I am sick over this email I just got

[MissMillie]

Someone I know and love dearly sent this to me, and I'm just sick about it.

I'm quite tempted to remind her that a white male, Timothy McVeigh parked a truck with a bomb in it in front of a building in Oklahoma City and when it exploded, 168 people were killed. If there had been 19 of him on that day, there would have been 3192 people dead all because of a white male. Yet where are editorials telling white males how afraid we are of them.

I never expected to get something like this from this person. I'm really quite sick about it.


-------------------------------------------------------------


PILOT EDITORIAL-- "YOU WORRY ME."
************************************************************************
I've been trying to say this since 9-11.
I guess I will be labeled as a bigoted American.

By: American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco

************************************************************************

"You worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the
streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still
blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But
you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you
because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to
be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our
friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their
grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of
their attacks.

On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my
country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally
stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them
into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise
grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless
public servants, and children's mothers..

So I notice you now. I don't want to be worried I don't want to be
consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the
soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying
to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must
know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist.

How do I differentiate between the true Arab-Muslim-Americans and the
Arab-Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our
parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR
constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter those very
same good neighbors and children?

The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility
to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of it's
religions, with ALL of it's different citizens, with all of it's faults. It
is time for every Arab-Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether
or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to it's flag? Do you
proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in
your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation? That He will
protect and prosper it?

Or do you pray that Allah will destroy it in one of your "Jihads"?
Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom
that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave
their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by
paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your
commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at
this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are
taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of
America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the
innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. And no more
benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry
about what is unprovoked to you I am not interested in any more
sympathy...I am only interested in action. What will you do for America -
our great country -- at this time of crisis, at this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I
want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America." I want to see young
Arab-Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of
money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this
nation as a whole.

The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding
the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim
communities.

You know them. You know where they are. Tell us where they are, now!

But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead
I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter.
You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security
guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed
for protection from reprisals.

The very few Arab-Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the
media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with
making sure that the United States prove who was responsible before taking
action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from
violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did
with supporting our country and denouncing "leaders" like Khadafi, Hussein,
Farrakhan, and Arafat. If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance
and peace and love for all people then I want chapter and verse from the
Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good
is it if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true when your
"leaders" are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and
intolerance..

It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if large numbers of the
world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere
to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been demonstrated
to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a
foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members (some as young as five
years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year,
marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our
presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A
form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms
against the United States of America, the country of their birth. A
form whose rules are so twisted, that their
traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security
checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because our women proudly show
their faces in public?

Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because we drink wine with
dinner, or celebrate Christian holidays such as Christmas or Jewish holidays? Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us
because we have befriended Israel? And if you and your fellow Muslims hate us, then
why in the world are you even here?

Are you here to take our money? Are you here to undermine our peace
and stability? Are you here to destroy us? If so, I want you to leave. I
want you to go back to your desert sandpit. I want you to take your religion, your friends, and your family
back to your Islamic extremists, and STAY THERE!

We will NEVER give in to your influence, your retarded mentality,
your twisted, violent, intolerant religion as it is constantly being espoused by your clerics. We will NEVER allow the attacks
of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is
so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.

I want to know where every Arab-Muslim in this country stands and I
think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to
demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and
sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and
your family.

I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my
brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no
gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to YOU, to
show ME, where YOU stand."

"Until then .. you worry me." ""
************************************************************************
LET'S COVER THE COUNTRY WITH THIS ONE

[King Of Paperboys]

1. The person you know and love

Is a hate-filled bigot. As long as you know that going in, you can approach the relationship with honesty.

That was one of the most vile, hateful things I've ever read.

[RandomKoolzip]

2. Frankly, it's the dumb rich white guys with guns who worry ME.....

Just sayin'.....

[dolo amber]

35. Amen, brotha...

A-freakin'-men. :scared:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. Thanks. This has to be some of the stupidest shit I've read in a while.

[Guaranteed]

4. I'm really sorry, Millie.

That's got to be kind of shocking.

[billybob537]

5. Another victom

of the politics of fear. For every one like your friend there are 2 of us who refuse to fall for scare tactics.

[ArkDem]

6. White males are the cause of all the worlds problems perhaps

your friend needs to be reminded of this.

[Solly Mack]

7. If the author was actually a pilot he would be a danger to passengers

and while he may well be the real mccoy, that wouldn't make him any less dangerous.

[shaolinmonkey]

8. Wow. So according to this, every Muslim knows the intricate

details of every plot.

" We will NEVER give in to your influence, your retarded mentality,
your twisted, violent, intolerant religion as it is constantly being espoused by your clerics. We will NEVER allow the attacks
of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world. "

What about everyone's rights under the greatest constitution in the world?

"your twisted, violent, intolerant religion as it is constantly being espoused by your clerics"

What about Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell, the Klan, and the Turner Diaries crowd?

This type of ignorance is insufferable and cannot go unchallenged.

[eyesroll]

9. I love bigotry under the "I'm not trying to be bigoted, but" mantle

Because every Arab and Muslim living in the United States knows the terrorists.

Because putting an American flag on your car is the best way to declare: "See? No terrorists here. How could I be? I've got a flag on my car!"

Because proving who did something before retaliating is overrated.

And because Farrakhan and Hussein are moral equivalents.

Everyone has ingrained prejudices. I'd say most people treat members of some ethnic, gender or racial groups with more suspcion than we treat others. Perhaps we lock our doors when driving past a crowded bus shelter, or we resent it when people have conversations in languages we don't understand, or we see someone getting on an airplane and silently hope they're not sitting next to us.

But, you know what? It's our job to get over those prejudices and suspicions -- it's not up to the other people to prove us wrong.

[Quahog]

31. You are SO right

"It's our job to get over those prejudices and suspicions -- it's not up to the other people to prove us wrong."

You've gotten exactly to the heart of what's wrong with the original screed. Sure, yeah, maybe I have a twinge of fear if I see some "swarthy" guys speaking Arabic getting on the same plane as me. But it's not THEIR job to fix my irrational prejudices. It's not. It's my job.

At the core of the email message is a demand, that says, "Prove to me that I'm not right for being a racist prick." Sorry, that's not the way humanity works.

[gpandas]

10. what an asshole n/t

[sus]

11. here's a pretty good rebuttal:

http://www.bluejeansplace.com/RebuttingBigots.html

that email has been circulating for a few years and when I first got it, I sent a letter to American Airlines informing them that I would not be flying with them anymore and I would do everything in my power to see that my friends and family wouldn't either.

these people are in business(largely thanks to our taxdollars) and they need to be accountable.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

38. Many things not to like about AA, but this isn't one

http://www.bluejeansplace.com/Page12.html

[No2W2004]

12. Just ignorant freeper mentality on display.

Who ever came up with this is an example of what shrubco really represents...playing on the fears of the ignorant to scare them into complicity. People from the middle east (and, according to this piece of shit letter, anyone who "looks Arab") are guilty until they prove they are innocent. Who's next? Al Qaeda has cells in the Philippines, so will it be people who "look Asian"? People who "look French"?

If one person gets attacked or discriminated against because they "look Arab" even though they may actually be from India or Africa or even the UK, then ALL of us are witnessing the erosion of OUR civil liberties.

Just my opinion anyway...

[luaneryder]

13. Sickening

It reminds me of a time when a friend of mine and I were in a garden shop. We went out to look at some large trees and there was a man of South American Indian descent working there. She said she wasn't going any further becasue, "OOOOhhh, I'm afraid of Mexicans!" I couldn't believe my ears! I asked her if a "mexican" had ever hurt her; she said no, but she was scared of them. She indicted a very broad spectrum of "brown skinned" individuals on her absolutely baseless fears. I don't go anywhere with her anymore; it's just too embarrassing.

[GoBlue]

14. Well Capt John - if that's really your name

Its clear where you stand. And it makes me worry about American Airline pilots. So I will forward your plea to AA and tell that I wont be flying with them anymore.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. Cleverly written...

to spread hate while seeming to wish for love.

It comes from not knowing people. From them being "THEM."

New Jersey has the highest concentration of Arabs and/or Muslims in the country. I buy things fom them at their stores. Some are my customers, some I work with, some are my neighbors and some are my very dear friends.

Yes, it is possible that I may have unknowingly met a potential terrorist. I may also have unknowingly met a serial rapist, embezzler, or gangbanger at some point in my life, but almost all of the Muslims I know, just like every other group, are honest, hardworking, decent people.

I can't possibly go about my life living with this kind of prejudice and fear that the next Arab I meet may want to blow up my city. I don't fear that the next black person I meet will want to rob me, and I refuse to bow to this same sort of bigotry and fearmongering with our latest target of discrimination.

[asjr]

16. Miss Millie, just ignore this trash. We all get messages like

this that have been around. I get stuff like this from my Repub brother-in-law. I know he is stupid so I ignore it. I feel pity for people like that because they can't see what is really happening.

[Zomby Woof]

17. What IS it with wingnuts and spam emails??

They LOVE this shit! They think email carries some veneer of credibility... or are just the most gullible and ignorant fucktards on the planet.

I bet Snopes will debunk this in no time. I doubt if a pilot wrote this. Just some ignorant freeper retard with too much time in between jobs at the liquor store.

[Liberal Veteran]

18. Just reply and tell them to please not share their bigotry with you.

Because you find it offensive and that you think less of them for their being a bigot.

[MallRat]

19. SNOPES and BreakTheChain: Origins Unconfirmed.

Before everyone starts a boycott against American Airlines, please check out Snopes and Break The Chain. It appears that there really is a Captain John Maniscalco at American Airlines (as of 8/02), but he denies ever writing this.


http://www.snopes.com/rumors/worryme.htm

The origins of "You Worry Me" remain murky — it first appeared on the Internet in June 2002, but attempts to verify whether its real author is an American Airlines pilot and/or someone named John Maniscalco have led to dead ends. According to the FAA Registry, John Maniscalco is indeed a real pilot, but this item was also printed in a less vitriolic form in the Hyatsville, Maryland, Gazette (under the title "An open letter to my Arab-Muslim neighbors") on 12 October 2001 and credited to a Kevin Daly of Beltsville.

Newspaper publication of a piece as a letter to the editor is not a reliable indicator of true authorship, however, as demonstrated by another widely-circulated Internet piece about President Clinton that was printed in several different newspapers under the names of at least four different people. The Gazette letter might have been based on the Internet version, or the Internet version might be an altered transcription of the Gazette letter; John Maniscalco might have been the original author (or alterer), or he might have been someone whose name became attached to the piece simply because he forwarded it to others.


http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/worry.html

Michelle Simmons, customer relations representative for America Airlines, told BreakTheChain.org that they are investigating the matter, but have not yet found the letter's source.

"We are currently investigating whether this is an Internet hoax. We do have a pilot with the same name working for American Airlines who has indicated that he did not write this message. Regardless, let us assure you that the comments expressed in this article do not, in any way, represent the views of American Airlines.

"On September 12th, our Chairman issued a statement to all American employees specifically stating that we would not tolerate hate of any kind at our Company. That statement remains true today."

For now, regard this one as an unverified personal rant by an unconfirmed author. Break this Chain!

-MR

[Skittles]

20. racist, disgusting, ignorant asshole

The deluded f*** apparently doesn't realize there are many Muslim Americans.

[tjwash]

21. The truly disturbing thing about conservatives...

...is not their racist hate filled, delusional, bigotry. It is the PRIDE that they take in it.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Yes! I LOVE the ideas and action points of that letter!

And while we're requiring every Muslim to fess up and show us their loyalty, it's about damn time we made sure every German descent world-domination-wanting person proves his/her loyalty to the US and not to the Aryan overthrow of the world; and, dammit, let's make sure every hispanic from south of the border is for the US and not for Quetzalcoatl or the Incan empire or anything else; and make damn sure that the british and the swedes and the norwegians are loyal to the US and not their Kings and Queens; and those damn french-descent - who can trust them, with their Napolean obsession, overrunning Europe and northern Africa and Southeast Asia - what's next? Blowing up California for the glory of Notre Dame?

What an asshole.

[MissMillie]

23. What if I sent this reply:

This is about the scariest thing I've ever read, and I can only pray that you're not buying into it.

On April 19, 1995 a white male drove a truck that contained a bomb and parked it front of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The bomb exploded and 168 people where killed. Had there been 19 of him on that day, there would have been 3192 dead people.... so yes, that one man did as much damage as any one of those hijackers.

Yet where are the editorials saying we should be very afraid of all white men, that they should have to prove to us all that they're worthy of our trust.

Maybe if we get the whole country--white, black, brown, yellow, red--waving the flag and saying the pledge, then everyone would be to busy to notice the REALLY scary stuff going on under our own noses.

Such as? Our own government has done more to damage our constitutionally protected freedoms than these terrorists ever could. We have American citizens in jail right now, who have not been charged with a crime, have not had any access to lawyers. The terrorists didn't do that--our president did. Thanks to the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, our government has more access to our private medical and financial records than ever before. The terrorists didn't do that, our congressmen did.

I'm more afraid of the person who wrote this supposed "editorial" (oh, and there is a serious question as to its validity--see http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/worry.html ) than I am of Arabs and Muslims.

I'm sorry if you disagree. I certainly don't want to say or do anything that hurts our relationship. Maybe this will have to be something that you and I just don't talk about.

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. Looks like a good reply to me!

It's short enough that the person you send it to will likely read it.

Though I'd move the first paragraph to be the second to the last one, and the second and third paragraphs to be the fourth and fifth paragraph - starting off with the "white male drove a truck" might make your reader go "Oh, what bullshit" and not read any more. Better to start them right off with the "Maybe if we get the whole country" and then nail 'em with the "such as?" stuff, and AFTER that hit them with the white make stuff, you'll keep their attention longer.


on edit: like this:

Maybe if we get the whole country--white, black, brown, yellow, red--waving the flag and saying the pledge, then everyone would be to busy to notice the REALLY scary stuff going on under our own noses.

Such as? Our own government has done more to damage our constitutionally protected freedoms than these terrorists ever could. We have American citizens in jail right now, who have not been charged with a crime, have not had any access to lawyers. The terrorists didn't do that--our president did. Thanks to the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act, our government has more access to our private medical and financial records than ever before. The terrorists didn't do that, our congressmen did.

On April 19, 1995 a white male drove a truck that contained a bomb and parked it front of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The bomb exploded and 168 people where killed. Had there been 19 of him on that day, there would have been 3192 dead people.... so yes, that one man did as much damage as any one of those hijackers.

Yet where are the editorials saying we should be very afraid of all white men, that they should have to prove to us all that they're worthy of our trust?

I'm more afraid of the person who wrote this supposed "editorial" (oh, and there is a serious question as to its validity--see http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/worry.html ) than I am of Arabs and Muslims.

This is about the scariest thing I've ever read, and I can only pray that you're not buying into it.

I'm sorry if you disagree. I certainly don't want to say or do anything that hurts our relationship. Maybe this will have to be something that you and I just don't talk about.

[MissMillie]

24. kick for more input (n/t)

.

[SoCalDem]

25. email her to "warn" her that she inadvertantly forwarded a hateful

email to you, and that you are concerned that others on her list might think that she was bigoted..:)

Takes you off the hook, and lets her know how you feel :)

[johnnie]

27. First I would write back and ask her if she meant to send that to you

And also ask if she read it and understood that it is so bigoted. If she replies that indeed; she meant to send it and she also read it, then I would go further. I wouldn't go for the rebuttal right off the bat.
This stuff is just pure nonsense and is the typical arrogant rant by an average idiot.

[Bill McBlueState]

28. would they actually say this to a Muslim?

The whole piece is in the second person, addressed to "you," meaning some Muslim or Arab person.

But whoever started this thing, as well as the ones who perpetuate it, just hide behind their computers and forward it to all their white WASPy hick friends. They don't have the guts to actually find a Muslim and tell them this, because they know it's bullshit.

derrr... LET'S COVER THE COUNTRY WITH THIS ONE... derrrrr...

[King Of Paperboys]

30. Well of COURSE not!

Why would they say that to a real Muslim? Everyone KNOWS they're dangerous!

[Jade Fox]

34. they would have to get to know a Muslim first....

Its obvious when you hear people like this talk that they have never
gotten to know anyone of a different race or culture. That's how
they can make these sweeping statements about all of "them".

[Screaming Lord Byron]

29. I guess I will be labeled as a bigoted American.

Yeah. You are.

[Burma Jones]

32. Let's see, McVeigh, right winger, murderer

I want to know if every white person loves this country too, by Godfrey.

I know, Loyalty Oaths, yeah, that's the ticket.

[jmowreader]

33. Are Muslims supposed to have some little secret club?

Because that's what the writer, whoever the hell he is, implies. (There's a version of this that is written by a Native American who's pissed off that the Muslims in America aren't getting the same treatment his ancestors did--that the government is not sending Custer out to shoot their asses. If you drink a bottle of Jack Daniel's and search frontpagemag.com you might be able to find it.)

Yeah, you Muslims run out, track down the terrorists living here, and kill them. Because you all know the terrorists personally. You have goat-meat barbecues on the patio with them. You smoke hookah with them. You know them.

Which is about as much bullshit as saying I'm responsible for Matthew Shepard because I'm white and Fred Phelps is white, so obviously I'm Fred Phelps' best buddy. (Does Fred Phelps even have a best buddy?)

Jesus. What a load of ignorant crap.

[Philostopher]

36. Good point.

Maybe it's just a sort of psychological reflection. You know, goosestepping, hive-mind wingnuts assume that everybody who's not like them must have an O'RusHannity source for information that tells them everything they should think, and whom they should hate. Muslims obviously all are connected and attuned to the same information sources -- hive-mind wingnuts are.

[LDS Jock]

37. sickening

Let the Muslim stay here and throw the bigot out of the country.

[geniph]

39. Any argument that starts, "I'm not a (whatever), but..."

is automatically suspect. You see it a lot on bisexual forums, where at least half the posts seem to start, "I'm not gay, but" and then go on to say how much they want to have sex with another man. Fine, go have sex with another man - no one on a bisexual forum is going to condemn that, for chrissake - so why the need for the disclaimer? Same thing on forums bitching about feminism. Posts that start, "Well, I'm not a male chauvinist pig, but" and then go on to make some horrendously sexist comments. Under the guise of NOT being sexist, of course. The same applies for racists. If you start out your argument by protesting that "I'm not a bigot, but" chances are pretty good that what you're about to say is disgusting bigotry.

I'm not intolerant, but...I cannot tolerate this kind of racist trash!

[Sequoia]

40. Guess your KKK outfit is at the cleaners Worry Me

As Cheney would say....Go F yourself.

I'm sorry this person sent you this.