Whose Rights? Who Is Intolerant? Something is Awry
Posted: Thursday, September 01, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The UK Guardian ran an article which should have made every paper in the U.S. But apparently it did not. At least I had to find it in the Guardian and hitherto had no idea of it.
Yesterday’s Guardian included an article by Alison Flood entitled “9/11 children's colouring book angers US Muslims” It is a book depicting (mostly in pictures to color) the events which took place on September 11, 2001. It also includes a drawn coloring picture of a turbaned man with a beard holding a woman with a face covering, in front of him while a drawing of a Navy Seal is shooting the man.
Do you see anything wrong with that? I certainly don’t. Well, read this paragraph taken from the UK article:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has condemned the book as "disgusting", saying that it characterises all Muslims as linked to extremism, terrorism and radicalism, which could lead children reading the book to believe that all Muslims are responsible for 9/11, and that followers of the Islamic faith are their enemies.
According to the publishers, there is no such insinuation or inferences in the book and, in fact, makes it clear that it was only a few radicals which brought down the twin towers on 9/11.
Here is another paragraph from the article giving an exchange between the two views:
Publisher Wayne Bell told American television that the book does not portray Muslims "in a negative light at all. That is incorrect. This is about 19 terrorist hijackers that came over here under the leadership of a devil worshipper, Osama bin Laden, to murder our people," Bell said. "He [Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR] calls the book disgusting ... but he should call the people in the book, the 19 terrorists, Osama bin Laden, he should call him disgusting. This is history. It is absolutely factual."
Bell is absolutely correct. This business of people getting their rear ends upon their shoulders when such as this is written, is THE reason many people classify all Muslims in with the terrorists. He, and the entire group CAIR, should be lauding the book instead of this. They are supposed to be the leadership of American-Islamic relations. This type of intolerance of the American freedoms, puts them all in a bad light.
The real problem is that there are numerous “ordinary” Muslims who do hold embedded intolerance for Christians or anyone else not of the Islamic religion and secretly desire to see the radicals commit their crimes against us. These feelings show and speak loudly in cases just like the one above. No one, even al Qaeda, should take offense at the children’s coloring book published in it’s present form. It contains only historical fact. And those who wish to cover such information are surely against us.
When you begin to see Muslims teaching and broadcasting condemnation of those who are terrorizing the world, you will begin to see true acceptance of them. But as long as they defend or object to others putting down the terrorists, it will never happen.
To read the UK Guardian article, CLICK HERE.
Another great article is a lengthy review by Jeff Emanuel of a new book, ‘Jihad Joe’ and the Radicalization of American Muslims by J. M. Berger. To read this review, CLICK HERE.
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)I'm writing this comment about your article, but I wonder if you will allow it to remain posted? In any case I will write it anyways.
I have few problems with those who want to write childrens books. But I do consider it a problem to write a book to children that expresses violence. To claim that children will understand the difference between a terrorist and a muslim is absurd. Children are easily manipulated and influenced by what they see.
To make this clear to you, I want you to consider what a child thinks of when he sees a picture of a KKK member who is cloaked. Then show them the same picture of the KKK member without something covering his face. That child will then associate a KKK person as only white. Especially when the pictures are always of white men wearing KKK clothing.
If you don't think it will influence that child, I suggest you ask anyone with knowledge relating to children. If the book was solely for adults I would think otherwise, but children are not adults.maybe the children influenced that way is necessary. There is a war on, and the enemy's chldren are being strongly influenced by their adults. Self, family and national preservation are natural instincts.Thank you Jack for the comment. You are correct. We can never win a war with one hand tied behind our back. Those radicals adhere to no codes of decency or respect,.Rick I appreciate your comment although I do not agree with your approach. First of all., if a child formed the opinion that the KKK were all white, they would be absolutely correct. They were/are a white supremicist group and none other is allowed in. As to the comparison, I see none. The only thing I could imagine a child forming an opinion on Muslims would be the one of Osama with his turban, and again they would be correct. Just because there is a slight chance that the child might think all terrorists were Muslim, they would not be far from right and even the ones who are not, are sympathizers toward the radical Muslims. The terriorism we face is that of radical Islam. Besides, No one, with knowledge of children, as you seem to imply that I don't have, would believe that any child or adult would assume that ALL Muslims were terrorists. I was a child during the time of KKK activity and even knew a couple of them. But not once did I ever think that All whites were KKK. My Dad spoke against them and he was white.I might agree with you to some extent, however, I need to ask only one question. Would you ever give a child a coloring book depicting a soldier killing a human being and telling him to use it? I personally have never seen such a coloring book in my lifetime, nor would I ever give one to my own children. I'm not sure the Nazi's ever did this.
No, frankly I would not Rick, but I was not defending the book as a good one for children, but simply trying to point out that the leaders of CAIR had no cause to raise their ugly head about it. They are a hindrance to good relations between us and the good Muslims, just as Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson are hindrances to good race relations between whites and blacks. They are living high like fat cats while creating mistrust and anger between the races. Thanks for the comments.
Besides, your own comment reflects the same viewpoint as the coloring book. "The only thing I could imagine a child forming an opinion on Muslims would be the one of Osama with his turban, and again they would be correct. Just because there is a slight chance that the child might think all terrorists were Muslim, they would not be far from right and even the ones who are not, are sympathizers toward the radical Muslims.
So for you to claim that all children, or a majority of them would not tilt to this kind of thinking is far from realistic. Just take a look at the statistics in the article below. They come from surveys throughout America. If adults feel this way, what would a child think?
Surveys Show Many Americans Prejudiced Against Muslims
Americans like to think of their nation as a bastion of liberty and equality, and while America's political principles have certainly been based upon such ideas the truth is that Americans themselves have often been willing to abandon those ideals. Today, for example, many Americans are inclined to deny equality and liberty to the Muslims neighbors simply because they are Muslims.
Editor & Publisher reports on a recent survey which reveals the extent to which Americans are prejudiced against Muslims and would endorse official discrimination against Muslims:
Almost four in ten, 39%, advocate that Muslims here should carry special I.D. That same number admit that they do hold some “prejudice" against Muslims. Forty-four percent say their religious views are too “extreme."
In addition, 34% believe that Muslims in America support al-Qaeda while just 49% believe that American Muslims are loyal to the United States. Almost a quarter don’t want Muslims as neighbors, but people who actually know Muslims are less likely to hold any of these prejudices. So, when a person actually knows Muslims, they are less likely to be prejudiced against Muslims — this isn’t surprising because prejudice is often the product of ignorance and fear.
At the same time, this indicates that all those who are so willing to see Muslims discriminated against probably don’t know any Muslims themselves. It’s easy to endorse discrimination when you don’t have to personally witness the harm it causes or when you don’t have toe feel empathy for those who must suffer because of it. Think about it: coming up on half of all Americans think that the religious views of American Muslims are too “extreme," but most of these people probably don’t know any Muslims personally and so can’t claim to know what Muslims really do believe.
Where did they get their information if they don’t know any Muslims themselves? I think we can easily come up with examples of heavily biased “news" sources, both traditional media and web sites, which encourage people to developed biased perceptions of Muslims — and other minorities, too. Does anyone want to take a bet on how many in that 44% are regular readers of Ann Coulter and regular listeners of Bill O’Reilly?
Rick, as usual, you are determined to be right in all things. You are welcome to write whatever you want on this subject. My comment was intended to reflect the same viewpoint as the book did! The book made no false claims, no prejudicial statements, etc.
My stand is that I think followers of Islam have the right to follow that religion if they please. But I do not accept it whatsoever. And I am thoroughly familiar with it, In fact there are many of them who do not understand it.. I don't hate Muslims who are peacable. I fault the majorioty of them for not condemning the actions of their radical brothers.
So, instead of trying to find fault with mine, why not write an article showing where you stand.
I'm not that concerned with being "right", Joel. I comment on those things that touch a chord with me, and don't care if my comments are right or wrong. Of course, as you have seen in my writings, I am not one to form one-sided opinions of any particular subject, unless I am certain of its historical and contemporary benefits.
Obviously, all American's are looking for something new, innovative, and with less risk of consequences, since they can no longer fight against the very government they support. I was not seeking fault with your ideas, but you left me little choice, for to ignore it would be to condone it. This I could not do.
As for writing an article about where I stand on Muslims, let me simply say that it would do nothing more than follow the very laws we established. The Constitution of the United States does not advocate discrimination of any kind, although the way they are applying its laws contradict its tenets. Further, I don't act on fears, I act solely upon actions. So if a Muslim commits a crime, he should be punished. I do not care what the other Muslims believe as long as they don't commit a crime against us, or our nation. Just as I don't blame all believers for those who use it to kill people, such as abortion doctors and others. Blame should only apply to those who are guilty, not those who think this way or that way.
A writer must be able to defend what they write, for if they cannot, of what value is the writing?
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