Defending The Indefensible

By now, you've probably already heard of 23-year-old Amir Shiekh, accused of beating a 74 year old George Mirzayan over a parking spot in Upper Darby Monday afternoon. And while the crime itself is despicable and I sure hope Mr. Shiekh gets what's coming to him in terms of jail time and/or fines, the article, as usual, has brought out the ignorant racists yet again.

It's becoming rather predictable lately in guessing just what types of comments will show up on that website depending on the news article.

A crime is committed by a black individual? It's the work of ghetto bastard, drug dealing, uneducated, welfare abusing, ACORN supported, abortion loving niggers who should be shot dead in the public square while the police go door to door in spontaneous raids to root out the rest of the nigger vermin.

A crime was committed by a Mexican individual? Clearly, the work of a fence jumping, job stealing, woman raping, bean counting, lazy, no good illegal immigrant who can't speak English and must be deported immediately back to his Mexican ghetto, shirtless, pant-less and without a penny to his name.

A crime is committed by an Arab individual? Clearly, he has ties to radical Islamic fundamentalism and the towel he had wrapped around his head was used to smuggle plans and components of a dirty bomb through greater Philadelphia. The punishment should be public beheading, of course!

A crime is committed by a white individual? Condolences to the family, this was an isolated incident, let's hope the perpetrator gets the help he desperately needs.

So what makes the above linked story so funny (well, not really) is that anymore, it doesn't matter what race or color the individual committing the crime is just as long as it's not white:

Here's what Sheikh looks like:
^{(Image from 6ABC)}
















And here are some of the comments that are currently on the article at 6ABC:

Don't even bother, Check his immigration status and send him back. Stop wasting time and money on these POS's

Check his immigration status? Isn't this type of comment usually reserved for individuals of Mexican or "brown" ancestry? The guy's first name is "Amir" and his last name is "Shiekh". His name wasn't Jose "Big Chub" Mendoza-Fez-Garcia and he's not wearing a sombrero. Secondly, nowhere in the article does it make any mention of whether or not he's even an immigrant nor is a mention made in either this article on Sheikh at KYW or this article on Philly.com.

I say do it to all of the illegals. it was done in 1954, operation ####. do it again now.

Again, back to the "illegals". Where in the article does it state that Sheikh isn't a naturally-born American citizen? None of the three articles actually makes mention of Sheikh's legal status so I'm left, unless mentioned elsewhere, to assume that his citizenship isn't really what's in question here, but that his actions, rightfully so, are.

he should be arrested just for having a
mullet!!!!

While not racist, it's just stupid as the video on the website shows Sheikh wearing a hat and the image shows simply that he has long hair. I can't tell if the man actually has a mullet or not but so what if he does?

Who does this kid think he is???? Beating up a 75 year old man for a parking spot. Send him back to his own country or throw him in jail. He doesn't deserve to be here!!!!!!!!

Unless of course he's actually an American citizen!!11!111!!!! Right???!!!?!?!?!!!

He looks like an F'ing Closet Towel Head Suicide bomber candidate !!! They should behead him on camera just like they do in his homeland.

Hey! Look! Someone realized 'Hey, wait a second! This guy doesn't look like a Mexican at all! He looks just like one er 'dem Islamofascist 'Murkin'-hatin turrurists!

Who, of course, should be subject to the punishment of his own country. Again, if he's an American citizen, he will, only it will happen in a court of law.

However, the conversation picks up again over at NBC10.com with these instant classics, in no particular order:
1.

And I thought Islam was the "religion of peace". Let's all embrace diver$hitty.

2.

spitting at him. They are both at fault. However, the Arab needs to go home.

3, 4, 5, 6.

Commit a crime within 10 years of your citizenship. Deportation!

7.

Upper Darby used to be a decent place to live. Now with the Blacks and the Ragheads, it has turned into a slum; "a branch of West Philly!

Hey! I'm white and live in West Philadelphia and I absolutely love it! And furthermore, like any neighborhood within reach of a large city, there are discrepancies in terms of social reach, education, income, etc. That doesn't, however, make it reasonable to paint an entire area and it's residents with a broad brush as if we're all low life, scum-bag pieces of shit:

Here are West Philadelphia children:

Here are West Philadelphia musicians:

Here are West Philadelphia voters:

Here are some West Philadelphia murals:

(Southwest, actually)

Here is a view of Center City from West Philadelphia:

Here are people working in West Philadelphia:

Here are people celebrating Halloween in West Philadelphia:

Here is someone maintaining Clark Park in West Philadelphia:

Here is some rehabilitative repair work on the trolley tracks in West Philadelphia:

And lastly, here is my younger son in West Philadelphia:

Looks like he's having a pretty damn good time, if I say so myself.

Perhaps if all the people who leave ridiculously stupid comments like those mentioned above, and the countless others on articles and blogs all over the region spent a little more time looking inward at themselves and ways to improve themselves, they might at least have a little compassion for those who don't have it as good as they think they have themselves.

But don't cry racist or hate-speech at them. They're not racists. They don't hate people. It's not their fault....

No one is really sure when exactly or how the fight started.

Police believe it may have been over a parking space, but families of both men have differing stories.

Mirzayan's sister Victoria Mirzayan said Sheikh began yelling at her for no reason, calling her a "bitch" after she spit at him.

Sheikh's brother Salman Sheikh offered quite the opposite story saying the elderly man started with his brother.

"He got in my brother's face and he was like 'You look like a pimp' and then he push my brother," said Salman Sheikh.

The families have been fighting for years, according to neighbors. Some said they argue over nothing, but Victoria Mirzayan believes differing religious views caused the rift.

"We're Christians and they're Muslims and they don't believe in Christianity," Mirzayan told NBC10's Byron Scott.

It's always the other guy, right?