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Nice of you to put an Islamic Spin on a Regional Problem. Truth is the entire African Continent suffers from ignorance and prejudice. The President of South Africa, who is NOT a Muslim, thinks AIDS does not exist. The President of Zimbabwe thinks its all a hoax. Hell, the African Catholic Bishops thinks condoms PROMOTE the spread of VD!!! Even the most recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize thinks AIDS is a Western Plot.

Before you start spouting rightwing nonsense, do your research.

Hey Jack.
Once again, the point of your post is missed. I guess it’s easier to hate everything about Republicans and to blame everything on Bush than it is to look at the facts of a problem.
Maybe you should change it alittle and blame America in some way.

Thanks for bringing this story to my attention, but to be honest, it doesn’t surprise me one bit. And neither will the responses.

The Point of Jack’s Post is to Bash Muslims. That’s why he mentioned Muslims and Muslim Clerics while ignoring the Christians and the Catholic Bishops. Both the Christians and Muslims hold the same positions but you imply that only the Muslims have this problem. The problems of Africa cross religious and ethnic bounderies but OFCOURSE you two would see it as a vast leftwing conspiracy against Bush. Sheesh.

Hey Tim,
See, vaccines do work! :)

The point was that muslim children are dying because of anti-Americanism.
Now, do we blame rightwing nonsense or the people who are stealing the money for the deaths?
Jacks post made no reference to left or right wing thinking, he was pointing out that children are dying because so-called leaders hate America.
Why must every situation be thought of as a left and right thing?

I really don’t care about other countries or its people, especially if they hate America. But when their ignorance kills innocent children that don’t even know what the hell America really is, that is wrong.

Brian
Touche my friend, but I still don’t trust them with MY childrens life.

Aldous, what hay train did you fall off of? Why is it that you can’t grasp the point?

Tom: Aldous, what hay train did you fall off of? Why is it that can’t grasp the point?

Because, he’s a f—king liberal, that’s why!!

Oh, I’m sorry, was that too harsh?

Aldous

It reason it has to do with Muslims is only because Muslim children are the chief victims of the bigotry. Other mentions are in the news article, not in what I wrote.

When I wrote my own post, I included despots, bigoted clerics and deranged academics as the perpetrators and specifically did not mention Muslims. Despots, bigoted clerics and deranged academics come in all religions and nationalities. You are projecting your own prejudices onto what I wrote.

The story is one I have been following since I first heard about it last year. It is truly tragic that ignorance may prevent the eradication of polio. I think it is very important for all of us to recognize and try to prevent this kind of problem, which could mean the deaths of millions.

I agree with you about the other anti-American fools whose ignorance is killing their people.

Ignorance and anti-western or specifically anti-Americanism is slowing U.S. response to the AIDS crisis. I don’t know what religion most of these opponents are, but I suspect their opposition is more political than religious. Zimbabwe is the place I had in mind when I talked about rejecting U.S. food aid. Mugabe is willing to let thousands of his people starve. I believe Mugabe calls himself an atheist, so you don’t even have to be religious at all to do these sorts of things.

Jack,
Care to compare this article to Reagan’s opinions about AIDS, and the repercussions of his inaction? Striking similarities… amazing what the combination of religion & prejudice can lead people to do…

Phx8

We can compare things worldwide. I agree that bigotry is bad. Read what I wrote on the other side re science. Just because we can’t do everything doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything.

What I am talking about here is a specific concrete case where anti-American bigotry caused death and destruction. This is happening today, not twenty years ago, and it very unambiguous. The U.S. policy changed so that today it is by far the biggest contributor to the fight against AIDS. Science won in that case. Let’s hope it wins in Africa too.

Ignorance is the main problem. A lack of education, knowledge, and lack of logical skills embraces a large part of the world. It is also a fact that most of this ignorant world is inhabitated by Muslims. Ergo. The real question to examine is what came first: ignorance or Islam?

Jack,

Most of the time it doesn’t matter what the problem is … there are some who always find a way to blame Republicans and/or America.

Aldous:

Perhaps I’m being blinded by my rightwing zealotry, but what particular aspect of the post is anti-Muslim? The headline reads “Stupid anti-Americanism kills Muslim children, others,” and the explanation refers to “bigoted clerics” as being one group among many that allow anti-Americanism, religious bigotry and outright stupidity to interfere with the health, welfare and forward progress of their people. It’s the referenced AP article, not the post, which refers to “hard-line Islamic clerics in Nigeria’s northern state of Kano” as being the instigators of the vaccine boycott. Thus, your introduction of an anti-Muslim spin into the post is more your doing than that of anyone else, and it says more about your myopia than it does the politics of the poster.

Furthermore, and just so the rest of us can follow along, in what way is pointing out the utter stupidity of those who would eschew urgently-needed medical assistance out of misplaced and groundless hatred for the United States “rightwing nonsense?” Don’t leftists, too, believe this to be outrageous? Or has the Left so completely lost its moral bearings post its crushing defeat at the polls in November that it no longer recognizes moral degeneracy, even when it’s writ large in the crippled bodies of African children, for what it is?

Your comment, Aldous, is exemplary of one of the many problems with the Left. Irrespective of the issue at hand, the Left invariably chooses the side in opposition to the Right—not out of real belief or ideology, but out of spite and the furtherance of some political agenda. It’s a message that comes off as empty and insincere. Being contrarian for its own sake is not leadership, as a majority of American voters most recently observed; it’s heel-biting.

Oh, and lighten-up, bub. You’ll live longer.

Gurn,
What makes the post anti Islam to the Communist (or I mean leftist) is that Jack mentioned “Hard line Islamic Clerics”.
He should have blamed the US or Bush, then they would’ve been happy.

Am I to understand that only African Muslim Children die from this in lieu of everyone else’s? How many Christian Children die because their Parents believed the bias of their Non-Muslim Leaders? The problems in Africa are endemic to the entire region with little regard to Religion. Your Post focusing on Muslims while ignoring others is myopic and just plain wrong.

As I read the news, the first and victims are the Muslim children whose parents are oppressed by the bigoted clerics. Since disease doesn’t respect borders, the increased incidence has caused some cases outside the immediate area. We don’t know what religion these guys are. I don’t think it makes it any better if the clerics are only harming children in their own villages.

I didn’t write the AP story or create the news. I only reported.

Jack,

I never said the story was wrong or that you fabricated it. My problem is that your Post potrayed what is essentially a regional issue into a stereotype for an entire group. The title “Stupid anti-Americanism kills Muslim children, others” tells it all. It gave the impression that is misleading and out-of-context.

The AP story is about a small region in Nigeria and the rise of Polio there and the reasons thereof. The Associated Press only provides the absolute bare essentials. It’s why its there. It is not the AP’s job to provide perspective and context. Research is done by the Newspapers and Networks to “Flesh” out the story.

Your Post fails to mention that ignorance and prejudice is prevalent throughout the continent. It crosses religion and ethnicity. You failed to provide the context that is required from an AP Post. That is wrong and gives what ends up as false information to your readers.

There are lots of ignorant people in the world. I don’t need to list them all. This is a particular egregious case where anti-American bigotry is killing and crippling kids.

Any news report shows only part of a picture. I could well write a long report about ignorance and prejudice around the world. It would be very long, but near the top in the plain stupidity department would be these guys in Nigeria, who doing it to their own children. I read the translations of some of the Muslim sermons given around the world. There is a lot of hatred of the U.S. and disinformation. I am just showing how in a particular case, hatred kills more than just the objects of the hatred. It is unfortunate that it is innocent children.

This is also potentially a much bigger story. Polio is almost eradicated. We could free humanity of a disease that has killed and maimed hundreds of millions of people since the beginning of history. Like small pox, it could become something we read about in history, but don’t experience. These ignorant sons of bitches could make that impossible. Their bigotry could sentence millions to incapacity and death. Under the right conditions, which you rightly mention are present in Africa, it could spread across the continent and the world. Imagine what a good deed it would be to relief future generations of this pestilence. Now imagine what a bad deed it is to prevent it.

Their ignorance sickens and angers me, and it should do the same to you. Everyone should be ashamed to be associated with such people.

*sigh*

My problem is your emphasis on the Muslim Aspect on your Introduction Post. As if only Muslim Children are dying due to the reasons stated. African Christians are also guilty of Anti-Americanism and disinformation. The Christians in Africa probably kill more children than the Muslims. Your Introduction to the AP Story emphasized their Religion and made no mention that the problems are spread to all religions. By focusing on one small part of the problem without clarifying the bigger picture, you give misinformation whether you intend it or not.

You have an interesting way of crafting your argument, Aldous. You’re initial claim was that the post was somehow anti-Muslim. It is not, and you appear to have backed away from that. Determined to press on, however, you now claim that the post somehow provides false information to any reader who might come along. (This, too, is inaccurate inasmuch as any reader can link to the actual article and read it in its entirety, making up his or her own mind as to who to blame for such ignorance.) I don’t wish to sound pedantic, but your subtle yet unmistakable shift in reasoning is what’s known as a Straw Man—you’ve created an argument in opposition to a point completely different and weaker than the argument originally offered by the poster, viz., “the consequences of the stupidity of despots, bigoted clerics and deranged academics tend to fall on the innocent people around them.” Your postings suggest that you’re too bright to unwittingly offer-up such an obvious fallacy, so one can only assume that you’ve done so purposely. But no matter the motive, it is the sign of a weak argument.

Note that I don’t begrudge you your indignation, Aldous. I simply believe that it’s misplaced here.

Aldous

So you would contend that stupid anti-Americanism all over Africa is one of the causes for the problems there. I agree that anti-Americanism (along with the various varieties of anti-Westernism and hostility to the free market) is a cause of a lot of the world’s misery. The best thing any poor country can do to make itself less poor is to enact free market reforms and stop trying to blame the U.S. for problems created by local despotism, corruption, ignorance and mismanagment, but I bet if I made a sweeping statement like that you would write in to tell me why that wasn’t true.

If we would all just pay $80,000 over the next 10 to 15 years then all our financial troubles would be solved. Then the government could just sell cookies to make money.

I think it’s interesting that here, the UN is regarded by many as an entirely corrupt, anti-American body, while in other parts of the world, people think it is a front for US oppression. I guess it’s hard being the mediator.

As to a solution to the twin problems of anti-Americanism and lack of education, I am encouraged that American universities are establishing campuses in many countries in Africa. Everything I’ve read seems to indicate that the American universities in the middle east have done more to promote good relationships with the Arabs than almost anything else. Increasing American investment in educating African and other countries would not only let them see us in a good light and establish ties to American institutions, it would allow those who want to be college educated (over a million in Nigeria passed a qualifiying exam, while only 116,000 were able to find a slot) to stay and lead their country. When a respected Nigerian scientist tells them the vaccine is necessary, they would probably pay more attention and be less likely to act out of fear and paranoia. I hope these kinds of programs can be encouraged.

Its a vast right wing conspiracy

Yea, and they would probably buy cookies if we sold them there.

Stirring it up!

Let’s invade Mars and pilfer all the natural resourses there and snub the middle east oil industry, and sell cookies and lemonade !