Juan Cole on the Pushme Pullyou tactics of BushCo toward Muslims

Brilliant, as usual.

"The constant drumbeat of hatred toward Muslims and Arabs on the American Right, on television and radio and in the press, has gradually had its effect. This according to a Washington Post poll. Even in the year after September 11, a majority of Americans respected Islam and Muslims, but powerful forces in US society are determined to change that, and are gradually succeeding. As they win, Bin Laden also wins, since his whole enterprise was to "sharpen the contradictions" and provoke a clash of civilizations.

...The hatemongers think that the American public is sort of like a big stupid dog, and you can fairly easily "sic" it on whoever you like. Just tell them that X people are intrinsically evil and that the US needs to go to war to protect itself from them. Then they turn around and blame those of us who don't want our country reduced to footsoldiers in someone else's greedy crusade for being "unpatriotic."

http://www.juancole.com/2006/03/bigotry-toward-muslims-and-anti-arab.html">Read the rest here

is that Muslims in this country aren't all that common, and the ones I know tend to try and blend in. Muslims I know don't try to convert others, but have a live and let live attitude. Sufi spiritual leaders have said to worry about the soul, not politics. But because we are here and yet not known, the rwingers feel they can spread a lot of lies, and they will be believed. It is in their interest to have a bogeyman, and they've been looking for a new one since the fall of Communism.

a higher percentage of our population is muslim and arab compared to jewish.
In my area, up to 25% of certain towns are muslim and arab. Old churches are being bought and converted into mosques and new ones are being built.

Perhaps central USA is different than your location, but right here, those are the facts.

to the geographical areas that I am familiar with. I know that there are some places where Muslims have congregated (Michigan and Minnesota), but I'm talking about other areas. Oh, and Jews are a rarity here, too-and there is still anti-Jewish prejudice as well.

chicagoland area.
fancy that.


There was some litigation here recently, when a muslim group tried to buy a closed down church and were rebuffed by a racist city council. The muslims lost at trial (their so-called peers all being lily white and christian, bless their tiny hearts) but luckily surrounding areas said, hell, yes come here. The police find that the most law-abiding citizens happen to be muslim. No riots, no rapes, no drunk driving, no wild parties.

Yet, the christians seem to have all of the above. The mind boggles.

I'm in a rural part of Arkansas, where a big town has maybe 60K people.

I was able to get around it, but to let you know...

http//www.juancole.com/2006/03/bigotry-toward-muslims-and-anti-arab.html

Cole is great.

What a situation! The Bush crew was secretly cheering on Ann Coulter, Rush, InHannity and other ultra-rightwingnuts as they attacked democrats for being rag-head-loving traitors. Not one peep out of the Bushistas, because it served their purpose. Acceptance by silence. That just caused the morons to push even further. Of course, that made out all muslims and arabs to be enemies, terra-ists and scum, led by an evil gutter religion.

It also made utter cowards of the spineless democrats, making them afraid of their own shadows.

Now, when the Bush crew smells billions in more profit for its cohorts, they want the Dubai deal to go through without a hitch. Much to their surprise, many people heard and believed Coulter, Rush, inHannity, O'Rielly and other ultra-rightwingnuts as they attacked all arabs. The White House silence is coming back to haunt them.

I'd be on the floor laughing, but for the fact, that the whole country is such a mess because of these neocons, that in some ways, I approve of cancelling the deal, if only to stop the Bushistas. I figure that at every juncture, had we done the opposite of what the Bush team did, our country would be much stronger. This is just more proof positive that the well-oiled machine within the WH is rusted, off the rails and falling off a cliff. After Miers, WMD, Katrina, Social Security, and the Ports scandal, what will be next?

I can't guess, but one thing about this group of imbeciles, they cannot sit still. They will proactively do something else and do it just as badly as they did everything else for 5 yrs. There will be another huge scandal to befall the GOP very shortly. I can feel it in my bones.

With the next one, even the MSM will start wondering out loud about their competence.