condoning collective guilt
Peter Kirsanow, a Bush appointee to the US Commission on Civil Right, is
in trouble after these offensive comments:
Kirsanow, who was appointed by Bush and finally took his seat in May after a heated legal fight with the commission chairwoman, said if there were another attack by Arabs on U.S. soil, ``not too many people will be crying in their beer if there are more detentions, more stops and more profiling.''
``There will be a groundswell of public opinion to banish civil rights,'' Kirsanow added. ``So the best thing we can do to preserve them is by keeping the country safe.''
What? You're not offended? You've parsed the sentences and concluded that Kirsanow wasn't
advocating the internment of Arabs? Then you're brighter than the two civil rights groups who've angrily demanded Kirsanow's removal:
``Unlike you, Mr. President, Mr. Kirsanow appears to be condoning collective guilt and seems open to the idea of the mass internment of an entire community."