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What kind of evil can we stop when the united states government most often perceives ALL Muslims as evil. I'm not saying no Muslims have actually done anything, but for example, 2 summers ago, when the war in Lebanon broke out, my friend was so devastated about how his family was stuck in Beirut, unable to move out of the country. I promised her thatwe would start a campaign in the United States, showing how many Lebanese are with unity and democracy and against Hezbollah, one of the hardcore extremist Muslim groups i cited earlier. So what did we get out of it? Nothing. Every moderate Muslim and even many American friends and mentors I had spoken to immediately shot the idea down. What did these liberal-thinking, moderate Americans and American-Muslims say?
"Well, the US government isn't going to buy into that."
BS. I tried so hard to get my campaign off the ground. It never worked.
Last year, I tried to start a fundraiser for Lebanese and Israeli babies in my school. It was a kind of donation drive of blankets and sweaters for the children of both of the affected countries. What did the assistant principal of my school say? Well, he shot it down too. In pretyt much his words: Israel, yes. Lebanon...well, that kills the drive somewhat. People are going to relate Lebanon to Hezbollah. It's not going to succeed. You can try, I give you my full permission. And he did.
I went to one of my best friends, then pres. of Amnesty International at our school.
He didn't shoot it down, but we actually tried the idea at the PResidents' council at my school, and they shot it down.
So basically, I'm saying that there are a LOT of modeate Muslims, including myself, who try to show exactly their frustration and disappointment with extremist groups, but it certianly is not the easiest thing if the federal administration looks down upon Islam as a whole.
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