Photo from Orkut.

This post will be a place to share thoughts, feelings, ideas, and fears. We're not the slightest bit interested in anti-immigrant rants, racist-tinged political exegesis, or any sort of grandstanding. These, off-topic comments, and any comments with cursing, personal attacks, straw men [1], or excessive anger/passion/angstiness will be deleted without ever having been posted. Thank you for keeping this thread productive and useful.

In the wake of May 1st's attempted terrorist car bombing on Times Square [2] by a Pakistani American naturalized citizen, there has been more spinning and opining and expressiveness in the media -- and in the government -- than substantive news. Some of the more frightening threads we've been following include:

• Tough talk from Sec'y of State Clinton [3] about "consequences" for Pakistan, should terrorist attacks be traced back to them.
• Questions about whether Shahzad was linked with the Pakistani Taliban [4], and whether he was trained in Pakistan or not [5].
• A possible reform to Miranda laws [6], allowing terrorist suspects to be arrested without being Mirandized.
• A bill (from Joe Lieberman and Scott Brown, natch) to allow the Gubmint to revoke the citizenship of those who aid in terrorist attacks [7].

Regardless of what the legal and legislative fallout of this incident will be, many Asian Americans -- particularly those of South Asian descent who are, or could be mistaken for, Pakistani American -- had been reciting the "Post-Crisis Minority Mantra [8]": "Please don't let it be a Muslim or Pakistani dude. Please don't let it be a Muslim or Pakistani dude." Their response since confirmation of their worst fears can be seen in such articles as this opinion piece from The Times of India [9] on what "hell" it is to be Pakistani abroad right now,  this article on a Pak Am's claim that other Pak Ams are pretending to be Indian [10], this Salon.com piece [8], and this Huffington Post piece [11].

The intelligent, liberal American viewpoint can be seen in Jesse Washington's AP piece [12], which asks some hard questions about middle class terrorists and American viewpoints. (I won't link to more ignorant viewpoints. They're easy enough to find.)

So, what do you all think about all of this? What were your emotions upon hearing of the attempted bombing last week? Are you angry? Sad? Fearful? Depressed? Or do you not care? What do you think your fellow, non-Asian, Americans are thinking about this right now? What are your worst fears here? What's the best case scenario? What do you advise President Obama to do? What are you afraid he'll do? What do you think will really happen?

Please be honest, but please stick to your own feelings, ideas, and experiences. Please don't generalize about or stereotype others.