Why is This True II

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:43 pm

Why do protestors not fill the streets when Hamas blows up an Iraeli bus?

Why do protestors not fill the streets when Hezbollah launches 130 missiles into civilian areas on almost a daily basis?

Why do protestors not fill the streets when the Taliban mutilate women?

Why do protestors not fill the streets when islamists murder and rampage in Somalia?

Why do protestors not fill the streets against genocide in Sudan?

tetoncat · Post by **tetoncat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:53 pm

American protestors it seems only protest against our own government not against anything that any one else does. I would like to see these same people rally against the actions you noted and show disgust for those actions while rallying for a response from our government that they deem appropriate. Unfortunately they will wait for our reponse then protest that it is unfair.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:05 pm

Actually ... people do protest those things. You just need to move to a place where somebody is always protesting something to find them (SF is a good choice for that).

On a large scale, though, I assume you are wondering why the protests similar to the anti-war protests aren't taking place? Probably because the reason the anti-war protests took place was because those people were of the minority opinion (or at least the opinion of those not in power), and this was their way of publicizing that opinion in the hopes of positively (in their view) influencing our government's actions.

Since 99.99999% of the people in the U.S. are already against the things you listed, it probably doesn't strike most people as a cause that needs to be taken to the streets. Public opinion and the position of our government are already in general agreement (although many would assert that the last two aren't of huge concern to our government or our people, for various reasons).

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:16 pm

Bleedinbluengold wrote:Why do protestors not fill the streets when Hamas blows up an Iraeli bus?

Why do protestors not fill the streets when Hezbollah launches 130 missiles into civilian areas on almost a daily basis?

Why do protestors not fill the streets when the Taliban mutilate women?

Why do protestors not fill the streets when islamists murder and rampage in Somalia?

Why do protestors not fill the streets against genocide in Sudan?

Because our government do not blindly support Hama/Hezbollah. We do not have any influence over those organizations. What use is it for us to protest in Washington when Washington can not even capture one terrorist leader who personally organized the killing of over 3500 American citizens on US soil almost 5 years ago!

On the other hand when a ally, who we support with money, arms, and votes in the UN with out question starts bombing the hell out of a country and killing over 10 innocent civilians for every terrorists it tends to piss off some people in the USA.

Go figure!!

Ponycat · Post by **Ponycat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:58 pm

mslacat wrote: On the other hand when a ally, who we support with money, arms, and votes in the UN with out question starts bombing the hell out of a country and killing over 10 innocent civilians for every terrorists it tends to piss off some people in the USA.

Yes, people like Mell Gibson.

DriftCat · Post by **DriftCat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:59 pm

Why do leaders in the religion of Islam become outraged over a cartoon depicting Mohammed but do not become outraged over the violence listed above?

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:02 pm

BAC - Actually, what triggered my post were the protests in Europe over the Israeli bombing of the Hezbollah launch site in Qana.

They protest suicide bombers and stuff in San Fran? I'm shocked.

Mslacat - Not sure how to read your post. Are you saying that an anti-US-Israel protest is appropriate because x-number of civilians were killed w/US weapons in self-defense by Israel, but an anti-Hezbollah-Iran protest is not appropriate even though Hezbollah used x-number of civilians as human shields? Where is the protest when Hamas kills 20 civilians and not one soldier when they bomb a bus, cafe, mall or night club?

Post by **SonomaCat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:15 pm

Bleedinbluengold wrote:BAC - Actually, what triggered my post were the protests in Europe over the Israeli bombing of the Hezbollah launch site in Qana.

They protest suicide bombers and stuff in San Fran? I'm shocked.

Mslacat - Not sure how to read your post. Are you saying that an anti-US-Israel protest is appropriate because x-number of civilians were killed w/US weapons in self-defense by Israel, but an anti-Hezbollah-Iran protest is not appropriate even though Hezbollah used x-number of civilians as human shields? Where is the protest when Hamas kills 20 civilians and not one soldier when they bomb a bus, cafe, mall or night club?

Oh, I had actually not read anything about the protests in Europe ... but it probably does still go to the idea that their governments support Israel (and so they share some accountability when they kill kids), but their governments don't have any control over Hezbollah, so protesting those acts wouldn't have much effect.

I would hope all of the protesters would concede that senseless violence from either side is wrong and should be condemned ... and I think that any rationally thinking person would say that is true. But I know nothing of the mindsets of the people you are talking about, as I mentioned.

And yes, they protest everything here. We do have a lot of very passionate Jewish and/or Israeli people in this area as well, and any Israeli/Palestinian gathering or discussion tends to run very hot ... quite unfortunately.

Bleedinbluengold · Post by **Bleedinbluengold** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:35 pm

Actually, the protests took place in France, a decidedly strong supporter of Arab nations.

While this thread has been ongoing, it came to my mind that one of the reasons there are such rabid protests like these could be because the protestors don't have a real job and do have plenty of time on their hands. Certainly, this would be the case in the Arab world (12% in Iran, and that probably only includes males), but could very well be the same situation in Europe, too, and especially France, where unemployment is relatively high (9%).

No job, no money, why not go burn something down.

Post by **SonomaCat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:42 pm

Are many of the protesters Muslims? France has a high % due to their colonization in Africa and the Middle East. Not to mention that France does have a bit of an anti-Semitic taint to it, even among the native French population. I assume the French government does formally support Israel, though, doesn't it?

And I think there is something to the unemployment theory you have.

mslacat · Post by **mslacat** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:33 pm

Bleedinbluengold wrote:.

Mslacat - Not sure how to read your post. Are you saying that an anti-US-Israel protest is appropriate because x-number of civilians were killed w/US weapons in self-defense by Israel, but an anti-Hezbollah-Iran protest is not appropriate even though Hezbollah used x-number of civilians as human shields? Where is the protest when Hamas kills 20 civilians and not one soldier when they bomb a bus, cafe, mall or night club?

Actually all I am saying is that in order for the American citizenry to protest, they generally need or want to change the current course the administration or government is taking the country. Unlike a lot of cultures the USA people rarely holds rallies or protest marches to condemn something we all agree on especially when it does not happen on this continent. We use our right to protest generally to change the opinions of our own citizenry, and government, but not that of the rest of the world.

As such it is not surprising to see American’s protesting war when we are seeing dead children and other innocence people being blown up in the process, on the nightly news. Many people around the world and in the USA link what Israel does to the US. Since the USA is doing close to nothing for the last week the connection can be made that they are doing this with our government approval. While many people do feel Israel does have the right to defend themselves against terrorist, the images we are seeing do not generate much sympathy for the methods that they are using. This is not a clear cut issue as such there will be protests.

In the case of Hamas etc. the citizenry of the US vastly support the idea "we don't like them" What are we going to protest against unless it is we must do a better job of getting rid of them.

Personally I have supported Israelis right to defend them in the past even some of their “non-traditional” efforts, but in this case they are taking the bull in the china shop approach. How can they be viewed as any better than those they are going after?

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