In a recent discussion on my web site's forum, I posted Nancy Mathis' page entitled "History Test" and, in no time at all, got back a rather hysterical reaction from an attorney who is a member there. The vast majority of people who are members on the site are Conservative, but somehow, despite his Pro-2A stance and activism in firearms rights, the reaction level to a lot of issues such as this one is way over the top.
His response:
Oh yes . . . we must profile all Muslim men.
And keep that Cat Stevens dude on the terrorist watch list. His songs really suck anyway.
And while we're at it . . . since members of the IRA are all Irish, and mostly Catholic, let's make sure to profile and strip search all Irish, and all Catholics. And throw a buncha folks with names starting in O' and Mc onto our no-fly and terroist profile lists.
Is it wrong to equate Islam with "Muslim" terrorism. If anything, the terrorists are more associated with Palestinian statehood, than with any faith. Muslims of faith and conscience are not the ones we need to worry about; and it is insulting and degrading to them to associate them with terrorists.
One other thing: Question #7 -- IIRC, one of the hijackers was a Chaldean who supported Palestinian freedom from Israel. Not a Muslim. So are we going to include all Christians? Or just Chaldeans?
Now, frankly, as the wife of a Chinese gentleman, the mother of two Caucasian children and one who is biracial (but predominately identified as Black), the grandmother to two young women whose father is Mexican, two more whose mother is Canadian, and the future mother-in-law to a Polish immigrant, I'm a little tired of the implication that I am somehow racist because I share a web page that someone totally overreacts to.
I realise that this is somehow a hot button for you, my friend, but it doesn't change facts. Neither does it help for you to take it all the way over the top, as in "Oh yes . . . we must profile all Muslim men."
The New York Times Magazine, June 18,1999: "profiling means an officer using cumulative knowledge to identify certain indicators criminal activity. Race may be one of those factors but it cannot stand alone. Racial profiling is when race is the only factor. There is no other probable cause."
I am tired of having anyone try to make me feel as though I, or anyone else, is doing anything wrong by attempting to identify criminals by "checking out" individuals that match the characteristics of individuals who are known to have committed crimes. There are quite literally tens of thousands of Middle Eastern men (and women) who want us dead. How on earth can anyone logically expect us, and our law enforcement community, to ignore that?
Profiling is a logical tool for that community and I would find serious fault with any LEO, dept. etc. ignoring that.
For instance, if a black male between 20 and 30 wearing dark clothing shoots a little old lady on the east side of Detroit and for the next 24 hours, police keep an eye out for black males between 20 and 30 wearing dark clothing and take a good, close look at them, and indeed, if any suspicious behavior is visible, the police stop, question, etc. individuals described thusly, too bad if the individuals are offended and want to make it a racial issue.
The posting from the fellow who was so offended by my relatively innocent sharing of another friend's web site referenced Yusuf Islam as Cat Stevens, which is probably quite offensive to him (if he took notice of it, of course) since I am quite sure he would view it as an ethnocentric refusal to recognize his status as both a Muslim and an individual who has opted to change his name and live under a whole new set of beliefs.
If our government has reason to believe that Mr. Islam, or any other non-citizen, is negaged in high risk behaviors that might be dangerous to our citizens, then refusing that individual entry into our country has my complete support.
A spokesman for the US Department of Homeland Security, Garrison Courtney, told the AFP news agency that Mr Islam's name "was placed on watch lists because of concerns that the US has about activities that can potentially be related to terrorism".
"More recently, our intelligence community has come into the possession of additional information that further heightens our concerns towards Yusuf Islam," he added.
I refuse to be categorized as racist because I post something from Nancy Mathis (americandaughter.com author) and then watch you go all the way over the edge in this.
Do I think all Muslims males are people such as those that have committed the many atrocities against US citizens?
No.
Do I believe that we can afford to ignore that there is a very large group of Muslim males out there that want our Country destroyed?
No. And I think we'd be fools to do so.
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