THIS ARTICLE WAS SENT TO ME BY ONE OF MY LOYAL READERS AND A VERY GOOD FRIEND.
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of PanAm Flight 103!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military barracks in Saudi Arabia!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE!
REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001!
REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks!
Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLI M holiday season with a commemorative first class holiday postage stamp.
REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp when purchasing your stamps at the post office.
To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.
REMEMBER to pass this along to every patriotic AMERICAN you know
1 comment:
One large problem with so-called "boycott" chain letters is that their authors usually aren't so much interested in a boycott as they are to spread a message. That's why most of these boycotts are utterly ineffective - after all, how could you boycott something that you weren't going to buy in the first place?
What does it really seek to accomplish?
After all, in order for a boycott to be effective, its participants must be likely consumers of the item to be boycotted. In this case, the likely consumers of a Muslim holiday stamp would be Muslims.
I've heard reports that the stamp may not even be available at post offices that serve communities where there is not a sizable Muslim population.
Rather, it seems that the author's intent was to express his or her own distrust of Islam and frustration at federal tax dollars being used to create a stamp that he or she feels is inappropriate, given recent events.
But the author and those who have supported this chain make several dangerous leaps of logic:
That by commemorating one of Islam's most holy holidays, the U.S. Government is, in effect, validating terrorism;
That law-abiding Muslim-American citizens don't deserve such a stamp because of the actions of other Muslims; and
That the majority of Muslims support the acts of terrorism committed in their name against U.S. targets.
This chain letter, which started circulating in the 2001 holiday season, has resurfaced every holiday season since, and brings with it a good deal of hate.
What a wonderful way to start the Holyday season, isn’t it ?
WWJD ?
The EID postage stamp was introduced by the United States Postal Service on 1 September 2001, just ten days before the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. The EID stamp was reissued by the USPS in October 2002.
The EID stamp is often mischaracterized as a "Christmas stamp" even though it has nothing to do with Christmas other than that it is part of a series of U.S. postage stamps commemorating several diverse celebrations (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Thanksgiving) which sometimes occur at roughly the same time of year.
The statement "[Muslims] don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp!" is nonsensical, akin to protesting Hanukkah stamps because "Jews don't even believe in Christ but they have their own Christmas stamp."
The Eid stamp commemorates the two most important festivals ( or eids ) in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. On these days, Muslims wish each other "Eid mubarak," the phrase featured in Islamic calligraphy on the stamp. "Eid mubarak" translates literally as "blessed festival," and can be paraphrased as "May your religious holiday be blessed." This phrase can be applied to both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
Should Americans boycott a stamp commemorating Islamic holidays? That's a personal decision, but the following facts may prove informative:
The EID stamp is an ordinary first-class postage stamp; *all* *proceeds* from its sale go to the USPS, not to any Muslim-related groups or organizations. Boycotting the EID stamp is a purely symbolic act with no financial impact on anyone.
The United States is home to an estimated 6 million Muslims, and according to the U.S. State Department, by the year 2010 the Muslim population of the United States is expected to surpass the Jewish population, making Islam the country's second-largest faith.
The USPS already issues stamps commemorating the Christian holiday of Christmas (with both religious and festive themes) and the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah as well as Kwanzaa.
The American greeting card manufacturer *Hallmark* produces cards celebrating Eid al-Fitr.
The President of the United States, George W. Bush, has extended official greetings, issued messages, and participated in commemorations of both Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (even after the September 11 attacks), and the White House web site promotes the EID stamp as well.
We have yet to hear anyone question his patriotism or condemn his statements on Islam as "a slap in the face" to victims of terrorism.
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