# Protesters storm US embasy...in Cairo?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 11, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420 "2012-09-11T18:53:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/21 "2012-09-12T00:50:05Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > That statement I’m reading about by the U.S. embassy better be a joke. > > "[The U.S. Embassy said that it “condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.” > “Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy,” the statement said. “We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.”](http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/11/world/meast/egpyt-us-embassy-protests/index.html) > > Please let that be a joke. Hurt religious feelings?? The Romey folks are going to have a field day with that one. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/22 "2012-09-12T01:00:42Z")
The local US embassy looks like a fortified fortress, surrounded by a thirty foot wall/fence with one entry point on the street that looks like an airlock, with plenty of machine gun toting guards. Mind you this in the carribean, not the middle east! So why exactly was it so easy to overrun this embassy? What are the guns for if not repelling invaders?:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/23 "2012-09-12T01:09:55Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Has anyone been murdered in Cairo ? No. But this is hardly the first time there has been violence because of outrage over some offense to Islam or Muhammad and people have been killed over it in recent years. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/24 "2012-09-12T01:11:41Z")
> [@Linden\_Arden](#): > > Our fundies are violent too. > > Eric Rudolf bombed abortion doctors, Paul Hill and the killer of the doctor in Kansas come to mind first. There are many others. When a few hundred of them swarm an abortion clinic or a Bishop calls for the murder of doctors at Planned Parenthood get back to me. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/25 "2012-09-12T01:47:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, there was that blogger who got hundreds of death threats for stealing a communion wafer. I call bullshit on that claim. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/26 "2012-09-12T02:16:20Z")
If the mere suggestion that a Koran is burned caused riots this movie has the potential of a much larger reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/27 "2012-09-12T02:58:24Z")
> [@grude](#): > > The local US embassy looks like a fortified fortress, surrounded by a thirty foot wall/fence with one entry point on the street that looks like an airlock, with plenty of machine gun toting guards. Mind you this in the carribean, not the middle east! So why exactly was it so easy to overrun this embassy? What are the guns for if not repelling invaders?:dubious: Yes, firing at unarmed civilians would have been excellent press for the US in the Middle East. :rolleyes: And it seems the guns \*did \*repel invaders - according to the article, after protesters had climbed the wall the US security force fired into the air and drove them off. That’s a darn cool-headed response to an angry mob if you ask me - similar incidents have often resulted in indiscriminate shooting in the past, including when the mobs weren’t even all that angry (Kent State, Peterloo anyone ?) [QUOTE=Odesio] When […] a Bishop calls for the murder of doctors at Planned Parenthood get back to me. [/QUOTE] They don’t because they’d get arrested. Some dog whistle it pretty loud, though. Oh, and there are those who openly call for [all gays to be put in concentration camps](http://www.thedailybeast.com/videos/2012/05/25/north-carolina-pastor-put-gays-in-concentration-camps.html) of course. But I assume it’s not the same and that’s just bad apples and No True Christian and yadda yadda ? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/28 "2012-09-12T03:03:40Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > They don’t because they’d get arrested. So your premise is that the law prevents religions from promoting and committing murder ? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/29 "2012-09-12T03:04:09Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > If the mere suggestion that a Koran is burned caused riots this movie has the potential of a much larger reaction. > [@](#): > > A 14-minute trailer of the movie that sparked the protests, posted on the website YouTube in an original English version and another dubbed into Egyptian Arabic, depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres. > > A YouTube spokesman said the website would not take down the video at this point. The spokesman said the website’s policy is to remove videos that include a threat of violence, but not those only expressing opinions. > > “We take great care when we enforce our policies and try to allow as much content as possible while ensuring that our Community Guidelines are followed,” the YouTube representative said. “Flagged content that does not violate our Guidelines will remain on the site.” > > Sam Bacile, an American citizen who said he produced, directed and wrote the two-hour film, said he had not anticipated such a furious reaction. > > “I feel sorry for the embassy. I am mad,” Bacile said. > > Speaking from a telephone with a California number, Bacile said he is Jewish and familiar with the region. Bacile said the film was produced in English and he doesn’t know who dubbed it in Arabic. The full film has not been shown yet, he said, and he said he has declined distribution offers for now. > > “My plan is to make a series of 200 hours” about the same subject, he said. [HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/libya-us-consulate_n_1875390.html) If this is accurate, the larger reaction may occur. I still cannot find the YouTube video, and it appears, nether can the American media. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/30 "2012-09-12T03:10:48Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > [HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/libya-us-consulate_n_1875390.html) > > If this is accurate, the larger reaction may occur. > > I still cannot find the YouTube video, and it appears, nether can the American media. Weak Googlefu: [**Muhammad Movie Trailer - YouTube**](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmodVun16Q4) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/31 "2012-09-12T03:14:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > It’s an annual subscription, and poor Americans don’t have tanks and strike aircraft. But this money is precisely intended to buy tanks and aircrats! It would be very possible to have a similar system. Just hand out “weapon stamps” that poor americans can only use to buy tank and aircrafts but not cigarettes or lobster. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/32 "2012-09-12T03:18:27Z")
BTW, the “correct” response would be for the outraged religious dolts to make their own piece of crap video lampooning the shit out of Jesus & his followers. Hell, it’d take what? A couple of hours and a $300 minicam. Voila! Revenge. Imbeciles, the lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/33 "2012-09-12T03:22:41Z")
This [Cafe Society](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=665219) thread links to The Atlantic web site that has the English and dubbed versions on the web site. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/34 "2012-09-12T03:23:14Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > On the other hand, _The Last Temptation of Christ_, _Dogma_\*… \*Here in France: _Amen._ (the combination cross/swastika featuring prominently on the movie’s poster couldn’t have helped, admittedly). [QUOTE=Odesio] I think it’s a bit more disingenuous to say our fundies are the same as theirs. I don’t remember Catholics murdering anyone over The Life of Brian or having such violent reactions to alleged insults against Jesus, the Pope of God. [/QUOTE] In the recent cases of Amen and such, fundamentalists were content with praying and being generally obnoxious. But I remember the release of “The last temptation” (I wanted to watch it at the time) and they have been _so_ obnoxious that almost all movie theaters gave up quickly. Eventually, it was down to one movie theater showing it in the Latin Quarter, and this one was…firebombed by a fundamentalist (while people were present in the theater, IIRC)! That’s rather exceptional, but yes, a Catholic fundie can potentially be as dangerous as a Muslim one. The difference is that those protestors don’t get much traction or support from the general public. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/35 "2012-09-12T03:23:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Bacile said the film was produced in English and he doesn’t know who dubbed it in Arabic. If history is any guide, it was some mullah who decided he’d be in position to capitalize on the outrage. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/36 "2012-09-12T03:27:45Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Yes, firing at unarmed civilians would have been excellent press for the US in the Middle East. :rolleyes: > > And it seems the guns \*did \*repel invaders - according to the article, after protesters had climbed the wall the US security force fired into the air and drove them off. That’s a darn cool-headed response to an angry mob if you ask me - similar incidents have often resulted in indiscriminate shooting in the past, including when the mobs weren’t even all that angry (Kent State, Peterloo anyone ?) Well once you’re inside the embassy grounds you’re not an unarmed civilian peacefully protesting, and they did kill at least one person in Libya. If a group of americans stormed the Egyptian or Libyan embassies in the US and got shot I wouldn’t shed a tear, everyone knows you don’t storm embassies. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/37 "2012-09-12T03:30:57Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I call bullshit on that claim. It seems to have happened. It’s easy to Google; you’ll get [several reports such as this one.](http://minnesotaindependent.com/4458/christ-on-a-cracker-joke-about-communion-wafers-elicits-death-threats-for-pharyngula-blogger) I haven’t been able to find out how many death threats he received; it may or may not have been literally hundreds. > [@Magiver](#): > > So your premise is that the law prevents religions from promoting and committing murder ? Um…Yeah. Pretty much, yes. If it were not against the law for religious groups to murder people they don’t like, I’m pretty sure they would. Abortion providers, atheist spokespeople, neo-pagans, heretics, blasphemers, etc. (Not to mention ritual murderers such as Kali or Moloch worshipers. But, of course, they’d be high on the list of people other religious groups would be sure to murder…) ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/38 "2012-09-12T03:42:30Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > So your premise is that the law prevents religions from promoting and committing murder ? Deters, not prevents. And not just the law, but its enforcement. And it has to be a secular, by-popular-consent law with separation of church and state, that goes without saying. Also culture, wealth, tradition, education, history, age and a whole \*bunch \*of other factors besides (I’m no anthropologist, I only grok the obvious ones). Oh, and “religions” haven’t ever done anything to anyone as they are abstract concepts, which unlike corporations aren’t people my friend. Other than that, spot on my good chap. My premise, as much as I have any, is that people are people, and have been people for the whole of recorded history. That there’s no good us and bad them, and there’s _most definitely_ not any kind of magic to Christianity or eeeevul to Islam that fundamentally or significantly alters the behaviour of their respective practitioners. You want truly medieval Christian shit, look into the fun they’ve been having running old skool witch hunts in Africa. Or killing Teh Ghey, always a crowd pleaser that one. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/39 "2012-09-12T03:50:56Z")
I’m wondering why the outrage hasn’t spread outside Egypt and Libya. Sure, the originators of the film seem to be Egyptian Christians, but why does that matter to non-Egyptians? ---
**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:** [September 12, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420/40 "2012-09-12T03:59:17Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I think it’s a bit more disingenuous to say our fundies are the same as theirs. I don’t remember Catholics murdering anyone over _The Life of Brian_ or having such violent reactions to alleged insults against Jesus, the Pope of God. In parts of the world where Catholics are oppressed by non-Catholics that certainly isn’t the case. Certainly in Northern Ireland one of the common chants that provoked violence was “the Pope’s a queer!” and anyone caught trying to spray paint such a slogan in the wrong neighborhood would wind up having both their kneecaps shot out and then have a bullet put in the back of their head. Obviously, right now, Muslims often react differently to such insults than do Christians, but that’s because they’re in a significantly different position than Christians. Beyond that, does anyone think for two seconds that If I walked down to Ground Zero, set an American flag on fire and started chanting over and over “Allahu Akbar” that barring police interference that such behavior wouldn’t potentially provoke violence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesters-storm-us-embasy-in-cairo/634420.md?page=3)