| Author | Message | ||
     kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1699 Registered: 05-2005 |
.... presumably to give London a rest. Sorry if that sounds flippant but it just seems so bizarre that (presumably) Muslim terrorists have tried to cause carnage at Glasgow airport. Its early days, but this botched attempt so soon after the failed London car bombings seems to have been an amateurish "home job" rather than an Al-Quieda sponsored attack. but then again you never know. At the end of the day it seems like they wanted to cause multiple loss of life. I'm no racist but I think if this keeps up ordinary British citizens will reach breaking point and turn on the (mostly)integrated Muslim population who have now been here for at least 2 generations, just like they did on the Irish back in the 70s when there was an outbreak of IRA bombings on the British mainland. Blair and Bush have a lot to answer for, and surely these attacks are more than coincidental after Blair stepped down | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 226 Registered: 07-2006 |
kev, what or who is an ordinary brit? and what is this integration of which you speak? is it all that different to the assimilation so earnestly spoken of in the 1950s & 60s? as a second generation italian, i refuse to identify myself as one. nor can i identify with the greater australian experience....this is an inherently racist country which has kept an arch-conservative government in power for ten years... doing little but set us back years in our relationship with our indigenous population, some of our closest asian neighbours and our simple reputation of a country willing to embrace those in desperate need (ie. a good chunk of a lot of our ancestors). sure the place might be full of wogs, but they're generally tolerated rather than actually wanted. especially if they refuse to actively integrate themselves. i genuinely cannot begin to fathom how a young vietnamese or, god forbid, iraqi guy might feel about his australian upbringing. though i'm not that big on carnage or bombs, mind... | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1704 Registered: 05-2005 |
what I meant by ordinary was just sensible, tolerant people - not the best word to use I admit. by integrated I meant people from Asian backgrounds who are as British as I am, they just happen to have different faith and different skin colour | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 737 Registered: 08-2006 |
We saw some of that in the States after 9/11, Kev. Simpleminded and racist as it is, some people do feel the urge to exact revenge for terrorist acts, so they attack what they see as the closest approximation of the enemy. (Being a rather provincial lot, we even had people threatening Indian-born citizens after the WTC attack. Huh?) That's part of the collateral damage of terrorism; it can bring out a population's worst instincts. And you're right, too, that Bush and Blair bear some very real responsibility for this mess. We'll continue to reap what they've sown for a long time, I fear. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1570 Registered: 05-2005 |
I emailed my friends in West Kilbride Kevin to make sure they had not been at the airport at that time. They weren't, but had been at that time the night before; the husband and children picking up the wife. I've been through that airport many times myself, and know exactly where that car drove through. Rob, not only were Indian-born citizens threatened, but a Sikh in Arizona was murdered right after 9/11. Here's a report: - Balbir Singh Sodhi was gunned down on Sept. 15, 2001 in Mesa, Arizona. The turban-wearing Sikh was killed outside his gas station. Sodhi's killer spent the hours before the murder in a bar, bragging of his intention to "kill the ragheads responsible for September 11." He has been convicted and sits on death row. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 685 Registered: 01-2005 |
Padraig and Rob, That guy who sits on death row in Arizona for killing a Sikh is a direct result of the US having a amateur as President who had no idea on how to control the situation stateside. Plus you had idiots like Toby Keith fanning the situation with a stupid country hit wanting to put a "boot in their ass". We are now closing in on 1600 days since Bush proclaimed "Mission Accomplished". | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 738 Registered: 08-2006 |
Yeah, all that schoolyard rhetoric - remember "bring 'em on?" - has worked out fabulously, hasn't it? |