why do you associate terrorism with islam/arabs?
410405
Peeps associate Islam with terrorism..it's a common stereotype. Since all the terrorism that has happened in the last 3 decades has had a link to Islamic extremists. but not all terrorists are Islamic, nor are all of them Arab...look at peeps in our own country, the murderers, rapists, and Mr. Mc Veigh..he wasn't Muslim, or of Arab descent, he was just plain nuts. Islam is a religion built around peace and family...not terrorism and murder. To answer your question about other religious extremists...yes, they do exist, and are very dangerous, but Western media sees fit to point the finger of blame at Muslims.
271685
Because the idea that they attack us from the "hatred of freedom" is silly.\n\nAt the core, the current troubles in the mid-east are an internal muslim civil war. These countries are caught between their own culture, which has a rich history, and modernizing, which comes with the risk of "westernization." (Until the seventeenth century the Islamic kingdoms were more advanced than their European counterparts.)\n\nThe attacks against the west are, in general, attacks against the source of modernization in the mid-east, and against the US in particular, the source of money for various authoritarian governments.\n\nThat does not mean we shouldn't fight terrorists and protect ourselves. Of course we should. But to understand this "war" we need to deal with the root causes - and those are all in the mid-east.\n\n("War" in quotes, because, as horrific as acts of terror have been, the current situation is nothing compared to WWI or WWII, or to the possibility of species extinction that came with the Cold War.)\n\nAdded:\nAlthough this is a minority opinion, I think the ultimate source of Arab anger against Israel is part of the internal muslim civil war. Of course the Arabs have grievances (as do the Israelis), but external Arab governments have done nothing but enflame the situation for 50 years. There are many cases of tragic explusions of peoples (Greeks from Western Turkey after WWI, the India-Pakistan split, Germans from Prussia and Poland after WWII), but in these cases other countries have attempted to settle the newcomers and establish new communities. This, tragically, has never happened for the Palestianians.\n\nIn my opinion, the Palestians have been cruely used by external Arab governments as a way to distract their own people from internal problems due to corruption and poor government.
1070858
Westerners don't know nor do they care too much about Islam. But for most, when we first heard about the motivation of terrorists, we hear new words like "Jihad", "Allah", etc.\n\nThat's the first impressions for a lot of us. We didn't go looking for this "first impression", -some of Islam's "Jihadists" threw it on our doorstep.\n\nNow you ask westerners to accept a full clearer picture of what Islam is?? Then fine, -tell us how you condemn the barbaric practice of random murders and killing innocents.
434814
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. \nWhether guerilla tactics are evil depends on whether we use them against others or whether they are used against us. \nAt one point in time American settlers were considered terrorists against the English crown, and Israel was helped into existance by Mossad, then considered terrorists by the English (again), for killing civilians and bombing buildings in order to create the Jewish homeland.\nI believe that the press coverage of Iraq and terrorism tends to use the word "terrorism" a bit too liberally. A lot of attacks against American troups are doubtlessly perfomed by "real" terrorists a.k.a. al Quaida, people that are not fighting FOR anything but rather AGAINST everything, against America and the West to be exact. Many of them aren't Iraqis but muslim secretly brought into the country and trained in geuerilla warfare, as terrorist, to be used, if possible, somewhere else later. \nOn the other hand there are insurgents, probably more everyones idea of freedom fighters. They fight FOR a free Iraq (whatever they mean with this). They are Iraquis and they feel their cuntry has been invaded, and they bloody well want to do something about it. Calling them terrorists seems a stretch.
276661
I am not an Arab and I respect them, and trust Arabs more than non-Arabs. The reason being that they tend to have values that most western cultures do not share and this is probably because of the strong influence that Islam has on them, and I think that it's a good thing to that they believe in Islam. It makes them better people than their counterparts who accept western ideals, instead of those eastern ideals that we all should strive for.
77968
Terrorists are a very hard to define group of people. It depends on the nation or person lobbying the accusation to define who is or is not a terrorists. Take for example, Israelis and the US have often blamed the Hamaz of Palestine as terrorists for targetting civilians but their own country men calls them freedom fighters for their effort in liberating their country. The same can be applied that the rebels in America during the war of independece were terrorists in that they target British loyal subjects. But to answer your questions not all terrorists are Muslims and not all Muslims are terrorists. Terrorists can be applied to any national as the US found out during the Oklahoma bombing or when the IRA in Ireland decided to take arms against the British. We could say that the Germans in WW2 were terrorists for conducting civilian bombing in London and even the US Air force for their bombing and destruction during the Vietnam war not for getting the Mai Lai massacre of unarmed civilians. Generally we label terrorists are those inclined to use violence to solve problems or to make demands for their cause and lead to the use of terror and the threat of violence to further their aims. It is hard to define whether their cause is a just one or another fanatical response to get what the wish for. The label of Muslims as terrorists is an inaccurate picture and generalizes and racial profiling due to fear of the unknown after the Sept 11 bombing as well as escalation of war in the Middle East.
51644
I have known several arabs, and have not hated any. There were some that I did not like, but it was because of their personality not because they were arab.\n\nI think most of what you may be experiencing is just prejudice. People probably think that because you are arab you must be or have some ties to terrorists.
818596
Terrorists have no religion. The Islam does not teach terorism. But when some Muslim commits a terror-like crime and kills others and the Islam does not condemn it, on the contrary idolizes it, the Islam becomes a terrorist religion. The scriptures are carrying the  message of peace and love for humanity.
151297
It's logic....considering 9/11.  We are concerned with lowering our incidence of another attack.  And the Arab World in general hasn't been so friendly to us either....why with all the people so willing to strap a bomb to themselves and walk into a place where they could kill 20 Americans......It doesn't seem that other regions of the globe are so willing to do the same.....wouldn't you be concerned??
418297
Pretty hard to seperate being muslim from terrorism. It is a common denominator.
476551
because we always support the passive underdog...israel is not calling for the extermination of arabs..is it..???..if the arabs would go about their business without bothering israel or supporting terrorists that want to annihilate it, they might be able to get along better with us...why all this WE have to get along with THEM..?? getting along is a 2 way street
445044
Hi. My name is Mohamed Yaser, and I'm a muslim. You see, your question's got lots of answers. First of all, the 9-11 terrorist acts don't have to be necessarily done by muslim extremists as you say, it could probably be someone who's trying to give the world a false idea about Islam. There were lots of such things before, and many of them were discovered later. you see, Islam is a really peaceful religion... REALLY peaceful, but your media just doesn't like it that way, so if you want to know about Islam, try looking somewhere else. You can check out this site (it's one of our biggest sites online, and you'll find a link for English): www.islamway.com.\n\nHowever, I don't deny that there ARE infact some Muslim extremists who do commit terrorism, but these guys are usually people who don't understand Islam well, so they go around blowing everything up and think that this is gonna send them right to paradise. I think people like these are present in all religions, sure there are Christian and Jewish extremists too.\n\nNow, after telling you all the other possibilities, I'll answer your original question: Why do these extremists hate the U.S.? Well, your question shows that you really don't know what's going on in the world (sorry, no offense!!). Haven't you heard of what's going on in Iraq and palestine and Afghanistan and Chechinia and and and and? America is practicing pure terrorism there, but the American media apparently doesn't show you that. America just looks for any reason to get in, and then starts destroying everything; houses, people, women, babies, everything. The pictures and videos are all over TV. You can't expect Muslims to see that and just love the USA do you!! And then there was this reprint of our quraan, and those cartoons offending our prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). All that and you're asking why Muslims are angry with America?\n\nMuslims don't hate christians or anything, they just don't like whats going on, and in our religion, to fix this, were supposed to talk, to argue peacfully, not fight. This part is what the extremists don't understand.\n\nWhew! that was long! Sorry for the boring answer, I just wanted to make everything clear. Thanks for your very polite question, many people aren't that civilized.\n\nHope my answer was what you wanted! Bye!\nMohamed Yaser
1011914
Terrorism exists because of misinterpretation of religious documents. It's that simple for both "I'm gonna bomb a bus" terrorism or "I'm going to beat up some gays" terrorism.
416577
As i can see from some of the answers over here some peple are just blind and deaf and will not listen to anything other than what they already believe. The question is very valid but all the answers seem to be lacking. At some point in history peple from every religion ( not the religion mind you. dont lump them together and make them a symbol for their religion. generalisation is a sickness that is being directed by the media against the muslims) has perpetrated acts of terrorism against others. The people who are crying foul have themselves done exactly the same heinious things to others in the past and continue doing it. its not becoz of their religion but becoz of the greed of a few of their leaders. It is deplorable, whoever does it. \nyes the jews were tortured and killed by a fundamentalist who happened to be a christian. look at what they are doing to thier neighbors today. the oppression and killing and thuggery.\namericans killed the natives almost to extinction/ minority.\nenglish captured countries round the globe and colonised them, practiced apartheid and reduced them to poverty after looting all their riches. their is a long history of hatred perpetrated by these guys. \nwhen u perpetrate hatred, some of it does come back to u.  your forefathers committed these crimes and you are being made to pay for it. you were just trying to live peacefully. yes you are being wronged. you are right about that, but the way to end it is not by perpetrating more hatred but by initiating peace, giving peple their due and not being greedy. So before you blame any peple any religion or anytbody even in the small daily matters of life, look at yourself. see where u might be going wrong. Mistakes get corrected starting from oneself and not by correcting others. There's no one to blame but ourselves for anything that happens to us coz we are the ones that cause things to happen to us, one way or another.
731646
I will admit it- I don't find the motives of terrorists to make any sense whatsoever.  It just makes no sense to me why people would want to annihilate others for living as they were meant to live.  And I will agree with you about the lack of real logic found in terrorists.  After all, they've been brainwashed from an early age in those "madrassas", and hence don't reason as other people do.  They continue to do as they've been told, without question, as they have done for many years.  Without any ability to think for themselves.
799815
I am not Muslim.\n\nBut yes I do.\n\nAnd here's why-\n\nI've heard about Islamic extremists all of my life.I barely remember listening to the news as a kid about the trouble in Beirut.Then the World trade center(I could see the smoke as I grew up 25 miles north of NYC),then the USS Cole and the embassies,then 9/11.\n\nI've been in Iraq for almost two years.I listen to prayer calls daily.I've read and asked people about Islam.I've seen Arabs praying in private and out in the open.\n\nBefore all of this I would have told you all Muslims are terrorist.After my learning experience of learning about the religion,it's values,and what it was founded upon,I can tell you only a fraction of Muslims act like terrorist.\n\nMy experience with Muslims has been positive.They are nice people,with strong beliefs like any other religion.\n\nI chose to educate myself about Islam.I am glad I did.I'm also glad to be on Answers because I've met some wonderful Muslims that I trade e-mails with.
195797
Terrorism is only terrorism, which ever side you remain. Killings  innocents in World Trade Center, At London Railway stations or in Delhi crowded Markets are always terrorism which ever side you are. F-16  are bombing remote villages because terrorist are hiding there.