More to the point: why do some Americans think they have the right to murder all Muslims?
I kid you not. It's a revolting realization. My two choice quotes from a recent debate are "there is no such thing as a good moslem" and "you fight your enemies the way they fight you."
I began this by responding to another person's letter to the newspaper, who claimed that President Obama's overtures to the Muslim world were despicable and were pandering to an enemy. I put forward the opinion that the best way to create peace is to do so peaceably, that murder, war, bigotry, and hate only bring about vengeful suppression and breed people who are boiling mad, ready on a knife edge to fight back. I suggested that, instead of lashing out vindictively at all Muslims, we employ a little bit of rationality and ask why the Muslim terrorists hate Americans in the first place and address that issue. I pointed out that you don't fix a broken arm by cutting it off; you set the break, gently let it heal, and avoid precarious situations in the future. Somehow, this was received as a green light for the spout of hatred to begin gushing.
If a Muslim believer lives by the Koran, he will go kill all Americans. They have been promised lots of virgins. They are totally responsible for their own actions and suicide bombers are not victims of anything. They all want to see us dead. We have to kill them first. It is ridiculous to ask for the reason why 9/11 happened. We should just hate. Hate, kill, and alienate.
Fascinating.
Also incredibly stupid.
I know and am friendly with quite a few Muslims. Aside from the insulting nature of all of this drivel, it simply isn't true. None of them have shown even the slightest desire to stab me with a pizza cutter over dinner or smother me with a couch pillow. They don't start frothing at the mouth when they see me in a swimsuit. And not only do they not want to kill all Americans, they aren't anomalies.
Human beings have to go through a great deal of psychological preparation before they can kill someone. Their lives have to accustom them to the idea. Even impulse murders don't simply just happen; they are a buildup; that's why people without that necessary psychological makeup or training cannot imagine themselves doing that. The necessary self-defense impulse can catapult a person into killing with a pretty large dash of fear. Soldiers are trained for months to kill, and many still come back with PTSD and worse. Killing someone of your own species is evolutionarily idiotic, and we have biological mental defenses against it. It is pure ignorance to suppose that millions of people have managed to magically do away with this essential part of our biological makeup. More to the point: it's stupid.
Additionally, I'd love for someone to explain to me how all Muslims deserve to be lumped together into one group destined for American hatred when the Columbine shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing, the murdering of abortion doctors, and hundreds of other prime examples don't allow us to lump white people into a large group of violent terrorists who should be exterminated. Just explain that logic to me, please. Is it because Muslims believe in a different book? Is it because they're mostly on the other side of the Atlantic? Is it because you have actually never met one?
I really think that last is true.
So, moderate, non-fanatic Americans, wake up out of your moderation, because these idiot extremists have louder mouths than you do, and by virtue of shouting loud enough, they are managing to indoctrinate a lot of essentially good but really stupid people with this verbal excrement. And you're making it really easy for them by minding your own business.
The people, taken together, have the I.Q. of a mob. Do you really want that in charge of your country? This mob of a people has actually decided that anyone intelligent is an "elitist" and they don't want someone like that in government. These people want idiots in charge. They want uneducated people with a loud mouth ruling them, because they are "just like us".
Let me tell you something: we need people who are NOT like us in government. We need smarter people. We need people who would be better at their jobs than we would be. We need the best of the best to guide our country through these inevitable periods of shameful public idiocy, not Joe Six-Pack, who would crumble into laziness and laissez-faire in the first month.
Let your own voice be heard. It's worth more than anything Fox News blithers.
