The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious.The religious right has been crying about their civil liberties. They want the 10 commandments in the courthouse and they want to pray and say god in schools. They have a hole laundry list of violations against their beliefs yet, they feel it is a good idea to restrict the civil liberties of Muslims.
The survey showed that 27 percent of respondents supported requiring all Muslim Americans to register where they lived with the federal government. Twenty-two percent favored racial profiling to identify potential terrorist threats. And 29 percent thought undercover agents should infiltrate Muslim civic and volunteer organizations to keep tabs on their activities and fund-raising.Racial Profiling is a slippery slope. Note that a white male former Marine with a crew cut committed the worst terrorist act in American history prior to September 11th.
Prior to 9/11 the Racial Profiling machine would of stopped white males. Age 18-50. The database would of looked for people from red states with a military background. People that traveled to Idaho would all of been pulled out of line at the airports. Remember Timothy McVeigh, Eric Robert Rudolph, abortion clinic bombings . . . . ? Remember all the paramilitary training camps in Idaho? The people that went to these camps for the most part had a distrust of the workings of our government. I wonder if the people that attended these camps are on the “no fly-list”?
While researchers said they were not surprised by the overall level of support for curtailing civil liberties, they were startled by the correlation with religion and exposure to television news.This country is a melting pot. That is what makes the country a great place.
3 comments:
Slippery slope is right. We need to do more than we are doing, but we need to be very careful how we do it. It is a relatively uncomfortable position to be in.
We are in the process of giving much away. Who or what is next on the list.
You're absolutely right about profiling. Muslims are just the latest target to be profiled with probably little benefit. In New Jersey we joke around that African-Americans pulled over on the Turnpike get a DWB, or Driving While Black. When the statistics for turnpike tickets were made public they pulled over white people again. Policies may change but the attitudes that create and perpetuate stereotypes remain the same.
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