Re: Obama XIV: President VISTA with SP2
Interesting point. Probably some validity.
Here's the rub. OK...so for many Islam attacked us on 9/11. I and many liberals don't quite see it that way...we believe we were attacked by extremists. Liberals I think largely believe that Muslim is not a 'bad' religion...if it was there'd be terrorist attacks on US soil every week due to the hundreds of thousands of Muslims on US soil. Rather many of us believe that its extremists that are the problem. That includes maybe 20% of Muslims...but 20% of many other groups also. And the way you disarm and isolate the 20% is by being the good guy...not dumb...but the good guy. Although I think many are wary of Muslims...they approach the solution differently.
Conservatives is another point. You have to remember that pundits like Coulter just hurl personal shots all day long. Is it isolated? Not really...cause outlets like Fox, conservative talk radio, etc do the same. And they receive a large audience. Right, wrong or indifferent...liberals don't see as much verbal negativity coming from their own side towards the right. Sure you may have groups like Move on or the ACLU...but they don't make personal insults but appear to play a defensive role when they perceive injustice frequently caused by a change in the status quo. 99.9% of the time Muslims are not on the offense...but rather self contained. Not saying its right or wrong...just trying to address your point as I can. And the whole 'culture wars' thing is a whole other topic which is rooted in perception.
Aww, and you were off to such a good start, with a "nuanced" analysis that allowed for more than one point of view on this matter. Then you began preaching from the liberal prayer book about how "we" aren't nearly as bad as "they" are. And "we" don't do the things "they" do. And even if we do, "we" don't do it as often as "they" do.
In your "nuanced" view of the media you mentioned Fox but failed to mention MSNBC, an oversight I'm sure. And you suggest bad old conservatives go in for personal attacks more than liberals do. A point of view no doubt reinforced by Olbermann I, the well known philosopher prince. You keep arguing that one sided crapola, and I'm beginning to think you actually believe it.
You talk about the "20% of extremist Muslims (which may be a little high)" and do your typical moral equivalence two step about the "20% of other groups." I'm not losing any sleep worrying about terror attacks from extremist Presbyterians or Jews, neither is anyone else. Islam, as you surely MUST know by now is the only theocratic religion with all of the requirements (sharia, jihad, etc) in writing. With whole countries (Saudi Arabia) dedicated to the spread of that religion "by any means necessary." And it's the folks on my side of the argument who have it wrong for taking these p****s at their word?
A field grade officer, doctor, in the United States Army murders 12 GI's in the name of his God and the Attorney General of the United States (and by implication the man who appointed him) can't quite bring himself to say Islam had ANYTHING to do with it. Just another example of our prejudice against Muslims, I guess.
And you caution us not to be "dumb." Presumably you include efforts to roll up as many Islamist plots as possible under that rubric. But not the moronic comments of the mayor of NYC who suggested the time square bomb plot could have been. . .wait for it. . .a conservative opposed to Obamacare. Yup, that's nuance all right and "smart."
Is it any wonder that the collective behavior of the American left (let's date it to say Alger Hiss) leads some of us to wonder from time to time, whose side you're on. It can be a puzzler since the left's favorite bete noir is. . .America. Always wrong, always in need of introspection, always in need of apologizing to the world, always in need of sucking up to our enemies, always driven by base motives and always, always racist.
Let me give you my idea of nuance. Think of that 18 year old Taliban wife on the cover of Time with her nose removed for some indiscretion or another. Then think about every one of those mother-effers is dead. Every single one of them. That's nuance.
