>
> I didn't say I would pass judgment that he/she is a terrorist just on the
> basis of their Muslim name, just that I would be more wary. Since you've
> culled out other parts of my post - I'll restate. I didn't say I wouldn't
> rent to a Muslim, just not to somebody I didn't know at all or wasn't
> referred to me by somebody I know.
>
> Contrary to how you make it sound, I *don't* avoid Muslims like the plague.
> But neither do I want to be the open-minded stereotype-rejecting
> progressive-thinking idiot.
I find the best way to think of humans are a bunch of pretty much identical
scared little hairless monkeys who mostly can't tell the difference between
post-facto rationalized instinct and deliberate thought. We'll make great
uranium miners for our oppressive space-alien overlords who won't care who's
from what religion, family, color, or whatever -- no matter how much we
protest that we're different and special from the others. I look forward to
it. :-)
That said, in 988 AD if you saw a bunch of big blonde guys in a long boat,
you might wanna go the other way. In 1942 Europe, if you saw a swastika
flag, you shouldn't assume the place is a Yoga institute (The Yoga Institute
in Santacruz, Mumbai is full of swastikas). Were all Germans Nazis? The
party membership was in the single digit percentages at its height. During
the crusades, I'd have rather taken my chances with Saladadin than Richard
the Lionhearted (the Europeans at that time were notoriously savage) -- and
if I was looking for science and culture, you'd want to head to Baghdad not
Paris. Some say white people have never been slaves, but I assure you that
Germanians, Gauls, and Brittanians captured by Caesar's western campaign in
the 1st century BC came to Rome in chains and were sold.
And in the early 21st Century, chances are that a terrorist is going to be a
young Islamic male more than a middle aged Belgian woman. That's just the
historical timing at the moment. And a blonde male in a long boat will
elicit less fear. In fact the chance that the terrorist is going to be a
young male, or violence will come from one, is obviously more likely. Over
90% of the US prison population is male, and something like 50% are violent
offenders.
Before in the US the fear was anti-federal militia groups such as the
affinity of Tim McVey, a white christian who perpetrated the largest act of
terrorism on US soil (Oklahoma Federal Building, some 190 deaths including
children). The FBI had been raiding groups like that accumulating weapons.
That was part of McVey's espoused justification for his actions.
I never voted for Bush. I've been apologetic for the impression he's given
the world of Americans for 8 years. But I'm stuck with that stereotype. If I
walk into a store dressed up all "gangsta" I will have my picture ID checked
before I can use my credit card. If I'm wearing a nice suit, I won't be
checked.
However, if a US police officer pulls over a black person just for driving
in an neighborhood that has a low African-American population, that officer
is violating the civil rights of the person and is opened up to dismissal
and charges.
US officials and airport security are not supposed to profile. But as a
young man of swarthy description, I fit a profile. If they want to search
me, I don't mind. I've nothing to hide. And if there's anyone else who looks
like me getting on that plane, please, check them. It sucks that people who
happen to look somewhat like me were behind 9/11, but there's not much I can
do about it, much like a peaceful tall Blonde guy in 988AD might be killed
for being mistaken as a Viking.
However, the idea that Muslims should somehow be "cleaning their own house"
and taking care of these guys is stupid. I had no power to stop what was
going on in Gitmo. Hypothetically, had I gone down there and knocked on the
door with a letter telling them to stop, I'd have been thrown in the
slammer. A palenstinian living by some guys shooting off rockets at Israel
is going to get a bullet in the head or a rifle butt in the face if he goes
over there and tells them to stop. I don't take responsibility for what any
people who meet any of my demographic groups does. I'm a culture of one -- I
didn't ask to be born this way -- and I will shamelessly borrow and use the
best ideas of any and all groups of humans. I will not let retarded
supersticious idiots from hundreds of years ago force my behavior (although
if they had some good ideas, I'm game -- pick and choose).
So my point:
(1) I can understand someone being more worried that a young muslim man
might be a security risk than other folks.
(2) I still think it should be illegal to use such criteria to make
decisions about commerce, including renting.
(3) Treating women like second class citizens and beating up your family is
never ok -- I don't care who or what says otherwise -- it's wrong. (Unless,
of course a woman chooses to want to be treated that way, or if a family
member asks to be beat up, well, that's different if free will is involved)
I also promise to suck up to the space-alien overlords and see if I can get
cushy jobs on the mothership for the silk-listers. They won't care about any
of our backgrounds -- we'll all seem the same to them. ("All those holes in
their heads: eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears -- and all those little white
things in their mouths -- it's so disguisting... can we make them wear
masks, Marklar?")
