I know about the Freedom fries hoo-ha, but was there such an obscene, wide-spread knee-jerk overreaction against Afghanis when the towers were attacked?
I suppose that depends on what you mean by "knee-jerk overreaction". That was an attack on US soil that Americans reacted to, which is different than reacting to something happening on the other side of the world.
The Ann Coulters were saying that we should conquer the Middle East and convert them all to Christianity (for which she was fired). The George W. Bushes were telling us all that "Islam is a religion of peace". The Academics played the role currently being played by the Dissident Right: to say that this was an inevitable consequence of foreign policy decisions made over decades.
Normal people where I lived were probably closer to Ann Coulter's view than Bush's. There was also lots of flag flying, donating blood, and people enlisting in the military. That latter one will be an interesting metric to track.
Freedom Fries didn't come until much later, when France refused to send troops to help the US invasion. Going by memory it would have been 2002 or 2003.
What is definitely true is that the reaction against Afghanis was universally decried by the Professional Managerial Class, whereas now they seem to be the primary initiators of all of it.
I'd say widespread banning and removal of Afghanistan-related things. Were Afghan hounds banned from dog shows after 9/11? Was Afghanistan removed from sports games? Were Afghans working abroad fired from their positions?
I know about the Freedom fries hoo-ha, but was there such an obscene, wide-spread knee-jerk overreaction against Afghanis when the towers were attacked?
How dare you say such things about our second greatest ally in the Middle East?
Not even close to what's happening now. It's not even in the same universe let alone the same ballpark.
Vodka will soon be called liberty liquor.
I suppose that depends on what you mean by "knee-jerk overreaction". That was an attack on US soil that Americans reacted to, which is different than reacting to something happening on the other side of the world.
The Ann Coulters were saying that we should conquer the Middle East and convert them all to Christianity (for which she was fired). The George W. Bushes were telling us all that "Islam is a religion of peace". The Academics played the role currently being played by the Dissident Right: to say that this was an inevitable consequence of foreign policy decisions made over decades.
Normal people where I lived were probably closer to Ann Coulter's view than Bush's. There was also lots of flag flying, donating blood, and people enlisting in the military. That latter one will be an interesting metric to track.
Freedom Fries didn't come until much later, when France refused to send troops to help the US invasion. Going by memory it would have been 2002 or 2003.
What is definitely true is that the reaction against Afghanis was universally decried by the Professional Managerial Class, whereas now they seem to be the primary initiators of all of it.
I'd say widespread banning and removal of Afghanistan-related things. Were Afghan hounds banned from dog shows after 9/11? Was Afghanistan removed from sports games? Were Afghans working abroad fired from their positions?
There was negative responses to middle-eastern peoples, but no where near this amount, nor anything from the structures of power above.
This is closer to the hate in WW2.
Not in a systemic way as today, no. Since the Professional Managerial Class was more aligned with the academics than the Ann Coulters.
I also remember people pouring out French wine around the same time.