I am tired of the hate and ignorance. People are being manipulated into hating Muslims

MadHatter wrote:

Alethea Thompson wrote: Soooooooooo...if you think that will work, Yabuturtle, why not learn Arabic (and all of it's customs), collect a small team of people to accompany you and go over there to convince ISIS they need to lay down their weapons?

While I do not think that total peace is the answer I can easily turn this on you. If you think fighting is the answer have you enlisted in the military and asked for orders to the middle east? I do not know the answer and I do know that force should never be totally discounted but to go so easily to force is just a risky as total pacifism.

HA!!! THAT'S FUNNY!!!! Hello, Madhatter, my name is Former Specialist Alethea Jolene Thompson of the United States Army Military Police. I went to Iraq and served as a guard in a detainee facility where I DID perform in a diplomatic capacity. I was the most well liked Guard amongst my detainees over the course of 14 months, working tirelessly for 12 hours a day with about a months worth of time off between my 2 weeks at home, my one week in Qatar and the rest odds and ends days off that just happened to occur. I was well known for watching out for my detainee's religious observations. I was there as an ambassador of the American People.

I left only because I became pregnant. By the time I wanted to go back in, I decided that the Middle East is not worth the effort. I'd focus more on trying to do things here in the Homeland.

So yes, I did do my part, Madhatter. I'm not telling Yabuturtle to do anything that I wouldn't do myself.

To the tune of, I think we should step back to the gather evidence phase and chime in with our personal experiences.

Yabuturtle wrote:

Alethea Thompson wrote: Soooooooooo...if you think that will work, Yabuturtle, why not learn Arabic (and all of it's customs), collect a small team of people to accompany you and go over there to convince ISIS they need to lay down their weapons?

I wish people read my posts.

Fanatics are fanatics, and they are a threat but people acting as if they are the biggest threat out there and they are not even close to being the real threat. Sometimes the more dangerous enemy is the one right in your backyard or moves more silently.

I am not suggesting we do nothing and expect them to give up their weapons. I'd rather there be no killing. I don't want anyone dead. Not even the most awful people on the planet. We do need to defend ourselves. And I thought that's what Jedi were, or at least some were, were defenders, not merciless attackers.

I did read your post. My point is that if you truly cared enough, you would do something more than just talk about the change you want to see. That means you'd have to convince the people that are instigating the issues, not those which are defending themselves.

Alethea Thompson wrote:

MadHatter wrote:

Alethea Thompson wrote: Soooooooooo...if you think that will work, Yabuturtle, why not learn Arabic (and all of it's customs), collect a small team of people to accompany you and go over there to convince ISIS they need to lay down their weapons?

While I do not think that total peace is the answer I can easily turn this on you. If you think fighting is the answer have you enlisted in the military and asked for orders to the middle east? I do not know the answer and I do know that force should never be totally discounted but to go so easily to force is just a risky as total pacifism.

HA!!! THAT'S FUNNY!!!! Hello, Madhatter, my name is Former Specialist Alethea Jolene Thompson of the United States Army Military Police. I went to Iraq and served as a guard in a detainee facility where I DID perform in a diplomatic capacity. I was the most well liked Guard amongst my detainees over the course of 14 months, working tirelessly for 12 hours a day with about a months worth of time off between my 2 weeks at home, my one week in Qatar and the rest odds and ends days off that just happened to occur. I was well known for watching out for my detainee's religious observations. I was there as an ambassador of the American People.

I left only because I became pregnant. By the time I wanted to go back in, I decided that the Middle East is not worth the effort. I'd focus more on trying to do things here in the Homeland.

So yes, I did do my part, Madhatter. I'm not telling Yabuturtle to do anything that I wouldn't do myself.

So E-4 31E as your MOS? Just curious. I would also say that being willing to guard prisioners and being in a combat MOS are a bit different. I myself did my time in the US Navy. However my point is that use of force is not something to be done lightly never mind use of lethal force. Other options should be considered but often are not. I never discount use of force but it should be the last tool we reach for.

I am a fan of de-escalation.

rugadd wrote: I am a fan of de-escalation.

When and where possible I totally agree

Bravo. I stepped in as an Echo because they didn't have enough Echos in the military to pull off the job. That said, the person that ran the facility was an Echo. I got to work with two of them.

I'm for the DID(Diplomacy, Intelligence, Defense) model. What I find saddening is when people think they understand what our government does, and they have no real experience in the field, or education on it. But even more saddening than that, is when people aren't willing to step up to the plate and contribute, but they are more than willing to call out our government for things we can't do right.

Before passing judgement on the government, know what you're talking about. If you think you can do better, then actually make the attempt to do better. People find ways all the time. But this complaining? It's just words. Words only mean something when you put them into action.

Alethea Thompson wrote: Bravo. I stepped in as an Echo because they didn't have enough Echos in the military to pull off the job. That said, the person that ran the facility was an Echo. I got to work with two of them.

I'm for the DID(Diplomacy, Intelligence, Defense) model. What I find saddening is when people think they understand what our government does, and they have no real experience in the field, or education on it. But even more saddening than that, is when people aren't willing to step up to the plate and contribute, but they are more than willing to call out our government for things we can't do right.

Before passing judgement on the government, know what you're talking about. If you think you can do better, then actually make the attempt to do better. People find ways all the time. But this complaining? It's just words. Words only mean something when you put them into action.

That is not a fair statement. One does not need to be a firefighter to know you do not put out a fire with gasoline. Our intervention in the middle east literally armed and funded Osama and his band which bit us in the rear down the road. We supported Saddam vs Iran which bit us later. What else are we doing now that will bite us down the road? The situation in the middle east is something we have been failing hard at since roughly 1985 on.

I think some missed the point of my post.

I personally think this is a divide and conquer move. You know even Star Wars did that. Remember the prequals, where they made up the whole Seperatist movement and made it as if Dooku and Palpatine were enemies even though they were allies and this was a way for Palpatine to make up excuses and obtain more power for himself, to the point where he had control of the senate? They got the idea because it's happened before in history.

However with all these attacks involving Muslims, people are willing to listen to the media, which is bias anyway, instead of getting experience and actually talking to Muslims. They assume every Muslim believes in the exact same thing and that they are all violent and must be stopped. If you notice the patterns in the media, you know what I am talking about.

It's the same thing whenever someone does something bad, they have to mention their race or religion. As if that had something to do with it. Such as with whites and blacks with all of this cop violence. People look at the headlines and act as if the race has something to do with it and they start thinking that the race is bad, rather than looking at the bigger picture. There are good and bad in many races and religions. We need to realize what's going on here. Whites and blacks, Muslims and non-Muslims, I see it so many times in the media. This just seems like another divide and conquer move.

Yabuturtle wrote: I think some missed the point of my post.

Perhaps, or perhaps as with many discussions, this has just grown beyond the parameters you hoped you had originally set. For myself, I find myself agreeing with you that there are people with the power to affect such things who desire for us (meaning Americans, or Westerners maybe) to hate Muslims as a bloc rather than seeing that most adherents of Islam are not like the fractional percentage who commit terrorist acts. For myself, I find myself agreeing with you that religious extremists, no matter the religion, pose a danger when their extremism leads them to rationalize terror and murder. For myself, I find myself agreeing with you that we should not be fooled and actually take the time to speak with adherents of Islam and learn for ourselves that most of them abhor the actions of the extremist few just as we do.