I was talking in generalities, not necessarily about this board. In general, most Americans could care less about what happens outside of the borders of this country. In the past year, beyond the hurricanes here, hurricanes have caused worse damage in Central America and Mexico in terms of loss of life. Monetary value was not as high in those areas, but I believe more homes were destroyed there. Yet, we don't commonly hear calls to aid Central America from their devastation, either this year or any other year.
Even the massive earthquakes in Asia in October was barely a blip on the U.S. radar screen. While some money was sent, most people here felt like they couldn't contribute after having given relief for Hurricane Katrina. The earthquake quickly disappeared from the news, since Americans weren't interested, and returned to stories of Katrina and New Orleans (which are still popping up on the news).
As for this forum, I think it comes down more to the idea of what is expected. We, as Christians, expect Arabs to make statements calling for the death of someone. We've been hearing out of Iran since at least Salman Rushdie, while we don't like it we expect them to do it -- especially now that they have elected a suspected terrorist as President. Additionally, there is little we can do, not to mention that if he saw our comments he make take pleasure in having upset us.
While perhaps we should possibly expect the same from Pat Robertson, the fact is that he is a Christian Leader, an ordained minister, who millions listen to in this country. In this case we feel a need, particularly on Christian Forums, to ensure that people realize that Pat is not speaking for Christians and, while perhaps unrealistic, that Pat himself will realize that he is not helping Christianity.
