can_muslims_be_good_americans dafremen A response to the craigslist post here: http://detroit.craigslist.org/mcb/pol/1606092096.html ---------------------------------------- Dear Misguided Countryman, Just like some foods, some "food-for-thought" can be poorly prepared, undercooked and just plain nasty. Your post was of this type. It was indigestible, rancid and bitter to taste. I had to pass. While I would die willingly to defend your right to express whatever views you happen to have on ANY subject, (and served during Desert Storm as proof of my convictions), I take issue with your post "CAN MUSLIMS BE GOOD AMERICANS." I don't know whether "Radical" Muslims could be good Americans, but then again, I don't know if racist, close-minded bigotted Americans can be Good Americans either. I Don't know if Radical Christians or Radical Jews or even Radical radicals can be good Americans. See, to be a good American, and this is just my opinion mind you, you have to hold freedom in very high regard. You have to be able to respect the rights of those around you, Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Quaker, Shaker, Baker or otherwise. To be a good American, you have to understand that freedom doesn't always mean things going your way. It doesn't mean everyone acting the same way, or thinking the same way or even worshipping the same way. See that's what I LOVE about this country I live in (in theory anyway..and in practice when our governing officials are willing to step back and let freedom be what freedom is): I love the fact that..when freedom isn't just a buzzword that we use to pretend that we are Americans, but a principle and a sacred trust that we keep in our hearts for all men, American or otherwise..then all ideas are available to all men..all the time. In this way, the good ideas can prove their worth, and the crap ideas can fall by the wayside, perhaps after having been tried to miserable ends..perhaps after having been recognized as crap ideas and discarded without hesitation. I love the fact that when we truly PRACTICE the ideals of FREEDOM, rather than just waving our flag and telling the people that we don't agree with to leave the country..when we really RESPECT freedom..we make sure that all ideas and points of view are available in perpetuity for all men of all races, creeds, colors, religions and nationalities. Because that's what freedom does. Freedom is like a sacred vessel that holds both the worst that man can be and the best that man can be. When we see the worst ideas..still alive..we remember what atrocities we have committed in the past in the name of those ideas..so that we might never forget what rotten ideas they are. And so, I say, allow those rotten ideas to live under the protections of freedom. And together, as a majority, we'll swat them back down if they ever get out of hand. (As we did in WWII.) When we see the best ideas, then we learn what it is that we are..human beings, capable of the greatest acts of purpose and compassion that the world has ever known. And we can foster those ideas and pass them on to future generation of people..both American and otherwise, so that they can continue to do the good that such ideas are bound to do. And so, as an American (a non-Muslim American if I have to specify), I respectfully disagree with your post "CAN MUSLIMS BE GOOD AMERICANS." I have worked with such Muslims, and they were good, loving people..and VERY GOOD Americans. And I hold the memory of the time I served with them, and the time that I worked with them, and the time that I've spent in my off hours with them in very high regard. It was an honor to know them, just as it has been an honor for me to know every Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Atheist and (insert-faith-here) that did not share my beliefs, but always respected my right to have them. They were, every single one of them, true Americans. And good ones at that. You sir/madam are not. I imagine you believe that you are, but your complete ignorance of the very ideal that you claim to love (freedom)..shows that you have a lot to learn about being an American. I wish you the best of luck with that. Sincerely, Freedom 'Til Death Just another American fighting for the Land of the Free which I love. P.S. I looked it up(took 30 seconds on Google): One of the 99 names of Allah (Who is not a Moon God, but the same God of Abraham that Jews and Christians worship) is AL-WADÛD, which means "The Loving One." There are those who claim to be Muslims who don't practice the Muslim faith correctly just as there are those who claim to be Americans that don't give a damned about any freedom but their own. I will continue to distinguish between the two. 100218 ... ergo As long as they embrace consumer culture they do fine. 100218 ... shoccolo Awww, don’t worry. I'm sure anyone who eats at McDonald's, shops at Wal-mart & shoots at the raccoons who rattle the trash cans ‘round at night, will have a front row seat to the galactic, American space show - regardless of ethnicity or religious leaning. That’s what makes the USA so great, after all, y’all! 100218 ... epitome of incomprehensibility It's sad that people from different ethnic or religious backgrounds have to prove that they're "good" Americans, in a way that the mainstream "white" population does not. There's been some of that sort of thing in Quebec a couple of years ago with the Bouchard-Taylor commission on "reasonable accommodation". It did start with some "reasonable" concerns, but then turned into a little xenophobia-fest. 100219 ... e_o_i Yeah, I'm not an American. So the question of me being a "good" American is out, unless I move there and, in a while, get some citizenship. But then I'd have to solve the problem of not being good. Ah well. 100219 ... dafremen More difficult yet, if you moved here willingly and became a citizen, you'd also have to solve the problem of being insane. 120401 ... oreilly be careful for now the white_minority (some) want sympathy for being the object of discrimination 120401 what's it to you? who go blather from