I can’t believe that in the 21st Century of the Common Era, that a human being is going to be beheaded for sorcery…because the poor schmuck made predictions of the future on TV. Why he’s a veritable anti-christ (granted the term doesn’t apply in that culture). Seriously, when I hear things like this I am pushed to the brink of my own civility and I start to wish for places that “host” this type of insanity to be levelled and built anew. We should be redoubling efforts to get off the oil dependence so we can shun these bastards once and for all.
Who are you to judge another culture?
Why should we impose our values on other cultures?
etc.
If they were merely beheading him for being a phony psychic, I could possibly get behind it. That they’re taking it seriously, though, just makes me sad for everyone involved.
Oh, glad you’re here, Vinny! Listen, if you feel a sharp stabbing pain like a huge needle going through you…my bad. Sorry. Won’t happen again.
I call 'em as I see 'em. They’re happy to criticize our decadent culture. Regardless,
I happen to believe that sort of cruelty should have no part in any culture. I start to regard that culture as not deserving consideration. I might feel differently if I had a hint that the majority of that culture also felt it was cruel and needless but that they were too afraid to fight it, either by ballot or by force. I get no such vibe.
Seems like a “tiny prick” joke is in order, but perhaps not on this holiest of holy days.
Good Friday Eve?
It’s not the 21st Century. It’s Saudi Arabia, and they’d be making progress if they joined the 19th Century. I’d settle for, say, 1850.
It’'s even worse than I suspected. The guy didn’t even commit the crime in Saudi Arabia. It was televised from Lebanon and they arrested him when he came to visit SA. Nice. I guess John Edwards would also be beheaded if he visited that country.
Marley, I think you are being overly generous in your estimation of their advancement.
What’s interesting is that it seems like the appellate court was itself faintly embarassed by the whole thing - sending it back to the trial court with an instruction to give the accused a chance to recant sounds like a not-bad way of saying “come on - it may not be politically possible for us to scrap this nonsense, but let’s try and avoid actually killing this man.”
Boy, that’s giving them credit. They only got dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 1400s not too long ago.
And he was visiting Saudi Arabia to do the Hajj, i.e., make the pilgrimage to Mecca, which is an obligation on all Muslims able to do it. So he is being executed as an indirect result of carrying out his duty as a Muslim.
BC or AD ?
See, they’re not all bad.
I said they’d be making progress if they joined the 19th Century, not that they’re there now. Killing people for witchcraft has more of a middle ages vibe, really, so they’re at least a century or two behind that. A civilized country would have put this guy on a scale to see if he weighed as much as a duck.
If we were anywhere but the Snuggly Kitten forum, I’d apologise, Marley.
Not like we’re any further along. 85% of the US population believes in God, which is hardly any less ridiculous than sorcery.
He was visiting Mecca on the umrah, not the Hajj. Umra(h) is a sort of mini-Hajj - there are fewer rituals to perform once you get there, and you don’t dye your beard, you just get a haircut (or shave your head).
Thanks for the correction. It doesn’t really change my point, however.