[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Soldier Boy

Unfortunately, as middle-eastern Muslims they're seen (quite openly) as less than human by many of the people making the decisions here -- they refer to them as animals, vermin, barbarians.

I wouldn't worry too much about feeling unpopular on here as a number of members have made it very clear that they're aligned with this thinking and that, indeed, collateral damage in this situation is "acceptable" (so long as it's just The Others dying). The "poor Israel and think of the hostages" is a paper-thin veneer over a general western supremist ideology. It's only going to decline further -- just yesterday we had "The Enemy Within" propaganda creeping onto the forum... perhaps the person posting it doesn't know the implications or history of that ideology... perhaps they do .

Worse yet there are plenty of pockets of people both online and in politics who seem outright thirsty for the violence. They wanted this long before recent events kicked off. This is a long-desired justification to, at this point quite blatantly, seek to begin a purge of the middle east.

I think this is why the coverage and discourse in Ireland is a bit different to most of the rest of western countries. It's comparable to how Irish people were treated and spoken about not that long ago.