From: anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: ADC CHALLENGES WALL ST JOURNAL
Date: 16 Apr 92 01:32:18 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon



In article <1992Apr15.223026.15150@apollo.hp.com> goykhman_a@apollo.hp.com (Alex Goykhman) writes:
>In article <1992Apr14.210610.173162@cs.cmu.edu> anwar+@cs.cmu.edu (Anwar Mohammed) writes:
>>In article <1992Apr14.181316.13585@apollo.hp.com> goykhman_a@apollo.hp.com (Alex Goykhman) writes:
>>>
>>>    Hmm...  The article in question made no reference to the Oakar's
>>>    ethnic heritage, did it?
>>>
>>
>>So what?  That wasn't the point.
>
>    You have conveniently deleted every line of the original posting,
>    (as well as all references to it:), so let me try again:
>
>    The ADC's chairman claimed that WSJ printed an article attacking
>    Rep. Mary Rose Oakar because of her ethnic (presumably Arabic)
>    heritage.  
>
>    He was not telling the truth.  She was criticized because she had 
>    bounced 213 checks, and for she was the chairman of a subcommittee 
>    overseeing the House Bank's personnel policies.
>


Alex, I don't want to get in another flame war over yet another misreading 
of yours, this time of the ADC complaint.  Of course the ADC complaint 
had little to do with the allegations of Rep. Oakar's check bouncing.  
You're missing the point completely. It referred specifically to a part 
of the article connecting her (as if it were some terrible thing) with 
an Arab-American group.

Let's turn the tables and substitute Jew (or any other ethnic minority,
black, hispanic, etc) for Arab:
I'm sure you'd complain if an article about Stephen Solarz's check bouncing
referred to him as "having ties to several Jewish-American organizations",
something "at odds with party leaders".  You would have to think that 
either the Democratic party is incredibly racist, or that the author assumed
there was some thing negative about being a Jew-supporting politician.
Given that the former is probably not true, the latter must be the case.

Now do you understand why referring to an *ethnic* minority as political
outcasts reflects a racism on the part of the political party or the author?
Like Jews, my friend, Arabs-Americans don't like being excluded from 
the democratic process because of their ethnicity.

I'll "conveniently" include the relevant part of the article for you.
       In a by-line story, Jill Abramson reported claims that Rep.
  Oakar's views "on some key issues are at odds with some national
  party leaders: she is a foe of abortion for instance, and has ties
  to several Arab-American organizations."

       Mokhiber expressed the community's disgust on Abramson's
  dependence on unidentified sources to denigrate Americans of Arab
  descent.

       Mokhiber wrote, "After twelve years of fighting negative
  stereotyping and discrimination against the Arab-American
  community, we were shocked and appalled by the article written by
  Jill Abramson on Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar. Surely, the Wall
  Street Journal would refuse to print such a statement reviling any
  other public figure on the basis of his or her ethnic heritage.


>
>
>-- 
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Disclaimer: all opinions are mine.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


-- 
Anwar Mohammed                           Graduate Student
anwar+@cs.cmu.edu  (NeXTmail welcome!)   School of Computer Science
Voice: +1 412 268 3043                   Carnegie-Mellon University
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