[Jay31113]

I have noticed that many Arab and/or Muslim groups are resentful toward Westerners for associating them with terrorism (understandably so, considering the rash of terrorist activities throughout the world at the hands of Muslims/Middle Easterners) or even referring to terrorists as Middle Eastern, etc. But why is their anger not directed at the rabble-rousers committing the terrorism and soiling their image? Their misguided anger would be like Catholic priests blaming the media for their poor image, when it is child-molesting priests who create such an impression.

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Name : Jay31113, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, 

[A. Adams]

The pervasive assumption that terrorists are all from the Mideast and/or are Muslim is a fallacy. Terrorism exists everywhere in the world, but as Americans we have been mostly blissfully ignorant of its direct ramifications until it happened on our own soil. Because the radical (but organized) group that attacked on Sept. 11 was comprised of people from the Mid- and Near-East, that is the face of terrorism in our myopic experience. Start looking at your definiton of terrorism and you'll see it's not limited to one group of easily definable people. It's a twisted ideology shared by radicals. Remember the the Khmer Rouge? The slaughter in Bosnia? The Congo? What about the white supremacists in Jasper, Texas? The podiatrist in Florida with his explosives and maps to mosques? When you lump everyone into the same category as being terrorists, you take the chance of not recognizing the real threat when it comes. Remember Timothy McVeigh?

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Name : A. Adams, City : Los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

[Karim]

The point is there are 200 million Arabs (15 percent or more of whom are non-Muslim) and more than a billion Muslims. There is only a handful of extreme Muslim groups, and we are angry at them, but we are also angry at you for stigmatizing us and failing to see that there are moderate Muslims. By the way, most Arabs have no problem with Europe, so it's not the West, it's the United States that most people here hate (if you wonder why, look at Palestine and Iraq). If I use your criteria for judging people, then I should condemn all 20 million Jews in the world for Sharon's massacres, or condemn all Hindus for the massacres of Muslims in Eastern India, or hate Christians for their unmatched crimes during the Crusades. Cliches are tacky however much you try to make them make sense.

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[Justin27079]

Whites tend to lash back when associated with racism because they've famously associated themselves with racism. Columbians lash back when associated with narco-traffic because they've associated themselves with narco-traffic. Blacks lash back when they're associated with street crime because they've associated themselves with street crime. Same for Middle-Easterners.

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[Craig31911]

My friend teaches ESL, and many of the people are Muslim. One day, he came to class, and the students wouldn't talk or make eye contact. He said, 'What's going on?' They said: 'Today, I took the bus here. A woman called me a terrible name and told me to go back to my country, but this IS my country.' Another said:'I was spit on by some people. Everywhere I go, they glare. Now, I just stay at home and am afraid to even go to the corner store for milk, because even the man behind the counter glares at me.' One woman said: 'I'm not even from anywhere near Afghanistan. Why does everyone hate us?' Is it the same as Catholic priests being angry at the media for reporting child molesting priests? No. It is like Protestants walking by someone wearing a Crucifix, spitting on them and calling them a child molester and a pervert, and saying that Catholicism is inherently evil.

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[J-Ahmed]

First, look at your own sins. Our war is not against Christians or Westerners. It is against Zionism. Your controlled media does not show how innocent Arabs are killed by Israel. Israel has commited genocide and will keep commiting it. No one is ready to question Israel because of the 'Anti-Semitic' label fear and because of the power of Zionist groups in the media, governments and in international finance. It is innocent Jews who die for the actions of the Zionists who are in the hands of terrorists. A lot of Jews themselves oppose Zionism today. In Israel, Arabs are treated as animals. Interracial marriages are looked down upon, and Israeli women are taught that Arab men are animals. Your government sends billions of dollars in aid to a nation like Israel, where the standard of living is as high as the United Kingdom. Why not send that aid to Africa or Russia? How come a people who make up 2 percent of the U.S population have so much political reach (and remember a vast majority of American Jews are not Zionists and are innocent) in your government? Stop that first and the hatred from the Islamic side will stop automatically.

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[Jay31109]

None of the above responders answered the question. The question was 'why aren't Arabs/Muslims angry at those that soil their image?' When I see the KKK talking on Tv or whatever, I'm p***ed off because their views may be seen by many as (incorrectly) representative of all white people's views. I wouldn't blame non-whites for getting the impression that whites generally have such ugly views, I blame those who espouse such venom.

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[David25865]

This an odd reduction of the definition. Whatever the morality of bombing Japan, this does not fit the definition of the tactic of terrorism. Terrorism is a type of violence that not only targets civilians, but seeks to do so primarily, and without warning, by non-uniformed (irregular) combatants. Its goal is to cause chaos, disruption and yes, terror, among the civilian populas by its seemingly random and indiscriminate nature, and to do so in secret. This is why nobody would call North Korea launching a nuclear missle terrorism, but them sponsoring a group to smuggle a such a weapon into the US would be called that. That is why the Isreali army are not, because they operate in the open, with uniformed personel, and seek to limit non combatant killing, while the Palestinians are, because they operate in secret, and seek to maximize civilian casualties. You may think they are morally equivelant, but the two tactics are clearly separate things.

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[Rick]

As americans, most dont care what happens outside of the United States. When they bombed the embasy, that sucked and we said 'whoa' and went on. Then they blew up that ship, 'whoa' again. Government affairs are one thing. Now they have messed with innocent people. Our friends, neighbors, relatives and loved ones. Now its personal. I for one do not look at most people from the middle-east like they are terrorists. But, sometimes look at some thinking 'You hate me.'. Then that leads to 'I hate you.'

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[Gina]

The high estimate of how many Jews exist n the world is currently 14 million. For Muslims - it is well over 1 billion - which would amount to about 1000 Muslims for every one Jew. Yet - zionizm and some kind of a Jewish conspiracy are constantly brought forward. Let me explain a bit about the zionist movement. In Eastern Europe Jews have long been discriminated against - to the point that in Russia until 1917 Jews were not allowed in most cities - those behind the ghetto line. Jews have historically been kicked out of countries and lands for the almost 6000 years that the religion has existed. This history combined with the Holocaust and the failure of most of the world to react to the Holocaust made Jews feel that the only way that they could live in peace and be safe is if there was a common home for us. Israel is a tiny country, and the standard of living there is not high at all. On top of that - it is some mysterious thing that many think that Jews have overreaching control in America. Up until the mid nineteenth century American colleges still had quotas as to how many Jews would be allowed in. We do not control the media - look at CNN the most powerful news organization in America which has taken an anti-Israeily stance in the conflict between Palestine and Israel. International finance? Who? Where? Switzerland which profited from the looting of German Jews? The United States government also sends billions of dollars to Russia and to Africa. The reason Israel is supported is not because Bush or Clinton held any particual love of Jews - but because Israel is a democracy - a type fo government that this country has sworn to protect and uphold. What exactly do you mean that most American jews are not zionist - I have never spoken to any American Jew - well actually - with any Jew - who felt that the state of Israel should cease to exist. And finally - why should America stop supporting Israel - just because some Arab states do not like it? This country has never created policy based on fear of terrorism or because their decisions may be held unpopular - but always based upon integrity. Why should it stop doing so now?

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[Cal]

The reason that Arabs hate the U.S. is because it is more comfortable to think that Israel exists only because they are propped up by a super power. Otherwise you would have to admit that a tiny little country like Israel has on multiple occasions kicked the collective asses of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan (who were being propped up by the Soviet Union and other sympathetic Muslim nations). You just can't accept that israel was completely outnumbered and still humiliated the multiple armies that attacked them, so you blame the U.S. Why don't you hold Arab leaders responsible for the way they have completely screwed up their countries? You are quick to criticize everthing that the U.S. does that you feel is anti-Muslim, but you never acknowlege when the U.S. helps a Muslim nation. The U.S. helped prevent the slaughter of Muslims in the former Yugoslavia. We send aid to disaster victims in Indonesia, we rescued Iraq from their leader who killed hundreds of thousands of his own citizens and went to war against other Muslim nations. Your problems are not caused by the U.S., they are all self inflicted.

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Name : Cal, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 45, City : Lakewood, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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