and his brother were quick to enlist after Pearl Harbor. Dad served in the 5th Army and later the O.S.S., which became the C.I.A.
They wanted to serve together, but my uncle’s name was Moses. I guess the recruiters thought he would part the seas, so they sent him to the Navy.
I remember growing up how my dad, a veteran of a real war, used to complain about how few Americans would put out their flags on Flag Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day and the Fourth of July.
When the need to put out a flag was there just to be proud few Americans put their flags out. Our home was always one of the few that had a flag raised.
Eventually, some store owner figured patriotism would be a great way to sell junk and turn a profit. Businesses started using the flag to make sales. After Sept. 11, 2001, most Americans rushed to Wal-Mart to buy their first flags, probably. They didn’t put the flag out because of patriotism, but rather out of rage. Vengeance. Anger. All the wrong reasons. Determined to get even with whichever foreigner got in our American way.
My family will be at the fireworks display this year, like we always are. But I don’t put my flag out like I used too. I don’t want to be like the rest of the hypocrites who display the flag for the wrong reasons.
One day when America returns to the principles that make this country so great, I’ll put my flag out again. When we start respecting immigrants who are the lifeblood of this country. When we fight wars to protect the freedoms of the oppressed rather than profits of the oppressors like Dick Cheney’s Halliburton.
For now, my American flag waves proudly in my heart and memories.
The one I respect the most is the one in my home that the Army gave to my mom the day my dad died.
Can we tell the politicians this week to just shut up!
– Ray Hanania
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No, Ray. I must disagree with what you are saying. We can’t let our anger over problem areas consume us to the point where we give up, or even look like we’re giving up. That’s the problem, not the solution.
Allow me to change some of your words here to make a point …
That sure doesn’t sound like an enlightened way to engage the global Muslim community, does it? Wait, how about this?
Charming way to reference the Catholic Church, utterly ignoring it’s positive qualities, no? And I wonder how you would respond to someone who would say this …
We can do this all day. You mustn’t highlight only the negative characteristics of a community and ignore all that which is worth nurturing. It’s not any more OK to do to the USA than any one else — one standard for all. No community is singularly defined by its leaders and negative qualities. There is plenty about the USA that is good, you just have to be willing to recognize it beyond whatever rage you feel.
What about our school teachers who have forsaken decent salaries, and chances to make millions in the global economy, in order to teach our children? Why don’t they represent America as much, if not more, than Halliburton?
There is plenty of goodness to be found in our largely nuanced society regardless of the publicity it gets. Certainly, please, don’t gloss over our problems, but also don’t let your anger blind you to all we have that is productive and meaningful. Don’t even give the impression you are turning your back out of disgust, what are you doing, man? You wouldn’t do this with Palestinians, Muslims, or Christians, why do it with the USA? Even in anger, there can still be love and respect, Ray. Otherwise, what sets you apart from all the (Israel, or Palestinian, or Muslim or gay, or whatever) rhetorical bashers out there? That’s all they do … emphasize the bad parts and demand their advesaries clean up their acts to suit their agendas or just go away. That’s easy. But encouraging the good parts to thrive no matter how suppressed they are, or how upset we are … that’s the hard part.
PeacefulVanguard seems to think that Ray has given up on our country. I disagree. I think he’s given up on the cheap, puffed-up symbolism of patriotism that is used to sell products and bad policy to us.
I agree with and applaud everything in his post except this line:
I think that we have plenty of politicians who do not demean the flag in the way that Ray is describing. (My bias: I’m generally thinking of Democratic politicians, who strike me as far truer Americans than Republicans.)
Personally, ever since I was told to add “Under God” to the pledge of allegiance in 1954, I’ve found it hard to have unqualified feelings about my flag.
– ge
Thanks George … Peaceful Vanguard is a Muslim basher, in my opinion, and everything he writes or says is about attacking Muslims. of course, maybe the difference is that I actually served in the U.S. military, as did my brother (Marine), father (5th Army, OSS-CIA, during World War II) and uncle (Navy, World War II). I wonder, did Peaceful Vanguard serve int he military? If not, why not? What’s stopping you from serving? You can serve even if you are not an American citizen.
The fact is I want to correct the corruption of the American system by Bush (a war criminal if I ever saw one whose WHite House is more like a criminal conspiracy than a government — just look at the pardon of the traitor Lewis Libby who outed an American patriot just to get revenge against her husband who used his constitutional rights of free speech to criticize the president.) Believe me, when Bush retires from office next year, he will be hunted down and charged for war crimes. The American people will not let him off the hook. (And my anger stems from the fact that he never served active duty and hid in the reserves — which were not the same back during the Vietnam War (the reserves was a place where people with clout hid from Vietnam service if they couldn’t maintain a high enough gradepoint in college) as they are today, more active and more frontline.
Thanks
Ray hanania
http://www.hanania.com
PeacefulVanguard, you are comparing nationalism with religion and on the other comparing a group of people with an entire region. You should know very well that you can’t compare apples with oranges.
You didn’t even read what Ray wrote. Sigh…
Posts like this by Ray makes me even more proud to be an American.
Ray, excellent post bro!
Can someone please tell me what this guy is talking about? Has he totally checked out of reality? This rant is an incoherent, nonsequitur to my response above. Where have I ever bashed Muslims, let alone done so in every post? I mean, it’s such an obvious lie, especially when the opposite is so clearly true. I hope some of the other posters on here will help our brother, Ray, get some perspective because this is really an injustice.
I don’t know what your problem is, or why you had such a bad holiday, dude. But whatever has gotten you so angry, it can’t possibly be about me. I just hope the days ahead get better for you.
the principles that make this nation great, what are those exactly? america was founded on the genocide and occupation of native people and built with the stolen labor of kidnapped, enslaved africans. exploitation of and discrimination against immigrants has existed for most, if not all, of the existence of this state. this is not just my own opinion–these issues are non-controversial among historians and widely accepted as historically accurate. i know americans don’t always want to hear it, but we do ourselves more harm than good when we refuse to acknowledge our true history.
i am american, i was born here, but i have no reason to cling to this false nationalist mythology. i know that it is hard to get away from, because we are indoctrinated with patriotism throughout school; we’re taught stories about george washington being too honest to tell a lie, but not about the slaves he owned (both legally and illegally). i personally was taught that he was “nice to his slaves.” we aren’t taught anything resembling the truth about the united states, and we aren’t taught to be critical. and then many of us grow up to be blind patriots because this brainwashing has worked so well.
this post illustrates that arab americans are just as susceptible to this brainwashing. you are dismayed that current events and current administration don’t meet your definition of patriotism, but what about the very foundation of this state? i am disappointed that, in a post about america’s “independence” day, you as a palestinian didn’t see fit to show any solidarity with the native people of this country. i know you can’t touch on every issue in every article, but this to me seems like a no-brainer. if this is our “independence” day, what does that say about how we define independence and who we include in our definition of “us?” this was all i thought about on israel’s “independence” day, and i think it deserves at least a passing thought on the u.s.’ day too.
Thanks Jina. The point I was trying to make was that when there are substantial aspects within a society that can be elevated to be a force of good in the world, that is where we should focus our efforts. That is a struggle worth all our energy. I’m burned out on all the complaining, bro. It’s not working.
PeacefulVanguard,
You wrote
I can’t imagine how you read negativity in Ray’s post??
Feeling sad about the way our country ignores its own stated values means that Ray (like me) values the positive things in this country and wants America to live up to its promise. His posting this makes no sense if he didn’t love this country.
If you want negativity, PV, you have nadia’s post. To her anything positive about this country appears to be “brainwashing”. She finds nothing heroic, for example, in George Washington, who could have been a king if he’d wished. He’s like Juan Carlos of Spain after Franco’s death, who is another true hero for preferring an imperfect democracy to a monarchy.
Meanwhile I have to agree with Ray that Bush is a war criminal although I am positive that we will never treat him as such.
Personally I expend most of my energy working with my local Democratic Party to move our country towards its ideals. I don’t feel I have much effect at any higher level.
– ge
P.S. Ray, I don’t think I’ve thanked you for what I see as a very patriotic and postitive post. Thanks.
When I read Ray’s post, all I saw was criticism of those who deserve criticism. He is pointing out the flaws in his nation and want to address them, but you want to ignore the flaws and move on because there are other good things. Do you want me to ignore the bullshit preached by the Nazis and look at their achievements and make a post making them sound like heroes and angels?
Self-reflection and self-criticism improves a society. If the whites didn’t do this many moons ago, we would still have slavery and colonialism.
Nadia makes a very good point also. Admit the flaws and work to improve your society, not dismiss it as it didn’t happen when it did.
Jina,
I’m not sure if you’re addressing your question to me. I certainly don’t want you, Ray or anyone to “ignore the flaws”. I just don’t want to ignore the good stuff either. Ideals (as well as reflection and criticism) also help improve a society: for example, I think that many young Americans helped end segregation because they felt that it contradicted what we’d been taught about equality. BTW I didn’t read nadia’s post the same way you did, but I’d be happy if your reading is the correct one.
– ge
You’re wrong, Jina. I don’t know why it’s so hard for you guys to focus. I never asked anyone to ignore the flaws. Go ahead and criticize problems, but don’t do it in a total vacuum pretending as if a large society doesn’t also have it’s positive elements, which we can build upon. I’m asking for some balance — big difference than what you are saying. You all just want to be comfortable doing little more than talking smack. Well I don’t play that because … guess what? That isn’t working.
When I read this:
I found it to be extremely cynical leaving little room for redemption. No, Jina, America is not ALL ABOUT a spin doctor’s clever message, thereby making the flag of 300 million people a symbol of shame to be tucked away out of public view because of the actions of a few men. That’s very uncool. So yeah, you can criticize with the intention of building up, or you can criticize with the intention of tearing down. If all we are is a hollywood movie, than we can only work to polish our appearance, but we’ll never have substance or guiding principles of our own. You’ll never get me to agree to such a thing with the USA or any society.
Give me a break. Who ever told you to ignore anything? And besides, Nazism was a unique example of an industrial war machine whose primary motive was genocide. There is no comparison here. The USA is a very nuanced society with a lot of excellent qualities. I’m just asking for some balance the same way you would with a person you truly care about.
It’s called “development.” Any expert will tell you that you don’t kick societies for their flaws. You acknowledge them (did you hear that? I don’t want to have to say it again.), and then offer yourself as a partner to try and move beyond them. That’s how you enhance struggling communities, not by telling them they suck and that you are ashamed of them.
I don’t remember Ray or even me ever denying this.
hmm… are you saying that Ray is about all talk and has no action behind it in regards to the original post? In that case, take a look at his military record, he unlike you actually served in the defense of his country.
Of course it works, India is becoming more liberal and less corrupt because people are people willing to stand up and criticizing the society, while putting their lives on the line. China is improving because the activists rather goto jail then sit around say nothing. Arabs are doing this, that’s why you hear about activists being jailed on a monthly if not weekly basis. We know why Kareem is in jail.
What happened when the people didn’t critizise and went along with the mass like sheeps, I know. Nazis came to power, Stalin came to power, Mao came to power… do I even have to bring up Iran?
Can you explain to me why it’s not working because everyday I hear things, I read things that says otherwise.
You know what a rhetorical question is? That’s what Ray asked. Did you not look at the question mark at the end of his sentence?
I am not comparing, I am just giving out another example for argument sake. You can always replace Nazis with the British if that helps.
I’ll remember this when we have an Palestinian-Israeli argument.
I don’t remember Ray saying he’s ashamed, he’s saying the patriotism is being misused in your country for the wrong reason.
did i say anything that was untrue?
george, i will give you a second to re-read my comment. did i say anything that was untrue? it is patronizing for you to criticize my “negativity” without addressing what i actually said.
also, because i know that often internet conversations quickly devolve into personal attacks, let me clarify that my previous comment was not and is not a personal attack on anybody, but criticism aimed at larger trends in arab american communities in regards to our relationships with other communities of color, as well as an attempt at providing an alternate viewpoint (especially for the many non-americans who read this blog). i just want readers to know that there are currents of arab americans preferring to stand in solidarity with the indigenous people of this land rather than pledging allegiance. as arab americans, we are descendants of colonized land, living in a colonialist state occupying indigenous people, and effectively functioning as colonizers ourselves because of this. how can we be free when we are occupying others? how can we guarantee our own rights without considering who’s backs we are standing on?
sometimes i am really frustrated by a lot of the conservatism i see in our community, but i am continually inspired by all the people working to make connections and build a broad network across communities. why must we always knock ourselves out trying to be patriotic enough to be accepted as americans? we could be building with people who have experiences we can relate to, we could be supporting each other in creating a more just world for all of us instead of for just some of us.
my grasp on my “american-ness” is not so tenuous that i feel threatened by these discussions…this is a certain level of privilege that allows me to make these criticisms publicly like this, i know not all arabs can do this, which is why i would be remiss not to. i think ray’s criticism is a good step but i don’t believe that it goes far enough in identifying the root causes of our current problems.
nadia asks
nadia, did I say you said anything that was untrue? No, I said you were “negative”. You presented things that I consider as true (I’ve read Howard Zinn, I’ve listened to Chomsky, etc….) but you certainly did not present any true things that were also positive (e.g., you saw only negative – albeit true – things about George Washington).
I think your paragraphs beginning with “also” and “sometimes” make a lot of sense.
However, I think that your question
demeans people who actually have some positive feelings about the US. I think that you are implicitly demeaning people like Ray, and I take issue with such attempts to coerce others to sound like you. I’m all for relationships (even with us white people or whatever you call us) and for solidarity, etc., but I don’t like denigrating patriotism (and I personally am not particularly patriotic – as I said in 1st post I don’t fly the flag – but I deeply admire people like Ray and his family).
I heartily agree that “internet conversations quickly devolve into personal attacks”. I apologize if I attacked you.
I also want to tell PeacefulVanguard that I read your posts as trying to be positive and nuanced and willing to see both sides. (My original post simply said that I thought you’d misread Ray’s intentions.) I am not as sanguine as you that the US will not become like Nazi Germany, but I applaud your wish to see both sides.
– ge
Hey PV
You inserted the Muslims angle totally out of context, creating an Us versus them mentality, like President Bush (who I consider an absolute moron, by the way and I can’t wait until he is charged with War Crimes
… )
The insertion of your paragraph about Muslims as an example, was, in my opinion, pure and simple Muslim bashing. Youd idn’t address the FACT that the MAJORITY OF MUSLIMS are great people and do not ascribe to violence at all and they oppose the extremists, who I refer to as the Islamicists (political religious people who happen to be Muslims and who distort Islam). You spoke of the entire Muslim people in your post and that was wrong?
Instead of addressing the issues in my column, you had to throw in that BS about Muslims, and your point, a sharp criticism, was real clear, so don’t pretend you were not bashing Muslims because you clearly added them to the post to criticize them and gatuitously and without any context to the column I wrote.
I love America and I love the REAL principles that it stands for, not the distorted crap that Bush the war criminal has done to our country or his Svengali, Dick Cheney, has done either. The White House is a criminal conspiracy and they all belogn in jail. They destroyed the principles that make our country great and have exploited the emotions of the people of America to fund a war that is illegal and unjustified and frankly an outright act of real terrorism — George Bush is the real Evildoer
Anyway, PV, stop pretending that you are the victim and then toss around attacks yourself … acknowledge that you criticize Muslims and you went too far in trying to make your point. That was my point. And your criticism and reference to Muslims in your original response was pure Muslim bashing plain and simple in my opinion.
Thanks for writing
Ray hanania
http://www.hanania.com
Ray,
I just followed that link to your website and found out what you do for a living. How wonderful! If you ever come to Chapel Hill, NC, come stay with us.
– ge
Yes America is paying the price in blood and treasure for the unholy war initiated by Bush endorsed by congress in Afganisthan and Iraq. When you hear death and destruction of
evil imperial army face towards Mecca and exclaim ‘ hamdudilla’.
Take it from me, humilated defeat and cowardly retreat is just
matter of time. This is beginning of the end of American imperial
power. Praise the lord. A new power is emmerging in the horizon.
Welcome it. Forget about bush, cheny, haliburton. They are already in the dustbin of history.
What ‘principal’ you talking about. You hate to waive American flag on 4th july. If everything of America is evil I see you are a shit.
Hey what a surprise! Yet another Muslim who sees Ray Hanania for the HATER that he is. I wouldn’t call him “a shit” though, a DISGRACE YES! Nobody is ever a piece of shit.
I wonder how many more Muslims out there may be hesitant to respond because they’re too flabbergasted by Ray’s hateful warmongering.
PV says to Ray:
and gives three stereotypical examples to explain to Ray that what he’s doing is harmful and wrong. It’s obvious the point of PV’s analysis is to show that Ray displays the same mindset that Islamophobes do, not to bash Muslims. What a distortion and injustice!
Instead of arguing the point PV is trying to make, Ray turns into a hating PV-basher and focuses only on one of the three examples PV gave (the one that mentions Muslims) to launch his tirade, of course ignoring the part where PV says:
How convenient! Why distort PV’s view about Muslims only? One guess, and it’s not about justice. Simply because PV is a Jew and Ray believes that it’s easier to rile up Muslims against PV rather than admit that he (Ray) is wrong? It sure shows what Ray ultimately thinks about us. Well, we’re not going to be manipulated by you, Ray. PV is cool.
Truth is, Ray Hanania is a hater with zero debating skills, motivated to get adulation in all his professional work while never doing anything to improve the lives of Muslims unless he feels he can get applause from it. Ray’s motives are obvious, he’s not at all intrested in constructive debate, only character assassination and creating an atmosphere of anger and resentment that feeds into his agenda.
Ray should be ashamed of himself. He seems desperate to manipulate us Muslims to have conflict with someone we shouldn’t, and I resent his smarmy tactics. He is a liar who insults us by thinking we are easily tricked into falling for his distortions as if we cannot examine evidence that is staring us right in the face. We can read PV’s words and interpret them for ourselves, Ray, we’re not too stupid to do so for ourselves even though you seem to think we are. We know what this means:
We’re quite capable of deciding for ourselves when we should be offended, we don’t need you trying to encourage us to feel anger or resentment towards people with good intentions and whose heart is in the right place. It’s obvious that you’re the hater by thinking we Muslims can be so easily incited, not PeacefulVanguard who speaks to us with equality and optimism. And I say this as a Muslim woman who has been subjected to plenty of bigotry and hate merely because of my religion and ethnicity. So, whether you mind or not, I’ll speak for myself based upon insider knowledge of my own community rather than have you try and do it for us.
Ray says:
I say cut it out Ray, this is the biggest fat lie I’ve ever heard!
I hail you PV.
Every nation has her virtues and vices, light and dark. When you explore a nation look to her acheivement, greatness and virtues.
A beautiful mind always see beauty everywhere.
Ray forgets;
America belongs to Jefferson and Linchon.
America belongs to Einstein and Merry Curie
America belongs to Del Carnegi and Bil Gates.
America belongs to Ernst Hemingway and Paul Rhobson.
America belongs to Martin Luthar King
America belongs to Statue of Liberty.
Pick up one hundred thousand battered oppressed women from anywhere in the globe and ask ‘ where you destined to go’. They
will whisper America, America, America.
Yes here lies her greatness and strength.
America never belonged to Bush, Cheny and Haliburton and never will be.
Hi Myrtus, I am sorry. Never it will be. There is no option to delete.
Halim Kazi–America belongs to Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King Jr.? Really? Are you unaware that black people in America were slaves during the time the state was being formed? Look up Frederick Douglass’ writing on the 4th of July.
also, are you unaware of the existance of survivors of domestic violence in the US? being american does not save us from this, and you do a great disservice to women by spreading this false information around.
george–why must i speak positively on the US? there are plenty of other venues for this kind of talk that get much more exposure than i do. i have no obligation to spread positivity about the US, especially not when i am attempting to speak out against injustice and change those injustices, in part by providing an alternate viewpoint. i don’t have to speak positively of the united states, and to do so would be a waste of my time.
i am not a nationalist. i am not a patriot. i am coming at this with an entirely different framework, apparently. i don’t believe that the united states has a “right to exist.” i see this attachment to the colonialist state we are living in as, among other things, a fundamental obstacle to american support for palestinians. if one refuses to admit one is living in an illegal occupying state, how can one condemn another illegal occupying state? this is why it bothers me to hear a palestinian advocating this patriotism and nationalism.
i’m not trying to “coerce” anyone to agree with me. do you think it’s possible that there are things about our community that you, as a white man, don’t understand or know about? like the fact that for many people, total assimilation was the only way to survive in america? or the fact that post 9-11, many people felt they had to be ultra patriotic and hang american flags on every surface to avoid being victims of racist hate crimes? i think you should examine why it is that you feel so qualified to comment on my statements from outside our community.
are you saying that you admire people who joined the military and fought in wars when you say you admire people like ray and his family? so you are coming at this from a framework of war being neccessary and soldiers being heroic? i am coming at this from a framework of war being ultimately destructive–war means rape, murder, the razing of entire cities–and soldiers being young, poor people (disproportionately of color) who had/felt they had few other choices, who exploitative recruiters had access to every week at school. and i’m not saying this from some ivory tower (because people on the internet of certain class status tend to think that everyone else is like them); i have close connections to what i’m speaking about. i am 23 years old, many of my peers are in iraq and afghanistan as we speak.
and george, i didn’t feel attacked, just wanted to make sure no one felt attacked by me because people often have a hard time dealing with this stuff despite it’s historically factual basis.
ray–i wonder why PV’s comment, which was largely noncontentious within the context of your original post, got picked apart, while my comment, which contains criticism of the arab american community FROM an arab american, was ignored. if you assumed PV’s comment to be muslim bashing, wouldn’t it make more sense and be a better use of time to engage with intra-community criticism instead of bashing?
that last sentance should be “to engage with intra-community criticism instead of WITH bashing?”
nadia asks
and then answers her own question
then she asks:
I have no idea why you think that I feel that I understand the way that “your” community thinks. Oh, I see, it’s because I’m white, so I must think that, right? Nadia, I certainly don’t even understand the way that my “own” community – whatever that is – thinks.
You feel the need to put me in a box, exclude me, etc. Fine. There’s nothing I can do about it apparently since it makes you feel special.
oh please…
you are totally projecting.
you accused me of attempting to coerce others to agree with me because i suggested that maybe we, as arab americans, don’t always have to knock ourselves out trying to be ultra patriotic. you are coming from a position where your job, livelihood and personal safety weren’t directly threatened post 9-11 specifically because of your ethnicity. you aren’t coming from the position of either hanging american flags all over your business/home or having your business/home vandalized…and even with the flags you’re still not safe from it. i don’t say this because i am attempting to make us eternal victims, but because it’s true, it’s what really happened. this is why i made the assertion that maybe there are intra community things that you don’t get. why not examine what “your community” thinks? you might be surprised at how much you didn’t know, already knew, and didn’t realize you knew.
are you here to be an ally to middle eastern people or what? i am too used to my particular corner of the blog-world, i guess. i should have known that asking someone to consider the filter through which they view the world would be unacceptable, even here on MIDEAST YOUTH. you’ve attempted to turn this into a situation where i’ve victimized you. that’s not what happened. i made it very clear from the beginning that i am not attacking anyone. i care about this issue, and talking through it and finding solutions.
it’s also telling that, out of everything else my comment said, you focused on the words to you could twist to make yourself the victim. i’m not sure what the first two quotations in your comment have to do with anything.
anyway, i have been through so many similar scenarios before and choose to focus my energy in more productive ways. so unless this thread takes a significantly different turn, i’m done.
America belongs to Arabs and Muslims, but needs to be reminded of that fact
Oh and Myrtus, how about an example of my so-called anti-Muslim hatred? Or, is criticism of Islamic politics Muslim bashing? Is criticism of an Imam who tells his flock not to participate in Halloween (shut the door, tell your children American kids are worshiping the devil and put a note on your door to go away), Muslim bashing? Is Muslim bashing defending the rights of Mohammed Salah in Chicago when no one else will stand up for him, or Anna Mustafa, who is arrested at O’Hare Airport because the clerk, right after Sept. 11, asks, “Do you want Muslim food” and then they put her through hell searching for a “bomb” and when she asks, what “bomb” they arrest and jail her for 3 days because she said the word “bomb.”
The only Muslims who criticize me are those who hate secular Arabs who insist that we are not Muslim or Christian but ARAB and that Palestine is an Arab issue first and foremost, not some stepping stone to some bigger religious issue. Someone who says that every nation should be Islamic but then turns around abd bashes Israel because it is a “Jewish” State.
Cheap shot. PV engaged in Muslim bashing but you’d rather let that slide because you expect it; someone who tosses in a patronizing reference to Muslims in a discussion about the failings of the American system.
Your use of bad words only reflects your mental state and inability to articulate the facts.
That’s for being the champion of the people who attack me because I am Christian, Secular and not afraid to stand up and denounce bad practices be they by Muslims, Christians or Jews, and then isn’t afraid to defend he majority of Muslims, Christians or Jews who are good
People don’t debate ignorance. They point it out.
Ray Hanania
She never said that you hate Muslims. Learn to read, Ray. She said she resents how you desperately try to manipulate Muslims into feeling resentment when there is no reason to; and that she, as a Muslim, will make up her own mind, based upon the evidence itself, about whether she feels her community is being bashed rather than rely upon your extremely poor and agenda-driven analytical skills. It really is beyond ridiculous how desperate you are to refashion the things others say to satisfy your own angry psychological issues.
Hardly. The fact of the matter is that I used an analogy to show that you have the same mindset that Islamophobes do; and that it’s not admissible to paint any community in a singularly negative light whether that community is the USA or ummah. Myrtus clearly saw that you honed in only upon the analogy I made toward Muslims while ignoring the one toward Christians, purposely trying to rally them to disregard the evidence and become allies with your anger instead. You have an agenda, Ray, and it’s not peace. It’s publicity.