# Ok, so what the hell happened in Germany in NYE? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 8, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538 "2016-01-08T23:28:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/461 "2016-01-14T07:02:51Z")
> [@ITR Champion](#): > > Do you have any factual basis for the claim that expressing “Fuck the Pope” or any similar sentiment in Glasgow would put any person in any danger? > [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](#): > > It certainly would put a person in physical danger of a beating, no question about that. Why is there no doubt about that? I’m highly doubtful of that. I repeat the question that I asked **Gary Kumquat** , is there any factual basis for this? Has anyone recently been killed or beaten is Glasgow for wearing a t-shirt that says “fuck the Pope”? Has anyone, anywhere in Britain, recently been killed or beaten for expressing any anti-Catholic hate speech? My guess is that the answer is no, but maybe I’m wrong. This whole line of debate began with **Gary** insisting on similarity of Christians and Muslims in using violence to shut down speech. Many people around the world are killed, in the present day, for speech attacking Islam, both legally executed by governments and in terrorist attacks. Anyone who reads the paper can give many examples, with the Charlie Hebdo shooting being only the most famous. Some people say that those who speak attacking Christianity will be killed or beaten, but nobody can actually give an example. Instead we just get things like “no doubt about that” or “See how it plays out. My guess is badly, with a closed casket funeral to follow.” Never any actual facts. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/462 "2016-01-14T09:41:15Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > I repeat the question that I asked **Gary Kumquat** , is there any factual basis for this? Has anyone recently been killed or beaten is Glasgow for wearing a t-shirt that says “fuck the Pope”? Has anyone, anywhere in Britain, recently been killed or beaten for expressing any anti-Catholic hate speech? My guess is that the answer is no, but maybe I’m wrong. You’re wrong. > **[Vicious bigot stabbed man in neck because toddler son supported wrong half of...](https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/vicious-bigot-stabbed-man-neck-2004838)** > > THOMAS GORDON attacked Daniel Collingwood at a party in Govan following a row over the upbringing of his two-year-old son. > [@](#): > > A THUG stabbed a young dad in the neck because his toddler son supports Rangers. > > Violent bigot Thomas Gordon was jailed for more than seven years yesterday for the assault on Daniel Collingwood after a party in Govan, Glasgow, in January this year. > **[Sectarian attack on teenage boy on Glasgow train](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-16576067)** > > British Transport Police investigate an assault on a teenage boy who asked four men to stop singing sectarian songs on a train. > [@](#): > > Sectarian attack on teenage boy on Glasgow train > > British Transport Police (BTP) are investigating an assault on a teenage boy who asked four men to stop singing sectarian songs on a train. > **[claritynews.co.uk](http://claritynews.co.uk/2015/02/rangers-celtic-history-sectarianism-football-scotland/)** > > This domain may be for sale! > [@](#): > > As the Celtic fans made their way home they passed a group of Rangers fans at a pub who yelled abuse. One of the Rangers fans, Jason Campbell, whose father and uncle were unionist terrorists imprisoned for attempting to bomb Catholic pubs, had a hatred that went beyond simply screaming curses. He ran up to Mark, drew a knife and slashed the boy’s throat. Mark died moments later. > **[Celtic fan jailed for four years over Old Firm stabbing](https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/celtic-fan-jailed-for-four-years-1026693)** > > A CELTIC supporter who repeatedly stabbed a Rangers fan in a "frightening and vicious attack" hours after an Old Firm match was yesterday jailed for four years. > [@](#): > > A CELTIC supporter who repeatedly stabbed a Rangers fan in a “frightening and vicious attack” hours after an Old Firm match was yesterday jailed for four years. > **[Divisions in Glasgow go well beyond football](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/06/old-firm-matches-glasgow-violence)** > > Two Old Firm games in a week have tested Scotland's biggest city to the limit – but is the violence that follows them worth tolerating any longer? > [@](#): > > all the police cells were full across the city, with some of those arrested having to be ferried to police stations up to 50 miles away. A wild west-style brawl enveloped one Glasgow southside pub, leaving 10 officers injured. … > > …The disorder, which broke out in mid-February after one of the city’s famous Old Firm matches - between arch rivals Rangers and Celtic - led to Les Gray, head of the Scottish Police Federation, calling for the derbies between the two clubs to be banned. The football, he said, was not worth the " murder and mayhem" the games unleashed. > **[750 officers to be deployed to safeguard major Orange parade](https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/13111564.750_officers_to_be_deployed_to_safeguard_major_Orange_parade/)** > > Almost 750 officers will be committed to the city's streets to police the annual Boyne Celebrations, with rest days also cancelled to control the… > [@](#): > > Almost 750 officers will be committed to the city’s streets to police the annual Boyne Celebrations, with rest days also cancelled to control the event. > There will be 57 parades through Glasgow next Saturday, as about 4500 members of the Protestant Orange Order and tens of thousands of supporters gather in the city for the organisation’s biggest event outside of Northern Ireland. You walk into the Hoops bar wearing a FTP t-shirt and if you’re lucky you’ll just need an ambulance. ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/463 "2016-01-14T11:09:10Z")
> [@](#): > > **Gary Kumquat** > But my dear Ryan, you promised me “50 or so”. After what appears to be a few hours of research you’ve managed to find one, from back in the 90s. Do I wait for the other 49, or are you just going to acknowledge that actually that was complete supposition on your part. Woah hang on, you asked for a group which had killed scores of people, there are plenty of Islamist terror groups in the Middle East, but you wanted a group specifically who had killed large amounts of people, and you talk about me moving the goalposts? > [@](#): > > And let’s talk about the House of Saud, shall we. > > Starter for 10. Which nation declared Ibn Saud’s territories to be a protectorate, thus allowing him to remove all of his rivals and consolidate his control over the peninsula, and actually declare his lands to be the Kingdom of Saudi? I’ll give you a clue, that’d be the Brits. And yes, we knew back then the Sauds were Wahhabists, and particularly regressive ones at that, but we didn’t care as long as they played the game. Nice, so really, it’s all our fault. The people of the region are poor beknighted fools, only worthy of manipulation, and with absolutely no autonomy in their own actions. > [@](#): > > And which two nations then went on to further support the Saud family for the next 40 years, helping them to overcome a number of power struggles and challenges, and also to keep the more moderate adherents of Islan well and truly screwed? Why that would be Britain, and then America. The latter particularly bent over backwards to assist, in exchange for access via Aramco to oil rights. And? I’ve not denied we supported the house of Saud. But it’s the House of Sauds fault for supporting Wahabbism. > [@](#): > > And which nations have consistently supported this bunch of hardcore Islamist extremists for the last 60 years, to ensure access to Ghawar and try to avoid nasty price fluctuations? Why that would be pretty much every first world country. > > So want to tell me again how Saudi Arabia is a problem caused by Islam? So you’re legitimately stating that Islamic extremism isn’t a consequence of their patriarchal regressive outlook, but actually a consequence of Western interference? So explain away Said Qutib, an Egyptian, who’s writing influenced the likes of Al Qaeda. > [@](#): > > And by the way, there really is an obvious example of a massively wealthy, ostensibly Christian nation with a track record of supporting all manner of terrorist organisations, dodgy governments and other very questionable groups of people. But as mentioned a few times, for some reason it’s not terrorism if the US does it, it’s realpolitik. Usually those groups we support, their modus operandi isn’t the destruction of Western civilisation. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/464 "2016-01-14T11:31:29Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > Nice, so really, it’s all our fault. Correct. We installed them, we supported them till their control of the country was absolute, we armed them, and we turned a blind eye to every evil they commit, just as long as they keep the oil flowing. And now we’re blaming anyone but ourselves for the massive shitstorm out there. We throw grenades in a pool, then complain that our feet are getting wet. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/465 "2016-01-14T11:40:28Z")
And one line of yours that really pissed me off: > [@](#): > > The people of the region are poor beknighted fools, only worthy of manipulation, and with absolutely no autonomy in their own actions. Google Ali al-Nimr for an example of what happens to the people there when they try to retake autonomy. Did you notice the UK or US criticizing the last round of executions of dissidents? ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/466 "2016-01-14T13:32:56Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > Correct. We installed them, we supported them till their control of the country was absolute, we armed them, and we turned a blind eye to every evil they commit, just as long as they keep the oil flowing. > > And now we’re blaming anyone but ourselves for the massive shitstorm out there. We throw grenades in a pool, then complain that our feet are getting wet. Islamic extremism would still exist even if we didn’t support the Saudis, this seems to go over your head, do you think their culutral conservatism would just dissapear if not for Oil? > [@](#): > > And one line of yours that really pissed me off: Good. it supposed too, your absolving of Muslim Arabs being masters of their own actions is the form of cultural condescension which facilitates situations like what happened in Cologne in the first place. > [@](#): > > Google Ali al-Nimr for an example of what happens to the people there when they try to retake autonomy. Did you notice the UK or US criticizing the last round of executions of dissidents? I remembered the cancelling of the Saudi prison contracts instigated by the Labour opposition. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/467 "2016-01-14T15:59:40Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > Islamic extremism would still exist even if we didn’t support the Saudis, this seems to go over your head, do you think their culutral conservatism would just dissapear if not for Oil? Yeah, pretty much. No oil, no budget. No budget, no ability to both oppress and dictate, as well as wage proxy wars near and far. > **[How Saudi Wahhabism Is the Fountainhead of Islamist Terrorism](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/saudi-wahhabism-islam-terrorism_b_6501916)** > > The fountainhead of Islamic extremism that promotes and legitimizes violence lies with the fanatical "Wahhabi" strain of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia. And if the world wants to tamp down and eliminate such violent extremism, it must confront this... “for decades the Saudis have also lavishly financed its propagation abroad. Exact numbers are not known, but it is thought that more than $100 billion have been spent on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to various much poorer Muslim nations worldwide over the past three decades. It might well be twice that number. By comparison, the Soviets spent about $7 billion spreading communism worldwide in the 70 years from 1921 and 1991.” And your deeply sad “but we cancelled the prison contract” rebuttal is beyond pathetic. We sold them $2.5bn of weapons last year alone: > **[UK fuelling Yemen civil war with arms sales to Saudi Arabia, says Amnesty](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/17/uk-yemen-civil-war-arms-sales-saudi-arabia)** > > UK government breaches arms trade treaty by selling arms while Yemeni civilians being hit by Saudi-led coalition, say lawyers But yeah, honest, it’s Islam that’s to blame. Sure it is. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/468 "2016-01-14T20:54:34Z")
The paper who broke the story on the mass sexual abuse at the Swedish concert has been accused of trying to cover up the story, and only printing it when they realized they could not bury it any longer, and other media knew they had it. They replied that they got the information 6 months ago, but could not verify it. The Norwegian reporters trade paper has checked out the claim, and found that they actively worked not to verify it, as in refusing to take the calls of policemen and a police psychologist who were at the concert. The paper was offered the opportunity to reply to this and chose to retort with the claim that the online paper that first broke the news were “a hatemongering rightwing rag” This is considered an unusual retort when the reporters own trade paper ask for a comment on misconduct. It also seems that the number of girl abused has been far larger than previously reported, the police psychologist state that it was every single girl he spoke to after the concert. Other policemen say this has been going on for 7-8 years, much longer than initially reported. The chief of police say they suppressed the information due to not wanting to give the right-wing political party “good cards”. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/469 "2016-01-14T21:22:47Z")
> [@Gary\_Kumquat](#): > > You’re wrong. You linked to a bunch of articles about violence between fans of two different football teams. (Which are actually soccer teams, of course.) What the heck does that have to do with anything that I’ve said in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/470 "2016-01-14T21:54:12Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > You linked to a bunch of articles about violence between fans of two different football teams. (Which are actually soccer teams, of course.) What the heck does that have to do with anything that I’ve said in this thread? Ah, it’s willfully obtuse o’clock already. Splendid. Unless you think the unionists and Catholics are football sides, you’ve clearly not read the links. In case you’re really confused I should probably point out that the protestant orange order aren’t cheerleaders, and the Boyne celebration is not a prize giving But to recap, you are very wrong and a ftp t-shirt would easily earn you a beating in lots of places around Glasgow. ---
**Author:** ![T.M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ad7895/32.png) [@T.M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.M)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/471 "2016-01-14T22:14:25Z")
> [@Grim\_Render](#): > > The paper who broke the story on the mass sexual abuse at the Swedish concert has been accused of trying to cover up the story, and only printing it when they realized they could not bury it any longer, and other media knew they had it. > > They replied that they got the information 6 months ago, but could not verify it. > > The Norwegian reporters trade paper has checked out the claim, and found that they actively worked not to verify it, as in refusing to take the calls of policemen and a police psychologist who were at the concert. > > The paper was offered the opportunity to reply to this and chose to retort with the claim that the online paper that first broke the news were “a hatemongering rightwing rag” This is considered an unusual retort when the reporters own trade paper ask for a comment on misconduct. > > It also seems that the number of girl abused has been far larger than previously reported, the police psychologist state that it was every single girl he spoke to after the concert. Other policemen say this has been going on for 7-8 years, much longer than initially reported. > > The chief of police say they suppressed the information due to not wanting to give the right-wing political party “good cards”. I heard about this a few years ago, when I was last in Stockholm I asked about it and was told that there was a major problem in other parts of the country but nobody wanted to know ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/472 "2016-01-14T22:37:02Z")
> [@ITR Champion](#): > > You linked to a bunch of articles about violence between fans of two different football teams. (Which are actually soccer teams, of course.) What the heck does that have to do with anything that I’ve said in this thread? Celtic = Catholics. Rangers = Protestants. Gary Kumquat may be wrong about damn near everything else he’s posted in this thread, but he’s right that wearing a ‘Fuck the Pope’ T-Shirt in the wrong parts of Glasgow is asking for trouble. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/473 "2016-01-14T22:40:17Z")
> [@Tithonus](#): > > Celtic = Catholics. > Rangers = Protestants. > > Gary Kumquat may be wrong about damn near everything else he’s posted in this thread, but he’s right that wearing a ‘Fuck the Pope’ T-Shirt in the wrong parts of Glasgow is asking for trouble. I’m pretty sure the Pope himself would turn the other cheek. Er…so to speak… ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/474 "2016-01-14T22:58:23Z")
> [@](#): > > **Gary Kumquat** > “for decades the Saudis have also lavishly financed its propagation abroad. Exact numbers are not known, but it is thought that more than $100 billion have been spent on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to various much poorer Muslim nations worldwide over the past three decades. It might well be twice that number. By comparison, the Soviets spent about $7 billion spreading communism worldwide in the 70 years from 1921 and 1991.” > > And your deeply sad “but we cancelled the prison contract” rebuttal is beyond pathetic. We sold them $2.5bn of weapons last year alone: > > [UK fuelling Yemen civil war with arms sales to Saudi Arabia, says Amnesty | Yemen | The Guardian](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/17/uk-yemen-civil-war-arms-sales-saudi-arabia) > > But yeah, honest, it’s Islam that’s to blame. Sure it is. Yeah, so let’s hear your explanation for Gamaat Islamiyaa in Algeria. You seem to be under the impression that it’s just money and our support that’s propagating this, this would of happened even without the Saudis sitting on Oil reserves, so try and explain away Said Qutib who was a well educated individual and primary concerned with the encroachment of Western values on Islamic culture. It’s a culture war, something which seems to go over your head. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/475 "2016-01-14T23:09:47Z")
Since the gropers were mostly “North African looking” why are people getting into arguments about Saudi Arabia? They’re about as culturally similar as Germany and Brazil. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/476 "2016-01-15T00:25:07Z")
> [@Gary Kumquat's link](#): > > A wild west-style brawl enveloped one Glasgow southside pub… Why compare it with a cliched Wild West brawl instead of a cliched Glasgow Saturday night? Is this a form of America bashing? :dubious: > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Since the gropers were mostly “North African looking” why are people getting into arguments about Saudi Arabia? > > They’re about as culturally similar as Germany and Brazil. [Less similar. 😉](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077269/) ---
**Author:** ![Hank\_Beecher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hank_beecher/32/7275_2.png) [@Hank\_Beecher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hank_Beecher)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/477 "2016-01-15T01:00:43Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Since the gropers were mostly “North African looking” why are people getting into arguments about Saudi Arabia? > > They’re about as culturally similar as Germany and Brazil. A. “it is thought that more than $100 billion have been spent on exporting fanatical Wahhabism to various much poorer Muslim nations worldwide over the past three decades.” B. Despite the cultural differences, discrimination/violence including sexual violence/genocide in Europe and Brazil is driven by racial supremacy with common ideological heritage in both places. The supremacist attitudes of Saudis and North Africans towards non-Muslims, especially non-Muslim women, also share common heritage in Islamic texts and their traditional interpretations and manifestations. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/478 "2016-01-15T01:15:46Z")
> [@Tithonus](#): > > Celtic = Catholics. > Rangers = Protestants. Learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/479 "2016-01-15T02:36:31Z")
Whenever Islam is criticized, there’s this instinctive, almost knee-jerk reaction by many on the political left to swoop in and defend it. I’ve never quite seen that reaction when it comes to any other religion. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538/480 "2016-01-15T03:46:42Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Whenever Islam is criticized, there’s this instinctive, almost knee-jerk reaction by many on the political left to swoop in and defend it. I’ve never quite seen that reaction when it comes to any other religion. what is mind boggling is that the thread was started after the Paris attacks and the California attacks and within a week of the first post we have [Jarkarta](http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/14/asia/jakarta-gunfire-explosions/). Not that anyone will read the link but it talks about ISIS using their financial muscle to infiltrate and fund cells in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. If we only had to worry about knee-jerk verbal defenses of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-the-hell-happened-in-germany-in-nye/742538.md?page=25)