Debate Newsweek's 2010 World Predictions

Neither have or will the Muslim immigrants. This “They’re gonna destroy our culture!” nonsense is standard xenophobic hysteria.

Your opinion doesn’t deserve anything else but mockery. It’s just the standard paranoid xenophobic fantasy about how “they” are taking over. And it’ll be wrong, like such fantasies always are.

If they turn them against us, that’s the sign it’s high time to go. If not, at least they’ll have a slight fighting chance against the Afghan men who do want to keep them down.

Mockery is a lout’s substitute for intellect.

I’m not the one refusing to defend my position. And xenophobic nativism is as loutish as it gets.

Then why is Sharia Law now available in the UK?

Here’s another cite, with the disclaimer that it appears to be a blog, but does link to other sources:

http://markhumphrys.com/sharia.west.html

Coming up with evil sounding names like “xenophobic nativism” for the perfectly normal and natural desire to see one’s own people survive and prosper is just shit slinging and hardly a rational defense. I swear, trying to talk to progressives about race and ethnicity is like trying to talk to a sexually repressed old maid about sex.

Raul’s only real threat is from inside, and he knows it too. Shortly after taking power he made some noises about possible openings in Cuba’s internal controls, such as removing some of the restrictions on travel and on private farming. That was in 2006 and none of the changes discussed have been implemented. Instead there has been an internal hardening against dissidents.

In addition Raul has replaced almost every top leader who was viewed as progressive with some from the old guard. The most notable of these changes was the removal of Carlos Lage, who was a civilian and by all appearances a loyal member of the Cuban government, but apparently not loyal or not old guard enough. In March of 2009 he was removed from power and replaced by General Jose Amado Guerra.

This has nothing to with people wanting to “survive and prosper”; it’s pure bigotry. And the names are ugly because your beliefs are ugly.

Just what “serious dangers” are you talking about? That was said at various times about the Irish immigrants, the Germans, the Jews, the Italians, all Eastern and Southern Europeans – and all of them went on to enrich our society.

Not when, as now, the ability of “one’s own people” to “survive and prosper” is under no real threat. And “xenophobic nativism” is a perfectly apt name for an implied racial definition of “one’s own people.”

:rolleyes: No, Lonesome, actually, it’s like trying to talk to an astronomer about the four elephants holding up the Earth on a turtle’s back.

Of course, by definition, every Cuban of “the old guard” is one who will not long survive Fidel.

How is that “destroying our culture”? The Sharia courts, like the Sharia banks, are entirely opt-in. No one is required to submit to them unless they prefer to, and they add an extra layer on top of existing UK law, rather than altering or changing it.

Honestly, this is like complaining how those damned Amish are going to force us all to give up our cars and ride in horse-drawn buggies.

I am not sure what can be done about this - people voluntarily opting in to a system under the Arbitration Act. It may not be a system we like, but I have seen loads of arbitration agreements that suck. Should religious arbitration be specifically banned?

This is true of so many regimes these days. The revolutions of the Baby Boom generation are not long for this world. And yet people imagine them to go on forever. People seem to find the whole concept of ‘generations’ difficult to deal with.

I have never used the phrase “destroying our culture”. However, Islam is not, and never has been, a religion of tolerance. They believe their religion is the one true faith, and they have no respect for freedom of expression.

Remember these lovely pictures:

Behead those that insult Islam

Be Prepared for the Real Holocaust
There were similar protests all over the world after the Danish cartoon incident.

As opposed to the tolerance of Christians? The same Christians who, for example, keep passing anti-gay laws here in America? Change “Islam” for “Christianity” and your statement is just as true.

Cite for anywhere I’ve ever defended anti-gay laws? Not that this thread has anything to do with that issue…

Because fundie Christianism loves and cherishes freedom of expression and is extremely tolerant of other religions and life styles ? Remember : God Hates Fags (and shoots abortion docs).

Besides, there is no more “Islam” than there is “Christianity” - one can’t and shouldn’t lump any number of separate communities with wildly differing beliefs and morality systems together.

When those separate communities launch world wide protests calling for the punishment and/or death of cartoonists, I think some lumping together is warranted.

Of course it does. You are trying to portray Islam as especially intolerant; I’m pointing out the intolerance of Christians.

So cartoonists count but gays don’t? If the only intolerance that counts is the particular brand that is popular among Islamic fanatics, naturally they will come off looking worse. That doesn’t make them actually worse.