« Letter from Afghanistan | Main | Step right up, get your tee shirts! »
July 28, 2004
Alienated Arab-Americans
Today we learn that Arab-Americans are "alienated" because of the policies of mean 'ol George W Bush and are "flocking to the Democratic party."
Arab-American delegates, attending the Democratic National Convention in their greatest numbers in years, say many in their community will vote for Sen. John Kerry because they are disillusioned with the current administration.In the days after 9/11 I wondered which direction Arab/Muslim groups would take. Would they take what I believed to be the responsible route in the war on terror? If so they would root out and disown extremists in their midst. They would ban radical Wahabbist preachers from their mosques. And, most of all, they would understand when 25-year old men named Mohammed were the subject of more scrutiny at airports than 85 year-old asian ladies.
The Arab-American vote went overwhelmingly to George W. Bush in 2000, but unhappiness with the president's post-September 11 policies is turning those voters to Mr. Kerry, the delegates say.
Or would they take the "civil rights" path? Would they take their cue from the NAACP? If they took this route we could expect only a few pro-forma statements against terrorism, quickly followed by the adoption of the whiney rhetoric of the so-called civil rights groups.
Ok, deep down I knew they'd choose the latter. But at the same time I reminded myself that everyone deserves a chance. And, indeed, in the days immediately following the attack we heard reports of large numbers of Arab-speakers volunteering their services as translators for the government.
This, however, quickly changed. It didn't take long for these groups to go into full PC mode, reminding everyone of the fate of Americans of Japanese descent during the Second World War; this being a singularly inappropriate concern in modern day America.
All this in light of the fact that this is the most PC war we've ever fought. We can't even identify the enemy properly. We call it a "War on Terror", as if you can fight a tactic. It's a war on radical Islam, but you'll never hear that pass from the lips of an administration official.
Back to the Times story. What are the reasons for this alienation?
Many Arab-Americans see themselves as unfairly singled out by the Bush administration in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.And why would we concentrate on Americans of Arab descent? That's a tough one.
The untimate PC absurdity is to pretend that everyone in line at an airport check-in counter has an equal chance of being a terrorist. This is not to say that no one but someone of Middle Eastern descent can be a terrorist. It would be well to recall that during the 1970s German terrorists carried out operations for Palestinian groups. Richard Ried's (aka the "shoe bomber") father was Jamaican but his mother was white. He would have escaped racial profiling.
They also disagree with the Iraq war and feel Mr. Bush has not been evenhanded in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Fine on the Iraq war. Reasonable people can disagree there. But I'll give no quarter on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Is is morally absurd to be even-handed between two parties that are not morally equal. No Israel is not always in the right. No the Palestinians are not always in the wrong. But most of the right belongs with Israel and most of the wrong with the Palestinians(or at least their official representatives).
Either way it looks like Bush has lost a voting block. As the reports of how many Arab/Muslim Americans there are varies wildly, it is impossible to say how this will affect the election.
Oh, and a Muslim charity in Dallas has been indicted for ties to terrorism.
Posted by Tom at July 28, 2004 12:53 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.theredhunter.com/mt/refer.cgi/60
