Racism in the US has hit an all time low with the recent uproar by the media and senators on Capitol Hill. A United Arab Emirates company (Dubai Ports World) is set to purchase a British firm which manages some of the major ports in the U.S. Normally, a business transaction as such would appear under the business news, and wouldn’t get too much attention. This story has shot to the top of US Media simply because an Arab country is making the acquisition.
Critics are attempting to use the name of “terrorism” to try to block the Dubai based company from operating US Ports. Many international companies operate ports in the United States and none have triggered such uproar in the past. According to CNN, companies from China, Denmark, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan operate ports in Los Angeles.
The level of racism in the U.S. against Arabs/Muslims is shameful. The picture the media has painted of Muslims leads a sheltered person to believe that all Muslims are bad. It has grown exponentially worse since 9/11 and there is no sign of racism slowing down. People just can’t understand that there are bad people all over the world killing each other. Christians, Muslims, Jews. With all religions, there are a lot of good seeds and a small amount of bad seeds. Just because the media tends to tie terrorism to Islam, it doesn’t mean that 1.3 billion Muslims in the world are terrorists. In general, the people in this world who target innocent civilians are generally impoverished, brainwashed and have been suppressed and lost all hope.
Terrorist has a new meaning in the post 9/11 world. Terrorism is used as tactic to gain consent for unlawful wars and to gain support for attaining almost any political goal. By definition a terrorist is “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion”. By my terms, terrorists include people who target innocent civilians, whereas someone fighting against an occupation is not necessarily a terrorist. The US Media doesn’t draw this line anymore. The media will paint “anyone who is against us” as a terrorist. Visit Guantanamo Bay for proof of this.
Have you seen Why We Fight yet?
Go see it– playing at the Carlton.
Don’t see why its racism. The UAE is a well know haven for terrorist money. (I was raised in Dubai.) I don’t necessarily think this is about Islam or religion, so much as a bonifide security concern. I find it troubling that the US is outsourcing any control of its ports to anyone period.
Darlene
Darelene,
Although it is questionable whether the US should outsource the management of their ports to any internation companies, I think my point was addressing a different concern that I have. I think another discussion could be had regarding whether the outsourcing is right or wrong.
Nonetheless, I would think that if it was just security concerns, people would have been concerned when it was originally outsourced to the British company, or the other international companies that manage the ports.
It was never a concern to the general public until a company based in an Arab country purchased the rights.
Also note that the port security is managed by the US and the US only. The outsourcing only outsources the management and operations of the ports, not the security of the ports.