Thus Proving the Point

A Danish suntan shop was bombed in the midst of a week of riots by Muslim men venting "their anger and frustration towards Danish society by setting fire to cars and burning bonfires in the streets." All this over the publication of a cartoon depicting Muhammad sporting a stick of dynamite as a fashion accessory. Ironic. And there are continued threats against the cartoonist.

In America (or most of the West for that matter) when there is government sponsored art desecrating Christ there is an uproar, some petitions are written, and perhaps even a Senator or two. Never has there been violence over such a thing, even though the shock artist intends to provoke as much reaction as possible. Why? Because we live in a culture where speech is ingrained in our psyche and revered by all. It is a freedom purchased at great and sometimes odious cost. As much as I dislike such antics (and I DO dislike how my tax money supports shock art), I suck it up because the same freedom that allows me to write in this blog allows for disrespect of what I hold dear. Such are the allowances we must make in a liberal democracy and we have been raised in such way by our parents and teachers.

How are these Muslim youths raised? What is taught in their homes? When they attend mosque and their daily prayers, what are the things revered by their teachers? It is true a single action speaks louder than words, but that solitary event is not entirely silent--a bombing of a tanning salon speaks volumes.

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Profiling the Chinese

Great, more Chinese nationals and naturalized citizens getting arrested for espionage. Just great. Just effin' fab-u-lous.

I've worked for big aerospace companies and, as a passing piece of trivia I'm Chinese, so it's no stretch for me to find issues here. Frankly, I'm not happy that even as "racially blind" America purports to be (or should be) I can't tell if all Chinese, even those whose families have been American since the 1800's, are going to be lumped together with these yahoos. The problem is, you can't get around the racial profiling opportunities. You have to be self-delusional to overlook the reality that these guys are immigrants from an economic and political competitor (and potentially a military competitor) and they do pose an increased security risk. Sure, it's probably about as severe as Jewish folks spying for Israel (which has happened), but it still doesn't take the sting out. Frustrating is what it is.

If this keeps up, the little fear-monger inside says it's going to be harder for Chinese-Americans to obtain security clearances and jobs, especially if those Chinese-Americans have relatives "somewhere other than America". Hell, if this keeps up, they're going to start putting us folks into concentration camps or something--not that I'm standing in line for that or anything.

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