America's History Of Fear

[szh]

I don't usually quote the NY Times, but this one is good reading.

An Op Ed piece by Nicholas Kristof:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/opini ... _LO_MST_FB

"The pattern has been for demagogues to take real abuses and exaggerate them, portraying, for example, the most venal wing of the Catholic Church as representative of all Catholicism — just as fundamentalist Wahabis today are caricatured as more representative of Islam than the incomparably more numerous moderate Muslims of Indonesia (who have elected a woman as president before Americans have)."

Or, for that matter, the countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh, who have elected women Prime Ministers - the government equivalent of Presidents in that system of government.

Another important point:

Americans have called on moderates in Muslim countries to speak out against extremists, to stand up for the tolerance they say they believe in. We should all have the guts [to] the same at home.

Z