In the wake of the attack this month our country is seeing a wave of hatred and violence against our loyal American Muslim community and even = people who just "look" vaguely Arabic. Don't trust me on that. Go to Hatewatch and read the incidents. Murders of Sikhs, shootings at Muslim-Americans, Indian-Americans and others who just look different. Bomb threats against mosques. Similar attacks occured after the first WTC attack by Ramsey Usef. There were fears of such violence breaking out after the OKC bombing, but thankfully Timothy McVeigh got pulled over for a traffic violation, shifting the blame to the real culprit. It had been our own government jumping to the conclusion that the attack was by Muslim terrorists immediately after the bombing which sparked those. I would not be surprised to find out that some attacks occured after TWA 800 went down due to an accident, as our government jumped to the conclusion that it was terrorism before they had any evidence of any sort.
Where were the attacks on white men?
When Bufford Furrow took an Uzi into a Jewish community center and later murdered a Filipino postal worker it was an act of terrorism committed by a white man.
Where were the attacks on white men?
When Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 13 innocent people at Columbine it was an act of terrorism committed by young white men.
Where were the attacks on white men?
At what point did the FBI go around questioning large numbers of militia members? Or right-wing anti-government types? Or KKK members? Or Aryan Nations members?
At what point did we drop bombs on the various white-power enclaves in this country?
By this point someone might suspect that I'm either not white or not male and engaging in some reverse racism. They'd be wrong. By my appearance I'd be as likely a suspect as any of the white males that I've listed here. Maybe more so than clean-cut Timothy McVeigh.
But I am a white male who can see hypocricy in action. Racism and bigotry, too.
We have dropped bombs on Iraqi people for doing nothing more than living in the country they were born in. We are getting ready to drop bombs on Afghani people for the same "crime".
In referring to the deaths of the children in the day care center in the Murrah Federal Building, Timothy McVeigh spoke of "collateral damage". It was our own government's term coming back to haunt us.
If it was evil of Timothy McVeigh to bomb children in Oklahoma City then why is it okay for the U.S. to bomb children in Baghdad? In both places the perpetrator calls the deaths of children "collateral damage".
There are still murderous attacks carried out by the extremists in both sides of the Irish conflict. Attacks that differ from the WTC attack only in scale and method, but not in lethal intent. The moral difference between throwing a bomb at children walking to school and ramming a jet into a building is not much, in my opinion. The perpetrator is still looking to kill as many as possible and incite terror in survivors.
I don't see anyone suggesting strategic bombing in Ireland to "get the perpetrators". Why? Because the Irish are white and Christian. I should know. That's where my family came from.
If we are going to have a war on terrorism and people who support it shouldn't Randall Terry be put in the same shoes as Osama bin Laden? He has spoken in support of bombing abortion clinics and murdering doctors. Why aren't we sending the Green Berets to his house? He's a lot easier to find than Osama bin Laden.
Because he is white and Christian. Yet, he differs from Osama bin Laden only in the scale of his attacks. If he could mastermind the murder of 5,000 doctors he considered guilty he would probably do it. Once a person is ready to praise deliberate murder the scale stops being important. That is how Hitler managed to bring in so many accomplices to his crimes. Once you accept/condone one murder you can hardly object to the second, or the third. Before you know it there are 12 million people missing from the world.
This is the double standard that makes this "war on terrorism" so hard to swallow. We don't treat all terrorists the same. I see it as racist. Maybe you have a better explanation?
ThomPain