[lbo-talk] Churchill's Complaint

[jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net]

> arash at riseup.net wrote:
> 
> >In the first few days following 9-11, weren't there a number of reprisals
> >against Sikhs in NYC?  From the accounts I recall, some people in the city
> >quite vividly exercised their revenge against anything taliban-looking.
> >Kind of xenophobic, don't you think?  Other than for taking a cheapshot at
> >the heartland, I don't see any important insight coming from dumping the
> >burden of misguided vengenace on rural America alone.  Kind of suprised
> >Doug, you're usually the person I count on to eschew reflexive leftish
> >sentiments, such as "blame it on the revenge-hungry hicks," and sift out
> >an opinion based on reason and evidence instead.
> 
> Of course there were incidents, ugly and shameful ones. I'm talking 
> about prevailing tendencies, however, as revealed by polls and voting 
> patterns. But they're also reinforced by the kinds of conversations 
> i've had and overheard in NYC and elsewhere. Surely you don't think 
> the war on Iraq wasn't more popular in the midwest and south (and in 
> suburbs and rural ares) than it was in New York and other metro areas.
> 
> Doug

     ALL my family members in NYC, when they speak of Iraq and Afghanistan, mention their 
support or opposition is filtered through a different "lens" than midwesterners because they fear 
any additional blowback will hit them, not Topeka. It is certainly a rational thought but hardly 
the thinking of more humanitarian souls.

     I think the breakdown in support for Iraq and Afghanistan is more rural vs. metropolitan and 
since the west and midwest has more rural population the war has more support there. Putting 
it in terms of east, west, midwest don't clarify anything. Most of the brutality against people 
perceived as Arabic has been on the coasts. They didn't experiment with internment camps for 
Arabs in Memphis.

     According to the ADC there were 600 acts of violence against people perceived as Arabs in 
the US in the 6 months after September 11th with the majority taking place the following 5 
cities ranked according to number of incidents. NYC, LA, Seattle, Chicago, and Detroit. This is 
not weighted for population so keep that in mind. I imagine there are more immigrants from the 
Middle East in NY than Branson although no one in Branson killed one because they were 
filled with irrational hate and fear.

     
John Thornton