Seriously, America, you are scaring me


A recent poll found that 44% of Americans were in favor of restricting the civil liberties of Muslims

Salon.com had an article about the poll. I'm not 100% sure if I trust that Cornell students polling 715 people are accurately representing the feelings of the entire American populace, but even if that number is truly closer to 10%, that is still way too many. There is an old saw about people who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. This is so well known a statement as to approach cliche, but it seems to me that people can't be so stupid as to not remember the Japanese internment camps during world war II or the McCarthy hearings not long after. I wonder what people would have thought if after the Oklahoma City bombings, 44% of Americans supported curtailing the rights of American Christians?

Another interesting tidbit from the Salon.com article: "Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim Americans." If this isn't a stinging indictment of the conservative bias of mainstream American media then I don't know what would be.

Posted: Tue - December 21, 2004 at 06:06 PM           |

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