Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (52116)	9/14/2001 3:53:14 PM
From: Zeev Hed	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

Sun-Tzu, I am sure all these books will show that indeed there is no connection between the "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" and the hate for America emulating from the radical wings of Islam. I am not saying that the US did not err (taking down Musadek in the 50' and replacing him with the Shah might have been such an error, driven by the nascent fear of communist expansion into the oil rich middle east) time and time in that region, including its very recent criticism of Israel's ways of handling terrorism with forceful elimination of the terrorist infrastructure. I think that while the historic activities of the US in the mid-east were driven from the US/Soviet struggle and US interests in keeping access to the oil riches there, the current hate for American from the extreme factions of Islam, is simply driven by raw power lust and the local rationale (or call it the rallying battle cry) is instilling the fear of cultural absorption by western principles, such as the "strange" concept of equality between men and women (Allah forbid <g>), western concepts of human rights (and thus abolishing slavery which is still practiced widely out there), and not last the "decadent" western music and culture in general (which is invading their space via satellite TV). Throw in western economic dominance and you got yourself the armamentarium a demagogue needs to incite hate and xenophobia not seen in 60 years. Zeev

To: Sun Tzu who wrote (52116)	9/17/2001 4:59:02 PM
From: mitch-c	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

The community is constantly listening to the Arabic news channels and are praying that no one from their particular country is associated with the terrorists. Somehow I don't think the public distinguishes between the many existing factions. Such a simplistic view would be roughly analogous to blaming all Christians for abortion-clinic violence, because "everyone knows" that religious folks oppose abortions. I think we are - and should be - far more informed than that. The basic split between Catholics and Protestants is similar to the division between Sunnis and Shiites. We shouldn't be anywhere near the business of taking out, say, Chicago's Archbishop because a televangelist character preached hate and destruction. We are not hunting any generalized group other than terrorists and their accessories. This is a fundamental test of us - the national character - to preserve our honor during a time of stress. Do we allow freedom of worship, as the First Amendment guarantees? Or, do we succumb to a faulty emotional syllogism and blame innocents in our grief? To our credit, I think we're doing the first - and only targeting people based on their bellicose actions, not their beliefs. Last night, I shared pizza with a Jewish family. We picked it up from a small restaurant whose owner came from Iran, deep in the heart of Texas. That's MY America. I can also paraphrase a prior president, that, today, "Ich bin ein New Yorker." - Mitch