Home Grown Terrorists

This last Sunday night, four acts of terrorism were carried out in the city of New York. The attacks targeted a place of worship and several places of residence. The victims were targeted because of their religious beliefs and, even though no one was injured, nearly a hundred people could have been killed if the attacks had been successful. God only knows how much property damage occurred and how much more would have occurred if the attacks had succeeded. Like all terrorists, the attacker/s acted quickly and didn't stick around to be seen. http://news.yahoo.com/york-firebomb-attacks-hit-mosque-hindu-155810163.html Not quite what you were thinking was it? Yes, these were home grown terrorist attacks carried out against people whose only real crime was their beliefs. These aren't even the first or worst of these attacks. All you have to do it search the web for stories about Mosque attacks and Muslim Property destruction to realize that this happens far to often. Now most of you are probably thinking that this is a long rant about Religious and Social tolerance. You believe that I am about to talk about "unfair attacks against a people without any proof of wrongdoing." Well, most days you'd probably be right, but not today. Today I am not talking about Muslims, Hindu, or any such thing. No this little rant is all about Americans. I am not super intelligent. I am not an expert of religion, politics or world affairs. I am a simple man with a smidgen of talent when it comes to the written word. I make no claims to know the right answers and anything I say or write is nothing more than my opinion. I always try to make my opinion as well informed as possible, but it is still just one man's thoughts. Having said that, let me state the following. The residents of this country have the inalienable right to practice whatever religion they wish without interference from others. As long as any culture obeys the laws of the land and their articles of faith do no harm to others, they can worship Christ, Buddha, Yahweh or Allah to their hearts content. NO ONE has the right to cause harm to the followers of other religions no matter how much they disagree with them. Okay off the soap box and on to the actual subject of this article. What really cheesed me off about the above article is not the piece itself even though that was disturbing enough. No what really bothered me about the whole thing were the comments posted afterwards. Instead of being shocked and horrified that such an act occurred, many of the posters actually celebrated the event. Some even commented that they had wished more damage and injury had occurred. I post some of the more vicious comments below before continuing with my rant. LET THEM CONTINUE 2 FEEL OUR WARMTH... It was a Mosque...the less the better! Just returning some of their petroleum product's. Move along folk's there is nothing to look at here. how does it feel? Many of the posters point out that Islam and its leaders have yet to condemn the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and use this to try and somehow justify attacks on people that, as far as we know, have committed no crimes. They also point out that you never hear Islamist leaders railing against the many attacks on Christian churches and homes around the world every year. I can concede those points. I can also point out that Christians really aren't big into that sort of thing either. During the 50s and 60s many places of worship were burned or somehow destroyed here in the US and the roar of condemnation was strangely silent because the people being victimized were black. Too far back? How about modern day in places like Syria and North Korea? We see news reports everyday about people being slaughtered in Syria and about how the majority of the population is starving to death in NK. Do the citizens of the US raise a hue and cry? Do they rail against the horrors being done to their fellow man? Nope, for the most part, the people that actually read the stories shrug their collective shoulders and move on with their lives. So knowing this, I find it hypocritical that Americans continue to condemn Islam for not striking out at the perpetrators of 9/11. Kettle meet pot, pot meet kettle. I guess what I am trying to say, in my usual long winded and somewhat disjointed manner is this. Terrorism is terrorism, no matter who or what it is directed against. To accept an act of terror simply because you disagree with them is to accept all acts of terror around the world directed against anyone including ourselves. We claim to be a country of laws, morals and justice. Instead of cheering and jeering when "they" get attacked, always remember that you are a "they" in someone's eyes.