From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun 17 Nov 2002 - 02:42:21 GMT
Lawry,
No matter how much it costs us, I just can't see us giving up our culture
and accepting theirs instead. That's what they are asking of us, and
they're not asking politely. I suspect we will be more likely to wipe them
off the face of the earth before we give in to that kind of blackmail. We,
as a society, don't accept offers we can't refuse. What they see as
superiority based on the fact that they made the Russians back down is an
illusion based on the fact that the Soviet Union was in the process of
disintigrating at the time they were driven out of Afghanistan. The West in
the form of North America, Europe and the Far East are not in that
condition. If we get together and take on all of Islam, the Muslims don't
stand a chance.
I hope it doesn't come to that, but it looks more like that is where we're
headed every day. The Muslim countries are becoming more religious every
day rather than more secular. If that trend continues, Israel may repeat
itself on a worldwide basis. All Muslims will suffer for the actions of a
few. And many Europeans and Americans will suffer along with them. You can
see the governments of Western countries getting antsy already.
Every Muslim now gets a second look and they have become the focus of all
the forces of the government, such as the CIA, FBI, INS, local police
forces, etc., etc. People will no longer want to rent or sell to Muslims
because they will be afraid of what it will do to property values. All
banks accounts with Muslim names will be scrutinized more closely and seized
if there is any doubt about where the money came from or where it might be
going.
It's unAmerican, but so is Islam. We can't tell who in that group are our
friends and who are our enemies. It will be like WWII when the Japanese who
joined the military were sent to war in Europe and had to fight twice as
hard as other Americans just to prove their loyalty. Nobody trusted them to
fight in the Pacific. Only after the defeat of Japan were they grudgingly
accepted back into our society.
Even that sniper who turned Wash. D.C. on it's head had a Muslim name. I
guess he was a convert. But that will now be a danger sign that brings
greater scrutiny. Blacks who have adopted Muslim names will be treated with
even greater prejudice. Society is reactionary in nature. The headlines
tell us what to fear and fear causes us to react irrationally. The more
terror we see directed at us the less rational we will react toward people
who have Muslim names or a Muslim appearance.
Anyway, that's the way I see things going. What I don't see us doing is
changing our way of life to fit into the way of the Muslims.
Cheers,
Grant
>
>Grant, I would generally agree with the point you make, with one
>distinction: 'terror' has a profound psychological effect, whereas 'normal'
>death tolls on the road (or from smoking, with even bigger numbers that the
>ones you cite), don't.
>
>Israel and Palestine are instructive. Roughly, the Israelis as a percentage
>of their population are suffering one WTC-sized event per week. They are
>inflicting a WTC-sized event of the Palestinians at the rate of 3 per week.
>Neither is giving in to the terror. Have they got used to it? Have their
>societies, generally, made the psychological adjustments needed so that
>this
>becomes 'normal.' As long as terror does not seem normal, a society may go
>to extraordinary lengths to 'protect' itself, such as the US has done, with
>huge financial outlays, a compromise of civil liberties (being radically
>compounded by the Homeland Security bill, extraordinary daily disruption
>(especially for travelers and visitors and employees of federal
>facilities),
>and the creation of an increasingly Orwellian domestic atmosphere. And
>that
>was a single event. We could count Oklahoma City as a second, Kasi, and
>the
>first WTC attack as other events, but the point holds, I think. Our
>reaction has been huge; in Palestine and Israel the reaction per event may
>be more modest. Your thoughts?
>
>Cheers,
>Lawry
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf Of
>Grant Callaghan
>Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2002 10:38 AM
>To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
>Subject: Re: The terrorism meme
>
> >The fact is that the real blame for the deaths is not the terrorist his
> >fault, the blame lies by the US government consequently staying
> >in areas where they don 't belong.
> >Terrorism is equal placing bombs and setting up psychological
> >pressure.
>
>My philosophy is that people are responsible for their own actions.
>Therefore, they, themselves, are to blame for the damage they do to others.
>If I kill someone it's not G. W. Bush's fault unless he sent me out there
>to
>do it.
>
>The Muslim terrorists just don't understand the magnitude of the problem.
>They don't realize that we're willing to sacrifice over 40,000 Americans a
>year to keep our cars and the way of life they represent. If you count the
>injured, it's over 100,000. The losses at the WTC were a drop in the
>bucket
>by comparison. If 40 thousand deaths a year won't make us change our ways,
>the puny efforts of a few bombings aren't going to do it. They are just a
>small increase in the number of accidents we are willing to put up with.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Grant
>
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