How much anti-muslim / anti-immigrant sentiment is there where you live?

Okay then, I'll sat it's bad in MY area of the South.

As far as the US goes, I'd have to agree that it depends on where you are.  Granted in the US it was pretty bad after 9-11 (again, mostly limited to the south.  I was in MI at the time where there is a LARGE congregation of muslim population and though they were nervous for a while after 9-11 they said they didn't have anything bad happen to them).  All I can say in Kansas is that, at least in my area, I haven't seen a Muslim person yet, though I'm sure there are some in the bigger cities I'm not in on a regular basis.  We have a bigger problem with racism towards Hispanics here than anything else. 

I think Zebonka brings up a good point; the racism thing tends to cycle.  Though I would add that it cycles depending upon how visible the minority is.  Given the religious dress (at least headscarves for women) that many Muslims keep when they move to a new area, that makes it visually obvious that they are outsiders.  Combine that with something like the War on Terror and unfortunately it's like walking around with a large bullseye on your back.  Not that I'm saying they should forget their religious and cultural manner of dress or anything like that, I personally think that variety is the spice of life.  I'm just making an observation. 

As far as The Netherlands goes, a very dear Dutch friend of mine and I have been talking about this via e-mail for a while now.  Support for Wilders and the Christian Democrats in your country growing is, we both think, natural in a time like this and neither of us think Islam really has anything to do with it.  Anger towards the European Union, the economic "death spiral" (Jon Stewart's words, not mine), and the contstant media attention to how bad things are tends to result in a socital and political re-trenching; not to mention trying to find a scapegoat to blame it all on. 

Look at it this way: at least that psycho that tried to kill the Royal Family during Queen's Day wasn't Islamic or a minority.  You think anti-minority sentiment is bad now?  It would have been what you have now times a million if he had been.

Well... here in Spain, specially in Gran Canaria, there's a bit of everything.

Funny fact that in Venezuela what the president and the people who surrounds him "hate" is the US standarts, but that is masked with the hate for the people who has something.

[b]AspiringPhilosophe wrote: [/b]



[b]As far as the US goes...[/b]

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Hi, AspiringPhilosophe! :-))

How are you? I hope you're doing fine. I liked your nickname and the Avatar pic is very, very beautiful. I don't think we have talked before, so it's very nice to meet you and "talk" to you!  

Great post you wrote there. It was very interesting to read it. A delight. Thank you a lot for devoting part of your time to contributing to the discussion.  

May I ask you something? How do you think that what seems to be like an almost unconditional support by the U.S for Israel factors into all this? 

I ask you that because I'm Jewish, I have lived in Israel for a good deal of time and part of my free time I devote to translating reports and articles from very respectful Human Rights Org. and it seem to me sometimes that this support makes Muslims ill-disposed towards the U.S and, in return, a small, though vocal, part of the U.S population replies to this resentment in a more offensive way.  

As Obama is already annoucing that he won't be holding talks to Iran forever, thus hinting at a military offensive, I guess this "hate spiral" may actually increase if proper measures aren't taken - many Muslims here in Lebanese communities in the city I live are all too pissed off with the U.S policy of torturing detainess. This seems to generate hatred among Muslims and the hatred only makes all this worse, I guess. 

Do you think these major questions regarding foreign relations have a relevant, if at all, impact on anti-Muslim sentiments?

The other question, if there were enough time to discuss it :op, would be: how to deal with Iran? That country has a gruesome Human Rights record, and I'm not even talking about the nuclear threats. The regime is already cruel enough, but do you think it may get worse? I fear for the Iranian population. First, because many of them are unwillingly under the boots of a hateful regime; second, because, if any military action takes place, they'd be the first to pay the bill...  

Your post was a delight to read. I'd love to know what you think about this.

Yours,

Yara.

If you go to Detroit is Rampant a little, since there is more Muslims in Detroit then any where else in the states, they are pretty much considered 4th class citizens, after Blacks, Hispanics. Every time I go there it seems each of the ethic communities continue to grow while most of the rich white people move away from the city.

You always see White people friendly face to face, but once some one of another race leaves the area the jokes fly. It goes for other races as well.

The thing is... there's always going to be racism.  Well, for as long as there are "races." 
It's nice to think it's centrally located in one part of the world, but it's not. 
Now, personally, I think it's a government-orchestarted hatred to keep us divided; that way, we'll never take a look at what's really going on. 
BUT!... I was so happy to find a journalist who recently found that, really, the average man doesn't care about race or creed.  This is certainly a step in the right direction.

fuck all religions, they are for retards who cant think logically.

Nyaw, welcome back TM. As insightful as usual.

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[b]Treasure Moment wrote: [/b]

fuck all religions, they are for retards who cant think logically.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely.  Now mind altering substances that make you think you're an inter-dimensional being?  THAT'S where it's at!

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[b]Treasure Moment wrote: [/b]































fuck all religions, they are for retards who cant think logically.





























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[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism[/url]

By default, Deism is correct.  It assumes that a larger force created the universe, and did nothing else to interact with it after the fact.  Many other lines of thought have more or less rendered deism obsolete, but I'm just trying to illustrate that there are religious ideas that can be formed and perpetuated through intellect.

The Bahais are pretty intelligent folk too.  Look them up as well, if you can pretend to be tolerant for a moment...

I think that racism comes from xenophobia which is very deeply rooted in human beings.It takes common sense and education to overcome racism. It is so much easier to just be scared of someone who looks different, speaks a different language and has other habits. I think Brandon is right saying that governments use xenophobia to manipulate the masses - for example into war and genocide. In Europe racism is not welcome by the ruling powers and therefore it is socially unacceptable while it was used by the Bush regime to gain public approval for their oil wars.

However, each individual is equipped and able to overcome xenophobia and racism. We have to learn from history and try hard to be immune against attempts to offer us scapegoats and oversimplified explanations. When I read blogs on the internet on any given topic I am very pessimistic about the results of education and civilization, though.

Is it racist to hate everyone?

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[b]Zebonka12 wrote: [/b]

Is it racist to hate everyone?[/QUOTE]


No, that's called "being French".

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[b]Holly2003 wrote: [/b]

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[b]Zebonka12 wrote: [/b]



Is it racist to hate everyone?

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No, that's called "being French".



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Ha!