Last Night

I had dinner with my cousin's last night and they railed on and out about Bush and Iraq and how wrong we are to be there. I must admit to being a complete minority in my own family when it comes to supporting the war. When at home I was accused of (gasp) being a Republican. I pointed out that one can be pro-war and a democrat at the same time, that one can support the overall aim of the Bush team's Iraq strategy and still say it can be improved. So much discourse is pro-Bush anti-Bush, or even worse pro-US or anti-US, rather than being about the policy.

"Everyone hates us." Is the common refrain amongst the leftists I hang with. They may be right, but those who hate us, I think, are wrong. Those who hate us are (in order of hatred):

1. Islamic Extremists
2. European and American radicals. These are the same people who cheered Neville Chamberlin for bringing peace. They denied the horrors of Soviet Russia. They think Israel should not exist and deny the fact that without Israel, Jews would be mercilessly persecuted and perhaps exterminated in the Middle East.
3. 3rd World Thugs. They really don't hate us, except when we get in their way of doing business and they're used to getting their way.
4. Fools. Many folks pretend to be radicals, but are actually just fools, unhappy, not smart, and want to blame someone for all their problems. They are everywhere, in the US, in Europe, and in the Middle East. They hate American because they feel the world hates them.

I don't have a problem with these people hating us, because they're wrong, and it's their problem, not ours. If someone hates me for my religion - what can I do? Give up my religion? Exactly. Who gives a crap if a bunch of assholes hate us. I prefer the assholes hate us, rather than like us, that would strike me as problematic.

I can understand reasonable people not trusting us - especially in the Middle East. I think the fact is, we supported a lot of untrustworthy people in the context of the cold war. But it's hard to argue with the outcome of the cold war, despite the ramifications. We beat Soviet Russia without a true confrontation or nuclear war. It's tough for a reasonable person to argue the outcome was bad or ill-achieved.

Now, as Pres. Bush pointed out, we need to stop supporting those types of dictators we have supported in the past. I think that is a good change of policy and I fail to see why others don't agree. If anything, they should at least agree, and then say "we don't think you can do this because of such and such, your lack of experience in doing this, the difficulty of the region, etc." But people don't say that. They just argue about all the horrible things the US has done in the past and how we have ulterior motives (as if we were the only ones).

Another couple scary facts about Islam, a religion of peace, we are told day in and day out....

1. Lebannon and Egypt historically have had decent sized Christian populations. Over the past 30 years the Christians have been leaving those countries. It's simply not worth it to live there. I've seen this in my life, one of my TA's in Lebanese and Christian, and she grew up in Europe. I don't know a single Lebanese Muslim. I met a girl this past summer in Houston, who was Egpytian and Christian. These are just people with whom I've crossed paths, not a statistical study, but still noticable. Both of these places have seen the growth of radical Islam simultaneously with the export of the Christian population. Coincidence?

2. Israel is enemies with it's Muslim neighbors. In Chechnya the Muslims fight the Russians. In Indonesia there is constant rebel fighting amongst the government and Muslim groups. In the Phillipines, a radical group, Abu Sayaff controls one of the islands of the Phillipine nation. In Algeria, the Muslims resist the government. In Africa, the Sudan, Muslims fight the rest of the population. In Bosnia, the Muslims fight the Serbs. In Afghanistan, the Muslims/Taliban fight the Americans. In Pakistan the Muslims fight the Hindu Indians over Kashmir.

Does anyone notice a trend here? It seems wherever a Muslim population or Muslim state exists, there exists a contentious battle. Why is that? Is that America's fault? Whose fault is it? Is the world systematically screwing all the Muslims over and therefore they need to fight? Or perhaps is there something or someone instigating things within the Muslim world?

I've never had any problems with Muslims. My best friend growing up is Muslim. My boss at my old job, who I really respected and liked, is Muslim. A buddy of mine at school is Muslim.

And knowing these people leads me to think there is something terribly wrong with the Arab and Muslim world whereby there is constant fighting. I know it doesn't need to be like this, but for some reason it is. And this hatred has turned itself on the US quite ferociously. We can do like the rest of the world and try to keep them at bay, fighting a little, and trying to pay them off to go away. Or we try some reforms. And I don't think leaving the middle east or no longer supporting Israel will make the above situations any different.

So why do people always say Islam is a religion of peace? It's bullshit. It's no more a religion of peace than any other religion, Christianity, Judisam, Hinduism, Buddism. They're all religions of peace. That doesn't mean they haven't been ill-used in the past for all sorts of horrendous things. Why do we insist on repeating "Islam is peace." Why not just call a spade a spade. Islam's a religion an organized religion that's done a lot of good for some people and a lot of bad for some people. That's all it is, no more and no less.

It makes no sense to me this inane solidarity Muslims feel for someone who is "Muslim." Any jack ass can call themselves a Muslim and other Muslims get weak in the knees an accept them as a brother. Why? Idi Amin. Yeah, he's a real Muslim. Give me a break. It's like some girls cheats on me a hundred times, curses me behind my back, kills little babies, tries to poison my food, and then says she loves me and I'm like - ahhhh, well, she really means it. Whatever. Solidarity and pride are all good and fine, but sometimes it can make you look like a complete fool.