Hate wave sweeps America

Ignorance and intolerance are inseparable and have led to periods of instability throughout this nation’s history.

It’s gutwrenching how both are fertilized fields for hatemongering and fearmongering.

DemWit wants readers to step across the blogosphere today and read an outstanding post by a blogger who backs up her sound reason with heavily researched documentation.

But first I offer two quotes:

A VOICE OF REASON

On 19 October 2008, Gen. Colin Powell was Tom Brokaw’s guest on “Meet the Press.” He explained his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for the presidency and interated his concerns over the direction the Republican Party has taken – “the Party has moved even further to the right.”.

“I'm also troubled,” Powell said, “by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the Party say. And, it is permitted to be said such things as, ‘Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’ Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But, the really right answer is, ‘What if he is?’ Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's ‘No, that's not America.’

“Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, ‘He's a Muslim, and he might be associated with terrorists.’ This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

“I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And, as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had a crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And, his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could go serve his country, and he gave his life.

“Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourselves in this way. … I'm troubled about the fact that, within the (Republican) Party, we have these kinds of expressions.”

A VOICE OF IGNORANCE AND INTOLERANCE

This quote from a Murfreesboro, Tenn., woman sums up the fear being generated in this country with anti-Islam bullshit from the radical right and the Religious Right:

“As a mother and a grandmother, I worry, I learned that in 20 years with the rate of the birth population, we will be overtaken by Islam, and their goal is to get people in Congress and the Supreme Court to see that Shariah is implemented. My children and grandchildren will have to live under that.”

Leslie at Parsley’s Pics has an outstanding post examining the growing anti-Islam senitiment generated by the radical right across this country. I urge you to read Leslie’s post:

“We Believe in Freedom of Religion Except for Muslims”