Attitudes towards Muslims in America

[Dan and Judy 614]

I'm confused by the title "Attitudes towards Muslims in America."

Does it mean:

"Attitudes towards Muslims" in America

or

Attitudes towards "Muslims in America"

????

It's like a rorschach test, it gives you room to interpet it how you like. People don't even agree on what a neutral answer would be.

[Golden Gate 530]

People come in all shapes and sizes - putting them together in one group and making a judgement about them is stereotyping.

[Dan and Judy 614]

where the hell are these results people are talking about?

Albania is a country I don't know spit about. Not even sure where it is. Probably safe to say it's within

a thousand miles of Germany, Im not going to cheat by googling. I think I got a free encyclopedia

from the Grocery store once where they gave you the first book which would cover A and B and then

they wanted you to collect the rest somehow. In that volume I believe I read something about Albania

and the only thing that sticks out in my mind was a picture of women soldiers marching around.

I have never met any Albanians that I know of.

So I have just about zero pre concieved notions about Albanians.

If the question was "Do you like Albanians?"

Don't care would be a pretty easy and honest answer.

Before 9/11 on the Muslim question I would have leaned toward "no" simply because it is religion.

I likewise would have leaned toward "no" for Catholics , Jews or any other religion.

My dad was Catholic and my mom Protestant, they chose to let me decide for myself.

When I was in highschool I read the bible with what I thought was an open mind and it

just wasn't credible to me.

At least theoretically religious people should not approve of me so perhaps some of my dislike for

them would be defensive. Partly it would be hard to respect someone who thought they would burst

into flames after having sex if they didn't stand on one leg , rub their belly and pat there head 3 times.

Put me in a room with someone who is religious enough to be wearing one of those Jewish beanies or a nuns habit or a burka or has ash on their forehead and Im going to be a little uncomfortable.

As a kid I was a longhair but now when I see the nose rings, lip piercings and ear spacers or whatever they

are called I find it annoying. There is no particular logic to that.

Probably if the first time I saw a nose ring, it was being worn by a beautiful girl that couldn't keep her hands off of me, I would find nose rings sexy (on women at least).

I think prior to 9/11 most Americans would have felt about Muslims pretty much the way I feel about

Albanians today.

I think 9/11 was sort of an introduction to Muslims for most Americans.

Now back to the nose rings which I find mildly annoying at this point possibly just cause they're different.

If my introduction to nose rings was in a jail cell and they were being worn by two big guys that beat the ####### out of me and then raped me. (9/11) I would be stuck for the rest of my life having a much stronger emotional reaction to nose rings. No amount of logic would overcome that.

I believe a Psychiatrist might try to help me get over it by exposing me to lots of nice people wearing

nose rings. Not just nice, lets go back to the beautiful girl that couldn't keep her hands off of me.

An anti-aversion therapy.

I'd say after about ten of these girls I should be well on my way to recovery.

But wait, If girl #8 (Nidal Hasan at fort hood) suddenly goes off on me and starts smacking me around then all the good that

#1,#2,#3,#4,#5,#6 and #7 have done me is down the drain.

Now being open minded as I am, I am willing to continue the therapy but it is going to take a lot more

girls now, It could take years and years.

I think it will be a lot of years before Muslims win a popularity contest in the US.

I was not overly traumatized by 9/11. I was 3000 miles away and didn't really feel threatened by it.

I remember being more worried about anthrax or at least that was something I could do something about.

I went into Mexico and bought a bunch of ciprofloxin.

Not long after 9/11 my wife at the time was going to haircutting school with a Muslim lady and got

invited to their house, I went along and we were all polite to each other, I didn't feel any "click" but

but if you changed the question to do you like "people" I could pretty comfortably answer no so that's

not saying much one way or the other.

I don't see much anti-aversion therapy going on in the US.

I've had more interaction with Muslims on Visajourney than ever before but that is mostly Muslims that have a chip on their shoulder. This doesn't rise to the level of a sexy girl with a nose ring rubbing all over my body but it would be a pretty boring interaction without the chip. I was really bored earlier today and stumbled on to some thread about being pregnant. Somebody said "Oh I envy you" Oh gag me!!

so if we had some kind of love fest going on here I would tune out in about 3 seconds.

　

　

　

　

　

[Golden Gate 530]

Your mind must move at 150 miles per hour.

I once knew an Albanian in the Tenderloin of San Francisco. He was a bald-headed flautist. It was intriguing.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Golden Gate

[Dan and Judy 614]

Your mind must move at 150 miles per hour.

If I could learn how to make it go in a straight line I might be dangerous

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

If I could learn how to make it go in a straight line I might be dangerous

I had a boss like that. He would drive 50 miles a day, and never get more than 2 miles away from his office.

[Robert&Karen 264]

I agree, 9/11 was the first impression many Americans had of muslims. Trouble is, there are 25 wars in the world right now, ALL of them because muslims cannot get along with their neighbors.

[san diego 407]

I agree, 9/11 was the first impression many Americans had of muslims. Trouble is, there are 25 wars in the world right now, ALL of them because muslims cannot get along with their neighbors.

[Dan and Judy 614]

I agree, 9/11 was the first impression many Americans had of muslims. Trouble is, there are 25 wars in the world right now, ALL of them because muslims cannot get along with their neighbors.

That sounds like a lot of wars. Is that a real number or a slight exaggeration?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

That sounds like a lot of wars. Is that a real number or a slight exaggeration?

The number understates the number of "conflicts", but I would like to see the cite where they all seem to involve Muslims.

[Robert&Karen 264]

Conflicts would be a better word, yes, thank you. A war kills at least 1,000 people a year by definition. Some of the current conflicts acknowledged include Korea because an armistice was never signed, but that's a technicality and may be included or not. The Mexican drug war can also be seen as a war or a criminal matter. Statistics lie, so take your pick. Depending on your cutoff standards you can argue there are only three wars of dozens.

Here are a few sources:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_military_conflicts

[Dan and Judy 614]

where the hell are these results people are talking about?

　

　

　

If you want to see the results of the poll you click on the white button next to the blue "Vote" button.

Thanks, I looked all over but couldn't find it.

You're welcome.

Maybe it was because I didn't vote.

Why didn't you vote.

Im protesting being boxed in to a one or two word answer.

You practically wrote a damn book and you primarily expressed a desire to have a girl with a nose ring rub up against you.

It's therapy

[Golden Gate 530]

I agree, 9/11 was the first impression many Americans had of muslims. Trouble is, there are 25 wars in the world right now, ALL of them because muslims cannot get along with their neighbors.

Hmmm. Generalizations. There were 1.1 Billion Muslims in the world in 1990 and by 2030, there will be 2.2 Billion. I am one of them, and I am an American. Most of these people are peaceful, as are the majority of people in the world. Governments and people with power create wars and create these dynamics. Generalizing about a large group of people just creates animosity, bad feelings and bigotry. Why not try to analyze what and who are the players in creating this dynamic in the world, instead of throwing out general comments about a large number of people? The average person around the world isn't trying to start a war, but is merely trying to survive.

Edited October 6, 2011 by Golden Gate

[Robert&Karen 264]

Hmmm. Generalizations. There were 1.1 Billion Muslims in the world in 1990 and by 2030, there will be 2.2 Billion. I am one of them, and I am an American. Most of these people are peaceful, as are the majority of people in the world. Governments and people with power create wars and create these dynamics. Generalizing about a large group of people just creates animosity, bad feelings and bigotry. Why not try to analyze what and who are the players in creating this dynamic in the world, instead of throwing out general comments about a large number of people? The average person around the world isn't trying to start a war, but is merely trying to survive.

Governments and people in power...you make it sound like a non-entity. I am in the US Army and when I was deployed for the war I never saw a non-entity. Friends of mine were not killed by non-entities. With so many muslims as you claim, why don't the ones who want peace do something instead of sit back and let evil work? Why no tolerance?

Edited October 6, 2011 by aorobert

[Golden Gate 530]

Governments and people in power...you make it sound like a non-entity. I am in the US Army and when I was deployed for the war I never saw a non-entity. Friends of mine were not killed by non-entities. With so many muslims as you claim, why don't the ones who want peace do something instead of sit back and let evil work? Why no tolerance?

Where is your tolerance? You think things are black and white, but they are not.

Edited October 6, 2011 by Golden Gate