Six Flags Great Adventure takes complaints regarding Muslim Youth Day

Kudos to Great Adventure for hosting the event. There just couldn't be any other way, and for people to take the time to complain about it, that's pathetic.

This is precisely the reason why so much of the world hates the US. Seriously, I thought we were finally getting over racism in this country. Why didn't anyone complain about the Jewish or Catholic events?

It sucks that you can't be of Middle East descent without being profiled. Apparently you can't even be non-Christian. Hell, you need only be non-white. An Indian guy I worked with said he was regularly lumped in with Arabs. Do most Americans even get the distance and cultural difference between India and the Arab nations? Apparently not.

This isn't the reason the world hates the U.S. I think that's a broad and generic statement. Nevertheless, there are many reasons there is hatred and anger from some parts of the world - and it's generally directed toward our policies and not our citizens.

Racism is hardly confined to the United States. In fact, the U.S. is more tolerant than many countries. This is a huge problem in other societies. Sure, we can improve. But just looking at how backwards some countries are when it comes to tolerance will make many thankful they are here.

How many conflicts are going on right now around the world because two races or religions hate each other?

*** This post was edited by Gemini 9/20/2004 8:58:11 AM ***

Just for the record, as one of what seems to be only a hand full of die hard conservatives on this site, I do recognize a corporate buy out for what it is... and that is just what this was.

That being said... I wouldn't exactly give "Kudos to Great ADventure for hosting the event." You wouldn't specifically give Kudos to the park for hosting a corporation's annual picnic, would you? Both are the same... an organization (or group of organizations) got together to buy out the park... simple as that.

One of the places that the story broke was on WorldNetDaily.com. It was very slanted. They made it sound like the park was saying "Sorry... if you aren't Muslim, you can't come to our park on this day," instead of saying "The park is closed today to the general public for a privately sponsored event. Please visit us on one of our regular operating days."

Believe me... I can find any number of reasons why I will think twice before returning to Great Adventure (closed rides, poor operations, bad customer service), but this "buy out" isn't one of them.

Walt: People around the world don't differentiate between our policy and our people. If they did, they certainly wouldn't crash airplanes into buildings. That's why it's about time people start caring about who we send to Washington.

It doesn't matter that racism goes on in other places, and it doesn't justify it here. As Americans, we can do and should do better. The fact that I can feel the stares when I go into a store with an Indian guy (again, not even remotely associated with the profiled group), that's not right.

By the way, if you read "WorldNetDaily," you'll notice that it's not a "news" site. It clearly has an agenda, and fair reporting isn't it.

The people who hate America enough to crash airplanes into buildings represent an extremely small percentage of the world population. That type of hatred has been going on a long time (there wasn't a Bush in the White House on February 26, 1993) and is different than the "anger" most "U.S. haters" feel. Otherwise, there would have been worldwide happiness on September 11. But, in fact, quite the opposite occurred.

I never said that racism in other countries justified it here. I'm saying that is not the reason why the U.S. isn't popular.

This is quite obviously more of a "liberal vs. conservative" debate than anything else.

I was at the park 3 years ago when they had this event. The park was open and I didn't know it was muslim day until I got near the entrence and saw a sign. The park was packed!

If the group rented the park out than they have the right to have it to theirselves.

It has nothing to do with who is in the White House. I guess unless you've worked with or been roommates with foreigners you can't have the same perspective I do.

What are the reasons that much of the world dislikes us? "They hate freedom" is not an answer.

If it has nothing to do with who's in the White House, why did you say "That's why it's about time people start caring about who we send to Washington."?

I don't think there's a simple answer. I think our support of Israel is a factor as is our aggressive fight against terror. As the world's richest nation, I think jealousy probably plays a small role. Maybe some perceive Americans as being arrogant. I don't think you can pin it down to one thing.

The United States: Where religious tolerance is practiced, provided you belong to the right religions.

What I was getting at was that voter apathy doesn't help us out.

Well who we have in the oavl office has something to do with our increased popularity in the world.

Anyway, I think it's a shame that folks would complain about muslim youth day at a park. Sheesh, and some people call liberals cry babies.

Ok ok...blanket statement...my bad.

But you must admit, we are acting arrogantly...not to mention like a junkie strung out on oil.

As I've traveled around the country the last 6 months, it has seemed to me that Muslims have possibly replaced blacks in this country as the primary focus of the ignorant people who are inclined to bigotry to find someone to blame all of their problems on instead of finding solutions for their problems.

Bigotry isn't just a problem in the US, but if we are going to preach tolerance to the rest of the world, we have to practice it here.

It is shameful that people would get so worked up about something so small. Not only that, but every christian group in every city with a Six Flags has had a day like this, probably every year. Yet somehow people find it wrong that people from a religion that really isnt so far from their own are paying to have fun, just like everyone else in america. And this is why when Im king of the world, Im going to set up controlled burns of stupid people.

Does Paul Reuben top your list, Coasterguy1? ;)

Why of why do I let myself get dragged into this nonsense… I know before I begin that I will be shouted down, but I’ll take some of these quotes to task. I’m taking “quotes” from posters to task, NOT people of color. It is certainly not me who will be accused of introducing race and color into the discussion. I prefer to take on what I perceive as flawed viewpoints and tired rantings from the same old, same old… Just what CB needs is another political debate with me in the middle (right).

1. “Hell, you need only be non-white.”

I find this to be an absurd statement. In the past few weeks we had no less than two threads about the behaviors and guests at Dollywood. I think we can all agree that they did not contain such kind and thoughtful words about the “white” people in this country. Racism and bigotry does not see color. It is offensive when color is even brought into the equation. Which brings me to my next point.

2. “I guess unless you've worked with or been roommates with foreigners you can't have the same perspective I do.”

I spent a year of physical therapy school with a roommate from Saudi Arabia. It was quite a learning experience. The guy actually owned camels and had enough money to ship two sports cars back to his country from the US. He wanted an American roommate to brush up on his English skills.

I’m actually a fairly good athlete. I tried all the time to play soccer with my roommate on Saturday mornings. I was NEVER allowed to go to the game. The reason? ---I was white! Hussein always apologized to me, but his friends would not let a white guy play in their game.

It gets even better…These Saturday morning games were sponsored by the university who used student funds to pay for the grounds upkeep and refs. The people in these games were members of the Muslim Student Union. A friend of mine complained to the university about the racism shown by this group. When it was all said and done, he had to go to sensitivity class for filing a complaint while the true racists played their game and went unpunished.

I learned a lot from my year with Hussein. He gave me the inside on how life is lived (at least by the upper class) in Saudi Arabia and how these people felt about white Christians. Let me just say, that I was not surprised a bit that the majority of the 9/11 culprits came from Saudi Arabia. I do not believe that they all hate us, but there is a large fraction that do in the Muslim community. Is their hate any less offensive than ours?

Frankly, I could give two craps about the soccer game or whether these Muslims wanted me in their game. However, the point again has been made, that racism and bigotry knows no color. I’m quite sure that it is not a good feeling to have people staring at an “Indian friend” when you go places. But this sword cuts both ways.

As a conservative, I find it very offensive when liberals always want to chime in about how racist and wrong the USA is while usually hiding behind rocks when the situation is reversed.

Come to think of it, I don’t recall too much vocal support from the standard CB liberal posters defending the patrons of Dollywood. I’ll admit I did not get through all the threads as I was bored with the takes, so if you regular liberal posters did indeed come to the defense of whitey in the same numbers and intensity that you surly do whenever another person of color is discussed, then I apologize.

3. “By the way, if you read "WorldNetDaily," you'll notice that it's not a "news" site. It clearly has an agenda, and fair reporting isn't it.”

Has WorldNetDaily been caught in a scandal and been reluctantly forced to issue a feigned apology for slanted reporting? I know CBS and Dan Rather had to, but I was not aware that WorldNetDaily was out there passing off false information as true.

WorldNetDaily is every bit the news site that CBS is. You cannot have it both ways. The fact is, that at least now there are some “agenda” driven sites to keep the big three honest. You must commend these “agenda” driven reporters for being honest about their views. The dangerous reporters are those like Rather who try to pretend that they are fair and objective. In years past, their lying and left leaning reports would go unchallenged, it is nice to at least have some counterbalance from the right to keep these guys honest!

I’m too tired to go on right now. But needless to say, I find the half truths and clichéd rantings from the usual left leaning posters absurd. I’ve purposely avoided the political flames that some of you have thrown out there. I’ll only say that I believe the media here and foreign loves to play the “hate” card. This comes around any time a Republican is in office. One need look any farther than Rather and CBS to see how far the left leaning media will go to “get” a guy they do not like. While I certainly acknowledge that there is a strong and vocal minority here and abroad (I'm talking Europe here) that certainly do not like Republican policies, which manifests itself in the way of protest, I do not for one minute believe that these views are a majority. I had a couple friends who just got back from the Olympics who wore their USA gear everywhere without fear. They report all treated them with respect. Most non-Arab countries love the USA at the citizen level in my opinion. The media just prefers to show us those who do not like us. I guess the election results will show if I’m correct on this view (from a local perspective). I have no doubt that a Republican candidate could not win with the Europe voters included. But since when, do we let Europe decide who should run the USA?

In conclusion I must say that everybody, right or left, knows that discriminating against ANYBODY over religious beliefs or skin colors is wrong. I just wish that some of you would apply that standard consistently across the board.*** This post was edited by Jeffrey R Smith 9/20/2004 7:18:52 PM ***

"I think the lesson here is, it doesn't
really matter where you're from... as long as we're all the same religion" ~ peter, family guy.

stupid.

Actually, Smith, there's just a liberal and international conspiracy designed to keep you down. It's all about you. The truth is out there.