Phelps isn't the only one who promotes this kind of nonsense.
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell were quick to blame the 9/11 attacks on liberals, gays, and feminists, saying that we "probably deserve" what happened:
Quote:
Falwell said, "What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve."
Robertson replied, "Well, Jerry, that's my feeling. I think we've just seen the antechamber to terror, we haven't begun to see what they can do to the major population."
Falwell said, "The ACLU has got to take a lot of blame for this. And I know I'll hear from them for this, but throwing God...successfully with the help of the federal court system...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen."
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It isn't Muslims they're targeting and blaming, it's anyone who doesn't think exactly like they do.
The day following the 9/11 attacks, a Sikh man was murdered not far from here by a couple of lowlifes who beat him to death when he stopped to fill up his car with gas. There were actually people defending these dimwits on the basis of thier anger, if misplaced, was justified.
Accepting blame is difficult. Blaming others is easy, especially when the others are Other, people not like me in some way. I can understand why some mainstream Muslims are reluctant to denounce the extremists, especially when they're faced with being accused of things for which they're not responsible simply on the basis on their religion and national origin.
It's easier to denounce your enemy than it is your brother, and sometimes very difficult to recognize that your brother is your enemy.
Gilda