[aclug-L] Re: Richard Reid

["gLaNDix (Jesse Kaufman)" <glandix@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I don't think they hate our freedom either.  I think what they hate is
that
> we are trying to take away theirs.

i'm currently enrolled in a "Religions of The World" class at Hesston and
we are at the moment studying Islam.  we have had 2 speakers (one muslim,
the other a mennonite missionary who has lived in the middle east) so far
and it has been very interesting...  first of all, i am glad to see that
(so far.. i haven't read past the e-mail i'm responding to yet) there
hasn't been any "those darn muslim"-type e-mails like you hear so much on
TV...  most people have been pretty good about either using quantifiers
(most, many, a number) instead of "all" (in this list, i mean)...

anyway, the point of this is that learning more about the islamic religion
has opened me up to how distorted a lot of people's views of middle eastern
people...  so many times on TV you hear people using the words "terrorist",
"arab" and "muslim" (along with others) synonymously...  but again i
digress...

as one of the forementioned speakers told us in class, a big part of
peoples hatred towards the US is because it seems like (and i would even
agree with this) any time something goes on in the world, we have to stick
our noses in it, regardless of whether or not we should...  he also
mentioned that the word "crusade" is being used more and more in arabic and
islamic newspapers, etc...  this scares a lot of them because of the last
crusade (no, not Indiana Jones :P) and how bloody it was...  i don't blame
them... i can easily see how they could see GW's actions as being another
crusade...  "we must kill the evil doers" sounds a heck of a lot like "we
must convert those hethans and pagans at all cost"...

> And while you think our interventionist tactics are good, beware that
their
> current hatred for the US stems from our interventionist tactics, so I
see
> no real help arising from this.

i totally agree here...  the wonderful thing about the internet is being
able to talk easily (as far as the availability of means of communication)
to people from other countries... i find it very interesting to hear what
those people have to say about the US..  and it is frustrating (especially
around the time of the clinton/lewenski 'scandal') for me personally to at
times almost feel embarrased to say i'm from the US...  i have pride for
what my country is supposed to believe in, but i don't necessarily take
pride in everything the country does or take pride in the actions of every
last person...  just like the majority of muslims do not respect bin
laden...

> Then why did Bush tell people to go out and spend money and visit Disney
> World?

disney owns the gov't... didn't you get the memo? ;)

> > Are you sure you posed this to the right place?  I think you are
looking
> > for the anti-american news-group.

(even tho' this was from the previous msg, not john's)...  one of the great
things about the US is that we (for the most part) have the freedom to
express our beliefs, even if they aren't 100% pro-american...  granted, the
level you are able to express these non-pro-american (or even
anti-american) beliefs is limited by the gov't...  freedom of speech to a
point, i guess...

gLaNDix

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