Thanks. That makes sense.
What specifically upsets you about their advocacy. Have they done something that you object to? If so, what is it?
Well, you arenāt the only one there!
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Max isnāt real keen on Islam.
I do not trust CAIRās very close ties with HAMAS. I do not agree with CAIR that the conviction of Omar Abdel Rahman for his role in the WTC bombings is a hate crime. I personally think it was dishonest for them to raise funds for 9/11 victims, but to then funnel the funds to the Muslim Brotherhood. I disagree with CAIR on their vigorous defense of Al-Shabaab.
I do not agree with the UAE that CAIR is itself a terrorist organization. I also assume that 80% of what is claimed about CAIR is BS. The remaining 20%, if true, is at least enough to make me unlikely to believe their press releases without some external confirmation of the facts.
I have spent years of my life working in Equatorial Africa, the Horn Of Africa, and the Middle East. I have had personal experiences with some of the victims of Boko Haram and Al Shabaab. I am pretty much going to mistrust anyone who advocates for those organizations.
That comment was primarily about censorship.
As noted at the time, it seems like you have a specific problem with Islam, and in context with your comment history there is a definite pattern supporting that view.
I guess you can make whatever assumptions you want to make. At least I have gone to the trouble of reading the Koran, visiting some of the more important mosques in the Islamic world, and actually speaking to Imams about their religion. I have also been shot at by some people who felt that it was their religious duty to do so. I was never a Christian or a Jew, so those views have never colored my view of Islam. I donāt think that anyone who knows me would call me xenophobic or bigoted. Most people I know have absolutely no idea which religious traditions I was raised with. What are your personal views?
Oh, I know. I just donāt have the time or the energy to deal with conspiracy nuts.
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My personal views are that there is a growing tide of anti-Muslim sentiment in the US, my country Australia, and Western countries in general, and that anti-Muslim attitudes and behaviour in the West is increasingly accepted by the wider community, increasingly left unchecked, and those in Muslim communities are facing more and more discrimination.
It sounds like you have had some nasty personal experiences, Iām genuinely sorry to hear about that, but looking at your comment history it seems to be manifesting itself as a lack of objectivity around the growing anti-Islamic sentiment that is currently very hard to ignore.
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Let me reply with an assurance that I really do not want to contribute to an atmosphere where any group is mistreated on the basis of falsehoods being told about them.
Are you sure they said all that crap about Hamas, al-Shabaab, etc? Because that doesnāt seem in character with what I know about them and claims that they have ties to these organizations are often used to discredit organizations like CAIR. Hell, these same things were claimed of the guy building the mosque near ground zero, and none of that was true. Pretty much anyone who works on behalf of Palestians are regularly accused of being in league with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. You say you donāt believe most of whatās said about CAIR, but you think these things might be true. Have you heard it from the organization itself?
Also, helping about victims of Boko Haram and al-Shabaab is a great thing to do.
Iām not trying to be unfair here, I just think that given the realities of daily life for Muslims living in Western countries, we should maybe think twice before offering blanket denouncements of organizations working on their behalf. I think if you have some hard evidence they are supportive of these organizations, thatās one thing, but propaganda has a funny way of becoming fact after a while, especially in situations such as these. Given the ongoing harassment of Muslims or people imagined to be Muslims, we should maybe be a bit more discerning.
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Honestly, there is so much noise between extremists on the right and the left, that it is hard to be sure where the truth lies. Everyone has to make up their own mind, but I believe that there is enough out there that it is reasonable to be skeptical of their press releases. here is a bit from Wikipedia-
"In 2008, the FBI discontinued its long-standing relationship with CAIR. Officials said the decision followed the conviction of the HLF directors for funneling millions of dollars to Hamas, revelations that Nihal Awad had participated in planning meetings with HLF, and CAIRās failure to provide details of its ties to Hamas.[45][46] During a 2008 retrial of the HLF case, FBI Special Agent Lara Burns labeled CAIR āa front group for Hamas.ā[47] In January 2009, the FBIās DC office instructed all field offices to cut ties with CAIR, as the ban extended into the Obama administration."
Several ranking members of CAIR have been prosecuted for crimes related to either funneling money or weapons to terrorist organizations. Some, like Abdurahman Alamoudi and Ghassan Elashi ( CAIR directors), are currently serving prison time for actual terrorism. Randall Todd Royer was indicted for conspiring to help al Qaeda and the Taliban battle American troops in Afghanistan, and weapons charges, activities that took place while he was CAIRās civil rights coordinator. There are a bunch of similar cases. I have to assume that some or even most are BS charges, but I think there is enough truth in there to be somewhat wary of their motives. That does not mean that everyone they defend is guilty of something. The woman that is the subject of this article may well be an innocent victim of the airlineās Islamophobic attitude. I just would rather hear the narrative from someone who does not have an agenda in the case.
IIRC, itās a reference to Love Field, which itself uses āDALā as its code.
These reports of Muslims being kicked off planes for āreasonsā is wearing a bit thin, IMO.
Allegedly, SWās story is that the passenger who complained about Makhzoomi speaks Arabic too.
My daughter has had her Arabic books physically grabbed out of her hands more than once by a particular teacher in her school. Itās like you canāt even believe itās true, because how could it be trueā¦but it is.
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Sadly, I can believe it, all too well. Iām sorry to hear that your daughter has had that experience.
Because even though itās the 21st century and our tech has evolved tremendously over just the last 100 years, humans beings as a sentient species still have a long fucking way to go.
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Primo Levi was the best. If you read any book on the holocaust, The Drowned and the Saved is the one.
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