Bombing in Boston

[Red_Mage]

Everyone can relax. Representative Peter King has the solution to our terrorism woes. Law officers need to harass the shit out of Muslim communities

There are 2,600,000 Muslim citizens of the United states. So far, less than 20 committed acts of terrorism. That's 0.000007%. Harassing innocent people because of perceived stereotypes is not acceptable.

[vincent_richter]

Originally Posted by Red_Mage

There are 2,600,000 Muslim citizens of the United states. So far, less than 20 committed acts of terrorism. That's 0.000007%. Harassing innocent people because of perceived stereotypes is not acceptable.

^ This. So fucking this.

[Rachel Bronwyn]

May I harass Christian communities? Just in case individuals shoot doctors, you know. That's perfectly reasonable, right?

[vincent_richter]

Originally Posted by Rachel Bronwyn

May I harass Christian communities? Just in case individuals shoot doctors, you know. That's perfectly reasonable, right?

Might I suggest Westboro?

[Rachel Bronwyn]

Oh, burn.

[vincent_richter]

Isn't that pretty much all of them?

[Rachel Bronwyn]

Nickelback fans? Probably.

[Drachen]

King apparently has no problem with terrorists like the IRA and FARC.

Why do people care so much about the Westboro church? They protest because they can get publicity and notoriety and all they really do is just hold up signs designed to piss you off. The amount of attention and hate they get baffles me.

[Rachel Bronwyn]

I don't think the people being personally harassed by them feel it's unwarranted. Mockery is the only way to deal with them as long as limitations on their funeral protests are so weak.

And FARC is a revolutionary, not terrorist, organisation. And Irish terrorism isn't real terrorism at all. When are people going to get it through their heads that terrorism is only terrorism if the perpetrators are Islamic?

[Soccermom]

Originally Posted by Drachen

Why do people care so much about the Westboro church? They protest because they can get publicity and notoriety and all they really do is just hold up signs designed to piss you off. The amount of attention and hate they get baffles me.

This. This SO MUCH. The over the top hatred, the other thread talking about flaying them alive and ripping off eyelids, REALLY?! That sort of hate is not reserved for the worst criminals, but instead for people who hold offensive signs.

[Red_Mage]

It seems to me that the political debate in the aftermath of these bombings has focused on three things that make me extremely uncomfortable: blaming the Muslim community, arguing for a suspension of the legal process in prosecuting the suspect and restricting immigration rights. When looking at the number of Muslims/legal immigrants that actually commit acts of terrorism vs the number of them writ large, it is woefully ignorant to assume that they're a threat to us because of this incident.

And to suspend the legal rights of American citizens (which both the bombers were) who committed crimes on US soil and were captured in the US is a dangerous precedent, particularly until their motives gain clarity. We prosecuted Timothy McVeigh here. We prosecuted the Unabomber here. There's no excuse for not doing the same for this suspect, and not to do so would be a gross violation of his Constitutional rights.

[cpt soban]

With flagrant waving of rights, media being used to frequently emotionalize issues and report on half facts, and the constitution being ignored on a weekly basis, this country is going to a scary place.

By I scary place I of course mean 1938 eastern Europe. All we need is a Hitler, Palin ought to do nicely.