Conversations
I've been attending a sort of management seminar over the past few days, and while on break I had occasion to start talking about the Iraq Hubbub with a coworker. From the outset he asked, "Do you support the war?"
"I don't," I assured him. Another coworker chimed in with "He'll vote for Hilary."
I hastened to assure both of them that I had no plans to vote for any of the current crop of weasels in either party, but thought that Ron Paul was the clearest thinker. I then took a few minutes to excoriate Giuliani.
When I paused to catch my breath the first coworker asked, "So you think it's all our fault?"
What a question! And how should I answer it? Should I take time out of the break to carefully detail to him the entire history of our involvement in the Middle East?
"We are a contributing factor," I replied, and advised him to study the concept of blowback as it applied to our supporting naughty people throughout the world.
When we returned to our seats he asked, "So, you don't believe that the Muslims are going to take over our country?"
"No, I don't." He then proceeded to tell me in no uncertain terms that Muslims were overrunning the country and were doing it unopposed, because the Government kept looking the other way and granting them more and more rights.
(I refrained from telling him that most people in the US felt the same way about Catholics, blacks, Jews, Irish, etc. for about the last 170 years. Why disrupt his delusion pattern?)
He then threw back in my face the results of a poll I talked about yesterday about a sizeable percentage of US Muslim youth saying that suicide bombing was justified. I countered with the fact that the same question had not been asked to white Christians. He looked confused for a moment and mentioned Eric Rudolph and Tim McVeigh, saying that they weren't Christians. I pointed out that they were members of the ultra-right Christian Identity movement, which he quickly termed a "white supremacist" organization only.
I could see the instructor warming back up, and my coworker's body language becoming more defensive, so I stopped the conversation.
How do you think I handled it?
This is also posted over at Blondesense, where I'm a guest blogger.
"I don't," I assured him. Another coworker chimed in with "He'll vote for Hilary."
I hastened to assure both of them that I had no plans to vote for any of the current crop of weasels in either party, but thought that Ron Paul was the clearest thinker. I then took a few minutes to excoriate Giuliani.
When I paused to catch my breath the first coworker asked, "So you think it's all our fault?"
What a question! And how should I answer it? Should I take time out of the break to carefully detail to him the entire history of our involvement in the Middle East?
"We are a contributing factor," I replied, and advised him to study the concept of blowback as it applied to our supporting naughty people throughout the world.
When we returned to our seats he asked, "So, you don't believe that the Muslims are going to take over our country?"
"No, I don't." He then proceeded to tell me in no uncertain terms that Muslims were overrunning the country and were doing it unopposed, because the Government kept looking the other way and granting them more and more rights.
(I refrained from telling him that most people in the US felt the same way about Catholics, blacks, Jews, Irish, etc. for about the last 170 years. Why disrupt his delusion pattern?)
He then threw back in my face the results of a poll I talked about yesterday about a sizeable percentage of US Muslim youth saying that suicide bombing was justified. I countered with the fact that the same question had not been asked to white Christians. He looked confused for a moment and mentioned Eric Rudolph and Tim McVeigh, saying that they weren't Christians. I pointed out that they were members of the ultra-right Christian Identity movement, which he quickly termed a "white supremacist" organization only.
I could see the instructor warming back up, and my coworker's body language becoming more defensive, so I stopped the conversation.
How do you think I handled it?
This is also posted over at Blondesense, where I'm a guest blogger.
posted by Walt at 5:15 PM
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