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2004-08-05 Home Front: Culture Wars
Charlie Daniels Causes Seething in Angers Arab Community
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Posted by Steve White 2004-08-05 11:44:12 AM|| || Front Page|| [11135 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 And I suppose "Devil Went Down to Georgia" makes fun of Southern Baptists . . .

Fun song, that. You stay away from ol' Daniels, you turbaned idiots!
Posted by The Doctor 2004-08-05 12:22:35 PM||   2004-08-05 12:22:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 I live in Dearborn and I can tell you that the only arabs at the Homecoming concerts are young men hitting on anything blonde with boobs. Most of the arab community doesn't attend non-arab concerts anyway.
Posted by Formerly Dan 2004-08-05 12:25:58 PM||   2004-08-05 12:25:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Doesn't surprise me. You don't think they'd actually attend those concerts, do you, Dan? That would expose them to infidels and might risk lifting their ignorance. They much prefer to seethe in safety. Keeps them from doing something constructive like maybe holding a concert of their own.
Posted by The Doctor 2004-08-05 12:28:47 PM||   2004-08-05 12:28:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 I bet Charlie could give a F*&K what these thin-skinned asshats thinks
Posted by Frank G  2004-08-05 12:37:34 PM||   2004-08-05 12:37:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Charlie, why aren't you fighting for "regime change" like all us other has beens?
Repent, Charlie! Repent!
Posted by Bruce 2004-08-05 12:44:02 PM||   2004-08-05 12:44:02 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 I don't like the idea that CD is 67.
Posted by Shipman 2004-08-05 12:45:51 PM||   2004-08-05 12:45:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 "especially in a city like Dearborn with its rich diversity,"

Diversity my *ss. How long will it be before Dearborn is 100% Muslim with just a few token dhimmis just for appearances? Oh wait! Wouldn't that be now??? Practically is anyway.
Posted by peggy  2004-08-05 1:19:45 PM||   2004-08-05 1:19:45 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 I grew up about 15 min's away from Dearborn. Dan's got it right, won't be too many arabs at a Charlie Daniels concert unless they're trying to pick up blonde chicks they can't bring home to mommy.
Posted by Jarhead 2004-08-05 2:47:58 PM||   2004-08-05 2:47:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Allah notes Imad Hamad's, ahem, jihaditolerant past.
Posted by someone 2004-08-05 3:07:27 PM||   2004-08-05 3:07:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 ironically Dearborn, IIUC, includes a significant population of Iraqis who have been very suppoortive of US policy in Iraq.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 4:13:46 PM||   2004-08-05 4:13:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 So what are you saying, Lh?
That Charlie shouldn't do his show out of sensitivity to those Iraqis who like us?
And how far away is Hammantrack (or whatever), where the Mooslim prayer call has been imposed on the "infidels?"
How much are we going to accomadate this culture that is so foreign to our American one, no matter how supportive they are of our "policies?"
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 4:18:48 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 4:18:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 I certainly think Charlie should do whats in his heart, as self-expression is SO important.

I wouldnt use an ethnic or religious slur against anyone (and yes, I know liberals who willing to use slurs against fundamentalist Christians - I wouldnt do that either) I wouldnt accomodate Arabs any more than Id accomodate Italians, Germans, Japanese, Irish, Blacks, Chinese, Indians, or anyone else. I fail to see whats so controversial, or even so liberal about that. Need I remind you that in 2000 the Bush Cheney campaign appealed strongly to the arab-American citizens of Greater Detroit?
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 4:41:19 PM||   2004-08-05 4:41:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 April, 2003

President Bush is expected to speak in Dearborn on Monday, state Republicans said.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel declined to confirm the visit, which also was reported by the Associated Press. The wire service said Bush would discuss the future of Iraq with Iraqi-Americans and other Metro Detroiters.

Casey Mahbuba, the president of the Iraqi American Chamber of Commerce, said he wants to hear about Bush's plans for rebuilding Iraq.

"I hope we hear a clear message about how long it will take to rebuild Iraq and how much time we need to get to elections for a government," said Mahbuba, 32, who came to Dearborn in 1992 from Iraq. "We also want to know how long he thinks the United States will have to stay in Iraq."

Bush's visit follows one to Dearborn on Feb. 23 by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, one of the leading planners of the war. Wolfowitz met with Iraqi Shiites in Dearborn, who told him of the persecution they suffered under then-President Saddam Hussein.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 4:43:31 PM||   2004-08-05 4:43:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 October 2000

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — An influential organization of Arab-American political leaders from the Detroit area gave a unanimous endorsement to Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush on Sunday.

Members of the Arab-American Political Action Committee said their support for the Texas governor was based mainly on political preference.

Many told the Detroit Free Press in a story for Monday editions that Bush has reached out for Arab-Americans' support, while Democratic rival Al Gore has not. But a few also said they were uneasy with Gore's Orthodox Jewish vice presidential candidate, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

Bush is “someone who listens, who's flexible on Middle Eastern issues,” said committee member Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News in Dearborn. “Lieberman's culture and religion are embedded. Lieberman is already committed in his soul to Israel.”

Other committee members played down Lieberman's ethnicity and faith.

“We support good Jewish candidates,” said Azzam Elder, an assistant Wayne County prosecutor. The group has supported Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, “and he's Jewish,” Elder said. “We go by their policies.”

The committee is an influential political force among the nearly 300,000 Arab-Americans living in the Detroit metropolitan area

Bush is locked in a virtual dead heat with Gore in Michigan with less than a month before the election.

Lieberman said Friday that he didn't think his presence on the Democratic ticket would hurt Gore's effort to attract Arab-American votes.

“I'm an American, just like they're Americans. The first interest we have ... is the interest of our country,” he said
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 4:47:24 PM||   2004-08-05 4:47:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 The Gore-Lieberman quote was from a time, of course, before 9/11.
And is our enemy IslamoFascism or not?
Charlie Daniels is asking what the Arab-American quoted said,
Are you more loyal to America or to Islam?
Clearly, there are different kinds of Mooslims in the Detroit area.
The question of the day is whether or not the radical ones can inflame or radicalize the more moderate ones.
The answer to that is blowing in the wind.
Charlie's merely trying to "smoke them out of their holes."
And if Linda Ronstandt and Don Henley can push Mikey Moore and irrationally bash President Bush at their concerts, then Charlie Daniels can use his 1st Amendment rights and single out Mooslims.
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 5:07:31 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 5:07:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 The Gore-Lieberman quote was from a time, of course, before 9/11.

Which is why i mentioned support for our policies. Why bash also those arabs who support our policies. OTOH if its a deepseated religious-cultural thing that predated 9/11, surely?

And is our enemy IslamoFascism or not?

Once again, Islamofascism does not equal Islam.

Charlie Daniels is asking what the Arab-American quoted said,
Are you more loyal to America or to Islam?
Clearly, there are different kinds of Mooslims in the Detroit area.
The question of the day is whether or not the radical ones can inflame or radicalize the more moderate ones.

Its also whether calling Muslims Mooslims and Ragheads will inflame or radicalize the more moderate muslims. "Hath not a muslim eyes...."

The answer to that is blowing in the wind.
Charlie's merely trying to "smoke them out of their holes."
And if Linda Ronstandt and Don Henley can push Mikey Moore and irrationally bash President Bush at their concerts, then Charlie Daniels can use his 1st Amendment rights and single out Mooslims.

Yup, i may hate what you have to say but ill defend with my life your right to say it. But that allows me to contest what you say, or even despise it. I find Michael Moore despicable, and those who defend him foolish at best. I dont see why holding the same opinion wrt to Charlie Daniels makes me an enemy of the 1st amendment.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 5:16:19 PM||   2004-08-05 5:16:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 These Mooslims are, as usual, trying to use the tools of Liberalism to harm us.
Charlie wrote this song--and may I point out that it does not use the term "ragheads"--and it's been a hit.
Islamofascists are the enemy.
Country music rallies people for America and defense of our country and is not known for singing the praises of a "multiculti" utopia.
If people don't like it, they shouldn't buy a ticket to his concert!
(Whereas Henley and his crowd are saying that Bush is the enemy and making statements perilously close to treason.)
The day is coming when the rest of us are going to have to decide if it's safe to have practicing Mooslims in our country.
That's just the way it is.
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 5:24:04 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 5:24:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 Charlie wrote this song--and may I point out that it does not use the term "ragheads"--and it's been a hit.
LH - fahrenheit 911 is also a hit. Its still despicable.

Islamofascists are the enemy.

LH - again - not all muslims are islamofascists. Not all muslims are islamists. Whether all islamists are islamofascists is a matter of dispute, though I lean that they are.

Country music rallies people for America and defense of our country and is not known for singing the praises of a "multiculti" utopia.
LH - mainly its known for singing about personal things. While there are a few well known patriotic country songs, its performers are by no means identical in their politics, and included quite a few who are rather more liberal than I am, IIUC.

If people don't like it, they shouldn't buy a ticket to his concert!

LH Perhaps you didnt notice that he is singing at a city sponsored festival.

(Whereas Henley and his crowd are saying that Bush is the enemy and making statements perilously close to treason.)

LH - if and when Kerry is elected will you consider statements that Kerry is the enemy to be perilously close to treason?

The day is coming when the rest of us are going to have to decide if it's safe to have practicing Mooslims in our country.

LH - res ipso loquitur.

That's just the way it is.

LH - thats your opinion. Others differ, and will judge Mr. Daniels accordingly.

Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 5:33:05 PM||   2004-08-05 5:33:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Here's what Charlie said in reply to the Arab outrage:
"It's not anti-Arab or anti-anything," he said Wednesday by phone from Tennessee, where he lives. "The only thing it's 'anti' is the people who bombed us on 9/11. I have people who say you're putting down people who wear turbans. I'm not."

"There are good Arabs and bad Arabs, good Greeks and bad Greeks, good people and bad people in any race," Daniels said. "I'm not a racist person. I came up during the old Jim Crow days. I know what racism is."

The minute that we separate out identifying the enemy as IslamoNazis from "racism" (which is a bogus charge, BTW) is the day we'll really start winning the war.
And this goes for profiling on airplanes as well as patriotic songs.
And Charlie can stop about radical Muslims when the media in Middle Eastern countries stop their anti-Semitic attacks, blaming everything on Jews and saying that the Holocaust is a lie.
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 5:42:48 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 5:42:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 If hes not attacking folks who wear turbans, why refer to a turban as a rag?? Suppose someone referred to a head covering such as Jews and the Pope wear as a beanie? In context of contrasting a beanie with the flag? would not Jews and Catholics have the right to be offended?

Radical muslims wear turbans. So do some muslims who are on our side. So do Sikhs, as a matter of fact (including the Sikh who was murdered shortly after 9/11) Im glad Charlie aint a racist. Or evena bigot against religions. But if you cant understand why people might find the song offensive, and why they would have a problem with it being sung at a city sponsored festival, you need to spend some more time trying to put yourself in others peoples shoes (as yes, so should muslims, even those moderate muslims who support the USA but are unfair to India or Israel)
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 5:55:08 PM||   2004-08-05 5:55:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 Charlie isn't referring to "ragheads," but anyone who treats the flag in a disrespectful way.
You're as a touchy as a Hamas-supporting imam with an ACLU lawyer!
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 6:01:04 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 6:01:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 So its the folks who wear US flag bandannas that he has a problem with?? Most of whom seem to be quite patriotic, if ignorant of traditional flag ettiquette?? If you believe that Ive got a bridge to sell you.

Cmon this aint a rag, you dont wear it on your head - who the hell wears rags on their heads?? Folks who DO wear the US flag would logically be told the flag isnt a HAT or a BANDANNA, or whatever, not that its not a rag. The only people who are SAID to wear rags on their heads are the so-called ragheads.

Which is why he referred in his quote to 9/11. AFAIK no one who was implicated in those terrorist acts wore a US flag bandanna at any time. If you have info to the contrary, let me know.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 6:19:48 PM||   2004-08-05 6:19:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 Liberalhawk , get a grip!
If I didn't know you were Jewish, I would swear you were an Arab!
(And no-one's targeting anyone who wears beanies! Not even Beanie and Cecil or the freshmen at my university who used to have to wear beanies!)
Our enemy is radical Islam and that's all Charlie is saying!
To pretend that "we're all friends now" when 3,000 Americans were slaughtered on 9/11 by IslamoNazis and we're now at war in the Middle East is crazy!
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 6:26:19 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 6:26:19 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 that you would charecterize me as an arab, or any other ethnicity based on my assertions that a certain song may be offensive is really quite striking.

Were all friends now - who again. I HAVE muslim friends thank you very much. We ARE at war with Islamofascists in the middle east - and once again, our soldiers in the war (not just Iraq, but the whole GWOT) are dwarfed in number by the muslims fighting at our side. From the cities of Pakistan where Pakistani forces have just made what may prove to be the most important arrests yet in the WOT, to Afghanistan where Afghans fight side by side with us, to Iran where millions await their turn at freedom, to Iraq where Iraqi forces in Mosul have finally begun to fight without assistance from our ground troops, to Gaza where even some of the beknighted Pals are taking up arms against Arafat, to Algeria where the army and people fight a long war against some of the most brutal Islamists, to the Sahel where our special forces work quietly beside muslim armies at war with the Salafists, this is a global Muslim CIVIL WAR, and if we dont recognize that, we wont win this. If we blame all muslims for 9/11 we wont win this. If we "diss" muslim religion and culture (as opposed to Wahabi religion and culture) we wont win this.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 6:35:13 PM||   2004-08-05 6:35:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 qand wed damned well better win this, cause the alternative aint pretty.
Posted by Liberalhawk 2004-08-05 6:35:42 PM||   2004-08-05 6:35:42 PM|| Front Page Top

#26 I like your points in #24 LH. We have to encourage Muslims to alienate the Islamists among them and work to reform the religion. We don't need to piss them all off. Unfortunately, the mouthpieces for Muslims tend to play the victim card at every opportunity. This is also an Arab thing. Hard to get by that sometimes. Makes you want to say "Tough Sh*t, stop your whining", even if the content may be somewhat off color. They need to ease up too.
Posted by remote man 2004-08-05 6:48:17 PM||   2004-08-05 6:48:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#27 Liberalhawk, noone is blaming all Muslims--not me and not Charlie in his song!
Can you read? One wonders.
You are too busy having a hernia over whether your Muslim "brothers" sensitivities are respected.
remote man makes THE point--the IslamoNazi mouthpieces play the victim as long as they can.
Many of these PC Arab whiners are the same guys going off to jail for supporting Islamist terrorism, whining right up to the cell doors that they're "innocent."
Our enemies aren't Jews, Christians or Swedes--they're jihadi Muslims from Middle Eastern countries.
The Muslims themselves must decide if they're going to reform their religion and isolate the ones who make war against America.
But if they can't do that in time, the rest of us who like Charlie and his song will have to do it for them.
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 7:10:40 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 7:10:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#28 I can hear it faintly in the background?
Jen are you related to Oliver Wendell Douglas?
Posted by J Phillipso 2004-08-05 8:54:25 PM||   2004-08-05 8:54:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#29 #20 If hes not attacking folks who wear turbans, why refer to a turban as a rag?? Suppose someone referred to a head covering such as Jews and the Pope wear as a beanie? In context of contrasting a beanie with the flag? would not Jews and Catholics have the right to be offended?

Liberalhawk, when your above observation is combined with city sponsorship for the concert, your position becomes quite valid. Daniels himself willingly connects his use of the word "rag" to (albeit) terrorists who wear turbans.

However much I detest PC mentality, I hate discrimination even more. Using tax dollars to broadcast such a thinly veiled message of exclusion is unwise at least and incompletely representative of our Nation's constitution. When one considers that Neo Nazi politics fall under the aegis of free speech, Daniels' lyrics most certainly do as well. Your point of publicly financing such a message remains nonetheless.

I am obliged to wonder how many people actually know one of the reasons a turban is worn? It goes beyond issues of hygine, comfort or containment of hair length. The Sikh faith wears turbans so that when God looks down upon men they will all appear alike. Someone more learned in Arabic culture will have to substantiate whether this appies to Islamic prescriptions too.

The idea of equality in the eyes of God is a pretty advanced theological concept and represents the seed for equality in the eyes of the law, a most important principal. Even in its milder forms, any quarter given to hate speech can serve to encourage hate crimes like the cold blooded murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi. While it is obvious that Daniels' would not approve of Sodhi's murder, wearing a turban that day proved just as fatal as wearing a yarmulka in Germany, some sixty years ago. We need none of this madness.

Again, Daniels' song is entirely covered by free speech. His selection to perform it at public expense is another matter entirely.
Posted by Zenster 2004-08-05 9:45:44 PM||   2004-08-05 9:45:44 PM|| Front Page Top

#30 He's not talking to the Mooslims, you morons!
He doesn't like the abuse of the flag, including wearing it as a bandana.
I just heard Charlie on Michael Savage and he repeated the remarks I quoted above.
Posted by GreatestJeneration  2004-08-05 9:55:12 PM|| [http://www.greatestjeneration.com]  2004-08-05 9:55:12 PM|| Front Page Top

#31 I agree with Jen on this. Charlie Daniels wrote the song right after 9/11 and it was announcing to AQ specifically that America was coming to hunt them-the Muslim terrorists specifically -down. He uses the flag and the eagle in the song as symbols of the USA. He does not use the word raghead at all. He is saying basically that the flag is no rag. It is the symbol of our great nation. I think it would do everyone alot of good to read the lyrics of Charlie Daniels' song. If anyone sees racial slurs in it it, they have super sensory powers that goes beyond seeing what's written in black and white. This Arab out rage is more of the hot air victim posturing.
http://www.charliedaniels.com/lyrics/flag.html
"This Ain't No Rag It's A Flag" lyrics

Secondly, the most tax supported concert I heard about on Drudge last Sunday where the entertainer used slurs and verbal bashing on stage took place in an LA County facility, the entertainer was Joan Baez, and the victim for real, not fake hot air was GWB.

Posted by rex 2004-08-05 11:58:02 PM||   2004-08-05 11:58:02 PM|| Front Page Top

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