I joined the blogosphere a couple months ago. My attention was to write intelligent and occasionally amusing insights. For political inspiration, my goal was and is to emulate Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol and John Podhoretz, not Ann Coulter. I am interested in constructive dialogue and understanding others, not driving them into the ground. In short, to me the blogosphere can be used to take the high road, which is where I wish to go with my columns.
Like many bloggers, I excitedly check my statistics page to see how much traffic, in the form of “hits” I have. When I woke up today I was delighted to have reached an all time high in hits. Today was my best day of blogging in terms of visitors. While normally this would be exciting, the circumstances surrounding my increased “ratings” make for a bittersweet reaction.
Yesterday’s column was a song I wrote about Arabs in 2004. It is entitled “Let them burn.” It was written based on my frustration due to the Arab-Israeli Conflict, including the Palestinian problem. I want to make it clear that I have not received any death threats (nor do I desire any), nor did I receive any threats from WordPress to “tone it down.” Every word I have written has been of my own free will. With free speech comes responsibility, and I take responsibility for every word.
First let me say that I stand by every word. I have no regrets about my song. I believe that the Palestinians are 100% to blame for their miserable lot in life. Israel is 0% to blame. The Palestinians are exploited by the Arabs, who benefit from agitation to take away attention to their own failures. In addition, the Arab-Israeli conflict is solely and completely the fault of the Arabs. Israel and the Jews are absolutely blameless. The idea that an “evenhanded” solution should be applied to an unequal problem is nonsense. The Arabs are the sole problem in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Having said that, I want to make it clear that I do not hate all Arabs. I am frustrated that Arabs will not loudly stand up and perform the Arabic function of the Simon Wiesenthal Center or the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL loudly implored Americans not to harm Arab-Americans in the wake of 9/11. My roommate at the time was Muslim (Arabs and Muslims are not the same thing, but I will use them interchangeably due to their overwhelming overlap, Christian Arabs notwithstanding)). When I expressed concern for his safety, he responded “Eric, I’m from Philadelphia. I just want the Phillies to beat the Atlanta Braves.” I again told him that a lot of Americans would not make that distinction, and that he should be careful.
I understand that Arabs in the Middle East that stick up for Jews get murdered. What about the Arabs of Dearborn Michigan? Perhaps they are doing wonderful things for Jews, but if that is true, why are their stories never told? Is the media to blame?
My dad, who is Jewish, just had open heart surgery. If hypothetically, the doctor had been an Arab, I would want to know. It does matter. It contributes on a small scale to world peace. There was an episode of “The Jeffersons” where a white supremacist suffers a heart attack at a Klan rally. George Jefferson is at the rally, and he performs CPR, saving the man’s life. Upon being wheeled to the hospital, the Klansman says to his young son “son, next time…let me die.” It was a chilling moment in television. However, some good comes out of the episode when the son takes all the Klan leaflets and rips them in half and throws them away. That one young man changed. His children will not be hateful. Some can only say it is a tv show, but stories like that happen every day. For every story about people turning to hatred, there are other stories that do not get reported about people rejecting hatred.
Arab Muslims are perceived as wanting a Caliphate worldwide. They are planning to substitute Sharia law for US constitutional law. These views are reinforced by Minnesota cab drivers refusing to transport passengers carrying alcohol. Islam does not rule the USA. I am Jewish, but I have no right to tell a Christian passenger in my cab not to bring a bacon cheeseburger with them. These views are reinforced by Muslim passengers on an airline acting suspicious. I am delighted they were thrown off the plane. They should be banned from flying forever. These views are further reinforced by Muslims being given footbaths at airports. These views are further reinforced by me occasionally being asked by airport security to remove my black fedora, while Arab Muslims do not have to remove their turban. The bottom line is that while most Arab Muslims are not terrorists, most terrorists (Timothy McVeigh was an aberration, and not a Christian, as is often misreported to give the false impression that everybody does it) are Arab Muslims.
So my frustration with Arabs is their inability and/or unwillingness to respect 0ther people who are not Arab Muslims. Having said that, on an individual basis, some of the best people I have ever met have been Arabs and/or Muslims. I have worked with Persian (Iranian) life insurance agents, Armenian life insurance agents, Turkish commodity brokers, and stockbrokers of all shapes and stripes. At no time did they ever express to me any “concerns” about my being Jewish. Far from it, most of them respected my being a member of the “people of the book.” They were intellectually curious, and asked insightful questions about my religion out of genuine interest. Although I am not a theologian, and prefer to discuss sports and politics to religion, I obliged. One former employer expressed to me in my job interview with him that he “hated the people who blew up the World Trade Center (1993), and that he thought they were evil.” I expressed to him that I did not blame a billion people for a few bad people. I felt bad for the interviewer for even feeling like he had to distance himself.
The fact that he did in his mind need to say “I am a Muslim, but not one of the crazy bad ones,” shows that the stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims are self-inflicted, and valid. When Arabs reach out to Jews and Christians loudly and clearly, they will receive a warm, receptive greeting.
If Arabs are antisemites, then I proudly say “let them burn.” The world will be a better place without them. If Arabs are not Antisemites, then I welcome them into my home. We can break bread, eat kosher meat (Islam has a deep respect for Jewish dietary laws), and drink our respective beverages of choice.
I am not Anti-Arab. I am anti-bloodthirtsty killers. Those who decide that their happiness depends on killing me, well then I will be the one left standing. This is non-negotiable. Those who truly want all people to live in peace will be given a warm handshake upon meeting me.
This blog I write will not become a bombthrowing column. I am not a Hollywood producer willing to sink to the lowest common denominator for higher ratings. I want those who visit my blog to do so because they feel I write well, am funny, and promote a healthy dialogue by confronting hard issues in a firm but civil manner, without an ounce of malice. I respect every race, creed and people. I have scorn for those who fail the test of humanity, whoever and whatever they may be.
For the Arabs out there who have positive contributions to this world, tell your stories. Speak up early and often. The media has defined you. Show the world who you really are. All human beings deserve the benefit of the doubt. You have it. What you choose to do with it is up to you. Find Jews and Christians, shake their hands, treat them as brothers and sisters, and be welcomed into the family of peoples. Or you can give into the stereotypes that exist, at which point many will wish you intellectually, psychologically and physically burn. I pray for the former.
eric
AQ and other radical and terrorist groups want to most assuredly renew and reinstall the Caliphate. It was announced in the fatwah of UBL.
Are ALL Arabs and Islamics like “them”. I would hope not. Are there any Islamic Leaders calling for an end to the indiscriminate slaughter by the terrorist groups?
I haven’t heard of any…yet.
Let them burn.
An interesting rant. And, from a Western cultural perspective at least, a sound logical position. “The right to preserve my life is non-negotiable, therefore all who wish to kill me should die.” Meh…then again, perhaps this logic is unique to only Americans. I can’t be certain, being an American myself.
I think you take a moderate position here. And it is one that I appreciate, having numerous Muslim and Arabic friends myself. (I am a Roman Catholic of Norwegian-German descent.) Too bad some of the more vocal conservatives in the media, such as Ann Coulter and company, cannot see the distinction between members of the Religion of Perpetual Outrage and those members of the Religion of Peace. Like every religion before and since Islam, there are those followers who use scripture to inflict harm upon others–though this is not the intent of religion–any spiritual, moral religion.
Yes, yes. To those who would call me a Chicken-hawk…wrong again. I also served a tour in Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a military advisor to the Iraqi Army, I was completely embedded with the Iraqis for nine months of my year-long tour. Amazing that I still don’t hate Arabs, huh? Well, familiarity might breed contempt…but it also breeds respect and love.
There are as many types of Arabs and Muslims as there are Americans and Christians. I’m only saying that we should be careful about whom it is we wish dead. Let’s be selective about who we “burn to death”. Yeah?
Christopher Larsen