Page 14 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • August 15, 2012 ny’s side. The Sikhs remained firmly with the Allies. Sikhs are taught from childhood that men should be courageous. In the temple shooting, one unarmed Sikh reportedly tried to tackle Page, who shot him. The Sikh women took cover in closets or ran for it. Sikh sources report, however, that since the Fundamentalist Muslim attack on Sept. 11, 2001, there have been 700 instances of threats or attacks on Sikhs in the United States. Even if the displaced aggression is not terrifying, it is clearly menacing beyond annoyance. Sikhs had nothing whatsoever to do with Sept. 11. The attacks on Sikhs are not without parallel in American history, though the complete and absolute misidentification of victims as villains is almost without parallel because of the stupidity and ignorance involved. Before the United States officially declared war on Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany, the U.S. was a major arms supplier to Britain and France. When diplomatic protests did not work, the Germans took more drastic measures. Notoriously, the U20 sank the “Lusitania” off the coast of Ireland in April 1915, and 123 Americans were drowned. The “Lusitania” was actually carrying ammunition and Canadian reserve officers in civilian clothes. Curt Thummel, a German agent, planted bombs that blew up the Black Tom ammunition works in New York Harbor and a railroad ammunition dump in upstate New York. When America declared war on Germany in 1917, the German agents beat it back to Germany and the wrath of the American public was diverted to the entire GermanAmerican population. A 45-year-old man named Robert Prager was lynched because he smiled when he failed his pre-induction physical examination, dozens of other Germans were beaten up, store windows were smashed, and Beethoven, Schumann, and Wagner disappeared from concert programs. A worst-case instance took place in Germany shortly thereafter. When the Kaiser’s government fell, homegrown communists shortly augmented by Russian-born Bolsheviks staged takeovers of Berlin and Munich in 1919. Government soldiers and policemen were killed. The Bolshevik leaders in Berlin were Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. The Munich takeover leader, Prussian-born Kurt Eisner, was assassinated by Count Anton Arco-Valley and was supplanted by Eugen Levine-Nissen, Tobias Axelrod, and Max Levien, whose military commander was the dramatist Ernst Toller. The last Bolshevik commander was Rudolf Egelhofer. Both revolutions were crushed by Nationalists: Liebknecht and Luxemburg were murdered - “executed” as the Nationalists put it. Levine-Nissen was tried for high treason and executed. Levien and Axelrod survived by flashing their Russian passports, but Stalin later killed them anyway. The early Nazi movement did nothing but talk while the Nationalists were wiping out the Bolsheviks, but the Nazi movement later claimed credit -- and they claimed “the Jews” had tried to take over Germany. This does not wash. Liebknecht was not Jewish, Levien was not Jewish, and Egelhofer -- the worst of the lot in terms of shooting hostages -- was not Jewish either. Most of the Bolshevik soldiers were not Jewish. The vast majority of German Jews remained loyal to the concept of responsible government. A couple of transplanted Russians and a couple of Prussian literary eccentrics, however, were all the evidence the Nazi movement needed for the deadliest hate campaign in history. Could it happen here? Not quite. But in 1942, the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration -- based on espionage by a handful of Japanese-born agents -- promoted the myth that the entire Japanese-American population had been involved in plotting to attack Pearl Harbor. The genuine Pearl Harbor conspiracy took place in the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. State Department, where one Soviet agent and a handful of dupes provoked the Japanese under orders from Soviet intelligence that only the communist agent actually knew about. The other guys thought they were facing the Flying Monkeys from Oz and acted accordingly. American serviceman died by the thousands because of the deceit and blunder of U.S. politicians. FDR then put 110,000 Japanese-Americans behind barbed wire and killed a million Japanese with napalm and nuclear weapons, so that made it all okay -- for idiots. By sheer coincidence, the shooting at the Sikh temple took place just before the anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima’s women and children, none of whom had personally bombed Pearl Harbor. They were murdered. Anne Frank never tried to take over Berlin. Her father Otto was a decorated officer in the Kaiser’s army. She was murdered. The temporary hate campaign against German composers was not on a level with Hiroshima or the Holocaust, but that loss was palpable. The cultural life of America was murdered. Kids in school should probably be carefully and repetitively taught that Sikhs are not Muslims. They should also be taught that most Muslims had no desire to blow up the Twin Towers or the Pentagon, and that the hate campaign against all Muslims has overtones of calling sauerkraut “liberty cabbage” or banning Beethoven. The desire to build a mosque near the World Trade Center site may indeed be in questionable taste, but the Holocaust, Relocation, and what happened to American mass culture when we phased out Beethoven are cautionary tales with varying degrees of intensity. Hating all people of any group because of the misdeeds of a few people of that group is morally and politically unacceptable. Anybody who does not need a small-bore gun for subsistence hunting should have to have a mental-health screening and should have to take a test to prove he or she has a triple digit IQ before being allowed to own a gun. The world would be safer. Last week, we all saw how organized hatred can lead to mass murder. In this case, the mass murder was not only criminal and vicious, but also completely and utterly misguided even beyond the usual massacre of innocents. The lone white gunman, now identified as Wade Michael Page, slipped into a Sikh temple at Oak Creek, Wisconsin and shot several people at worship. He killed six and wounded a number of others. When he came outside and shot a policeman who was helping one of the wounded, Page was killed by return fire from the police. Police response was quick and effective, and both President Obama and Mitt Romney responsibly denounced the murders. The gun lobby and the anti-gun lobby also responded quickly. One side said we should tighten gun control, while the other side said cars kill more people than guns. Each side has a case. The missing link in the debate is that this mass murder took place because of an incurable problem in American and international politics: stupidity. When we go through whatever scribbles Page left behind, check through his e-mail, or check his tattoos at the autopsy, we will probably discover that he hated Muslims. Hate against Muslims has been churned up by a number of groups ever since the Sept. 11 attacks. Some of these groups should know better. All of them should stop. Everyone should take note that Sikhs are not Muslims. The Sikh religion was founded about 500 years ago in what is now northern India to keep the Muslims from taking India away from the Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and the native Christians, all of whom had long-established communities in Hindustan -- the land of the Hindus -- before Islam was founded in Arabia in 622 A.D. The Sikhs began as a warrior cult of Hindu monotheists who believed in the immortality of the soul, and in defending themselves and their families by whatever means necessary. Before the arrival of the French and the British in India, and before the influence of the Portuguese navigators and traders, the Sikhs formed an effective barrier between the Muslim warrior kings who wanted to take over India and the Hindu rulers who wanted to maintain their independence. When their home-grown rulers became decrepit, the Sikhs bonded with the British. The Sikhs remained loyal to their British officers during the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 when Muslim and Hindu rebels staged an uprising that killed a large number of English soldiers and civilians. When the Americans, the British, five European armies, and the Japanese rushed to rescue the ambassadors and missionaries trapped by the Chinese Boxer rebels in Peking (Beijing) in 1900, the Sikhs were the first to reach the legation compound. The Europeans who saw them knew whose side they were on, knew they were saved, and burst into cheers and tears of relief. The Sikhs did a large part of the fighting for the British Empire outside Europe in World War I, fought the Turks with mixed success and failure in Mesopotamia, and helped chase the Germans and their loyal Africans around most of Africa, though they were often sorry when they caught up with them. The Turks were Muslims and had declared jihad against England and France when they entered the war on Germa- Vicious is as stupid does Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: The “2012 Wibit 50 Meter Splash” at Ridgewood’s Graydon Pool the evening of Wednesday, July 25 was a wonderful success. This friendly competition was a perfect venue for all swimmers utilizing the Wibit: an inflatable aquatic sport park. I wish to express my thanks to everyone involved with this aquatic special event, most importantly the cosponsors: the Commercial Recreation Specialists and the Ridgewood Department of Parks and Recreation. Folks went out of their way to make this a success, and I person- Splash and Dash success! ally wish to thank Marge Anderson, Brian Belluzzi, Nancy Bigos, Mel Powers, Jody Schleicher, and Phil Van Pelt. The first place winner was Team Models, second place was awarded to Gabucci’s Pizza, and the Maroon Jaguars secured third. Competitors, spectators, family, and friends all enjoyed celebrating with refreshments afterward. A good time was had by all! Sean Martyn, Student Intern Ridgewood (Editor’s Note: Mr. Martyn is a student at Elon University.) the mouth. This research could lead to the development of mouthwashes that reduce the number of cavities a person may have. Team 5, which included Guo, took on “Zero-order Kinetics through a Polymer Membrane Using a Saturated Solution Reservoir System.” One problem with taking a pill, using an air freshener, or applying a deer repellent is that a lot of the chemical is released at the beginning, but the amount becomes less as times passes. This project examined possible ways a constant release of a chemical might be accomplished. Team 8 researched “The Predicted Effects of Global Warming and Climate Change on Rye Grass.” This group, which included Lederer, studied what happens to a plant when temperature is higher and there is more carbon dioxide present. This project examined what impact trends predicted by global warming may have on plant growth. Governor’s School (continued from page 5) substances that repel water. This research would enable the coating of materials to which current non-stick substances cannot be used. Other advantages include the fact that these new substances would be permanently attached and less toxic than the current non-stick materials now used. Team 3, which included Allendale’s Tamirian, focused on microbiology. This group’s project was “The Spices of Life: Testing the Antimicrobial Effects of Garlic, Cinnamon, and Clove against Streptococcus Mutans.” A variety of herbs and spices have been shown to kill bacteria in the body. This project examined whether these natural antibiotics are effective against bacteria found in