On Sept. 17, 2001, with the Twin Towers a ruin, the Pentagon a wreck and a field in Somerset County, Pa., horribly scarred, President George W. Bush went to the Islamic Center of Washington, D.C., to make something very clear: “These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. And it’s important for my fellow Americans to understand that.”
Just a few days before, he had stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center with a bullhorn in hand and rightly promised vengeance on those who had attacked us. But at the mosque he delivered a postscript that named both the people who were responsible and the people who were not — the Muslim citizens in our midst. Mr. Bush said, “In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect.” President Bush is easily faulted for his prosecution of the war on terror, but he got that right.
Yet on this anniversary, many have forgotten that first wisdom. Too eager to hate and lash out blindly, so many Americans refuse to understand.
A confused piece colored by hatred for Bush.
RE: “Many Americans have let hatred color 9/11 . . . ”
No we haven’t.
Thankfully, we’ve been sensible and realistic. The vast majority of Americans understand 1) that we are at war with people who wish to destroy us and who are of a certain religion, and 2) that not all those of that religion wish to destroy us, but many do. That clarity of realization and the consequences that come from that realization is not “hatred” — that’s just the lib word redefined to mean “they know and they recognize the consequences therefore they are full of hatred.”
Then we have a minority who acknowledge neither of those two principles. And then we have a teensy teensy percentage like the Florida guy with the bad sideburns. And then a much much much much larger percentage of Muslims who are just like the Florida guy in maturity level, but only murderous.
And there we are. That’s how it all breaks down, and the vast vast vast majority fall into the sensible realistic and non-hate-filled category — thankfully.
RE: . . . so many Americans refuse to understand.”
No. Thankfully so many understand.
RE: “In New York City, a mosque proposed near ground zero by a Muslim minister who has helped the U.S. government is portrayed as a radical . . .”
Yes — and we all feel so reconciled, healed, and united with his efforts.
RE: ” . . . precisely because so many believe all Muslims are evil or at least suspect.”
Nope. Precisely because so many believe 1) that we are at war with people who wish to destroy us and who are of a certain religion, and 2) that not all those of that religion wish to destroy us, but many do.
RE: “Tragically, disunited we stand.”
Nah — the author of this piece is in the tiny minority. Thankfully. Most of us are quite united.
RE: “And somewhere Osama bin Laden is laughing and can’t believe his luck. He has always preached that Islam is being attacked by the “Crusaders” . . . ”
I don’t spend any time whatsoever considering the feelings or the delusions of mentally religious people.
RE: ” . . . . there’s no shortage of Americans with blanket condemnation of Muslims . . . .”
Actually there are very very very few such Americans. Just as there are very very very very few such Americans as the author of this piece.
It’s good that he feels as isolated as he is.
Unfortunately, I think those who lead us fall into that minority who fail to grasp Sarah’s two points.
Maybe the author needs to read this from CNN: 2 Muslims travel 13,000 miles across America, find an embracing nation:
But Sarah, we have let hatred color our views of 9/11. And you know what? So we should. Should we hate the terrorists and their ilk? Of course we should because (a) they have earned it, and (b)because hate is a good, useful, and necessary emotion when we are obliged to fight and kill. This is the emotional fuel that allows us to kill and to hunt down our enemies without being harassed by endless feelings of guilt. Evolution gave us this equipment because it has essential survival value.
One of the reasons we have so many cases of ptsd in the army is that they have been trained NOT to hate those whom they must kill. The result is guilt, shame, remorse, and a fearful confusion and anxiety. They hate their enemy and fear what itr does to them, as if it should not.
There was no such political correctness in the first and second world wars because we understood that war was in fact a war, and the soldiers lives were at stake. We hated the Germans, we hated the Japanese; and this was essential for fighting abroad and at home.
The trick is to direct and control the hate toward it proper end. All strong emotions – hate is merely one of them – tend to get out of control, especially in a society that has forgotten self discipline and self restraint, and two full generations of liberal indoctrination have taught everyone that you tolerate everything and everyone, that is WRONG to hate anyone and that those who feel hatred are bad bad bad. What is the price of smothering powerful emotions in a pretense that they can be made to be emasculated?
What is leaderships role here – which we do not have? To direct the powerful emotions against the proper recipients. Why is this so difficult now? Because we will NOT call a war a war. Now I ask you, are we at war or not? If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and makes suicide bombers, it’s a duck of an old familiar sort. Larry
I agree with Sarah. I think the VAST majority of Americans have demonstrated REMARKABLE tolerance–not just for Muslims but also for those who would call us intolerant! Many of my fellow Americans have called me intolerant for pointing out that a whole bunch of Muslims–IN AMERICA–danced and sang on 9/11/2001. Many call me intolerant for wanting American Muslims to speak out AGAINST their “brothers” around the world who burn American flags and kill or try to kill American citizens here in America. But most of my fellow Americans lead quiet lives, working, going to school, shopping, and generally living with other Americans–whether they are Muslims or Jews, or Hindus or Christians.
I did NOT see the same tolerance on the part of the New York (“Ground Zero”) Imam who claims that if America won’t let him build that Islamic Center, American will be attacked around the world and here at home because we will have shown our “intolerance.” There is such a thing as sensitivity.
No, Larry — this is another example of lack of precision in words, something which is common with liberals since they don’t seem to have very rational or consistent minds.
Anger is a good and healthy emotion when directed rightly — hate is not an emotion — it is a decision.
I do not hate Islamic terrorists. But I wish to defend myself and our country against them. I would prefer that they receive Jesus Christ — and some of them will. In that way, I wish them well. But when they attack us, I wish to defend ourselves against them.
And yes — Americans are by and large vastly united in that desire.
Muslims can be pretty well understood by reading the Koran. It is full of hatred toward Jews and Christians (people of the Book.) It condemns (to death) all who do not acknowledge Allah as the one great god.
They mutilate their girl children by removing portions of the sexual organs, and murder their women for the slightest grievance.
No thanks. I want none of it.
No matter how much their religious present leaders claim that Islam is a ‘peaceful’ religion, and no matter that so many of its adherents say they simply want to live in peace, that still doesn’t change the history of Islam from its founding in 650 to the present day. That history is and has always been one of conquest by the sword, the slaughter of innocents, the persecution…..implied and direct…..of Christians, Jews, and everyone else who is not of their faith. Their aim and their intent has not deviated ONE INCH in all of their history; the total subjugation and forced conversion of all of the non-Muslim world. And until we make it absolutely crystal clear to them that we will NEVER surrender to them, nothing will change, and the killings will continue.
Well stated Cenny13. You did the homework that our leaders, both religious and political, should be doing, but do not.
Hate is not an emotion? It’s a decision? Sorry, Sarah, this does not make sense. It is one of our strongest emotions, like, may I say, love. Is love a decision? But how do I know hate is an emotion? Because like anger, love, jealousy – it arises unbidden.
But I asked you and the others, is it not time we called a war a war? Failing to do so with Vietnam or Korea, what did this produce but a sense of hypocrisy, of political falsity, that harmed the men who had to fight in them? To fail to call Afghanistan a war is like calling a Gulf Oil catastrophe “a failure of procedures for containing industrial accidents.”
We lie to ourselves all the time now because the Urban Left Elite have taught us that calling a spade a spade is bad taste and spadophobia. Larry
RE: “Hate is not an emotion? It’s a decision?”
Yup. It’s like love. Love, of course, has “emotions” swirled in, like hatred. But love is a *decision*, not primarily an emotion. It seeks the good of the other. In the same way, hatred seeks the bad of the other.
Again, you’re seeing love and hatred in the way a small child sees it. “I love my stuffed animal.” “I hate my brother for winning at Monopoly.”
So is the author of the editorial which we’re discussing. He or she is too irrational and immature to be able to discern the difference between hatred of all [a bizarre and excessive claim anyway] and anger at those which mean to do us harm, and a determination to defend ourselves.
I’ve already called the war a war — see above comment #2.
I’m not remotely interested in “hating” Islam or Islamic terrorists. It’s too damaging to my soul and I have better things to do. I *am* very interested in defending ourselves against those who obviously want us dead and have declared jihad against us. And I am angry at them too.
Well, Sarah, I’ve seen some odd conclusions reached here, but the notion that love and hate are not emotions is one of the stranger. So fear is a decision? And greed? Why isn’t anger a decision? Its source is no different that hate’s and jealousy’s, that is these emotions arise in the same place in the brain. Larry
The hatred which so many of us in the Western feel towards Islam is the natural reaction against a threat which, despite all claims to the contrary, is very, very real. It is a deadly threat which will not go away, despite all efforts to deal constructively with Islamist leaders whose agenda is one of subsuming us all into their belief system and culture at the expense of all that we hold dear. It is their strategy to insert their religion and system of laws into our societies……to lull us all into a state of complacency and carelessness where they will be able to assume control over us wihout our being aware of it until it is too late to do anything about it. We must [b]NEVER[/b] let that happen!
First off, “hatred” is just another liberal codeword to try to shame people into feeling bad about position. Second, let no one in the government, military, church or media presume to lecture Americans like little school children that your fear and concern is irrational and based on ignorance. On a personal level, that heightened sense of awareness that you just cant immediately rationalize is often the difference between life and death. Anyone that tells your not to be on guard is negligent and has a agenda.
No matter how subtle their efforts at conversion may be, their goal never changes; it’s the nature of Islamic philosophy and thought. The sooner we all realize that, the sooner we can deal with it, and there’s no use in telling ourselves otherwise. We are kidding ourselves if we don’t.
The threat is there: [b]Deal with it.[/b]
No matter how subtle their efforts at conversion may be, their goal never changes; it’s the nature of “Go out and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” Apparently, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution makes that an exclusively Christian right in this country.
So long as we insist on that principle, Muslim radicals can tell their followers, “No matter how much their religious present leaders claim that Christianity is a ‘peaceful’ religion, and no matter that so many of its adherents say they simply want to live in peace, that still doesn’t change the history of Christendom from its founding in 318 to the present day. That history is and has always been one of conquest by the sword, the slaughter of innocents, the persecution…..implied and direct….. of pagans, Jews, and everyone else who is not of their faith. Their aim and their intent has not deviated ONE INCH in all of their history; the total subjugation and forced conversion of all of the non-Christian world. And until we make it absolutely crystal clear to them that we will NEVER surrender to them, nothing will change, and the killings will continue.”
Hum. Let’s see. Something about “hate speech?” Larry
RE: “I’ve seen some odd conclusions reached here, but the notion that love and hate are not emotions is one of the stranger.”
Actually it’s a pretty common belief among Christians, Larry — most of us understand that love is primarily an action, and an act of the will, mixed certainly with some varied, changeable and quite inconstant emotions. But as any Christian in a long-term marriage will tell you, even when there are no feelings of love between spouses, Love exists. It is, they will say, an act of the will that seeks the good of the other. Scripture also has the same view of Love, as does Augustine, Aquinas, and most of the great Christian teachers. Scott Peck, most recently, fleshes it out in 20th century terms in The Road Less Travelled — and he wasn’t even a Christian when he wrote that.
Yes, the befuddlement and irrationality that liberals exhibit in their terminology is most irritating, leading to such article headlines that trumpet that “many Americans” are full of “hatred.”
That is a lie.
The author does not even understand the difference between “hatred” and “anger.” Nor does he comprehend who or what Americans are or believe. Certainly there are a few who will make the claim of “hating” Islam — but they are in the minority. But the vast majority of us do not “hate” Islam or Muslims.
What a travesty and an insult.
Thankfully, he is in the minority.