Wednesday, April 24, 2013

24 April 2013 I lift my lamp…






“The terrorist next door

By Ruth MarcusPublished: April 23
The bomber went to prom.”
Cassi Creek:  Once upon a time “The New  Colossus” spoke for the millions who left the poverty and residual feudalism of the Balkans and the Caucasus’  Those who were persecuted for their religious faith had no desire to see that practice carried to a new nation.  The fortunate who made the voyage into the 19th and 20th centuries arrived intending to become Americans, not hyphenated-Americans. 
          The ancient genocidal feuds between Christians and Muslims helped fuel the immigration.  It seemed that the hatred was left in the old world nations that have flickered in and out of existence as the borders and the dominant powers shifted.  With the beginning of WWI and the end of WWII came another wave of immigrants who were not as driven by the new opportunity as they were by their displacement after the wars.  They landed here but became hyphenated. 
          The domestic spawned terrorists are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation immigrants.   What brought their parents and grandparents here is missing.  The realization that religion should not generate wars was never hammered into their DNA.  As a result, they are easily radicalized by various forms of media that urge them into religion-driven conflicts.  The U.S, while it protects their rights and freedoms as immigrants and citizens, has become the modern demon that those who sell hatred can point to as the source of all evil. 
          Still, the lamp is still there in New York Harbor.  Emma Lazarus’ words still ring loudly.  The vast majority of those seeking entry believe in the same golden land that lured many of our families.  It’s the renewed growth of religious hatred that has rebounded in today’s world we must avoid.  There is no more justification in Islamic jihad than there was in the “kill a commie for Christ” campaigns of the Cold War.  We’ve allowed the old hatreds a new resurgence.   How effectively we can weed them out will determine the cost in lives.





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