Religion of Peace[sup]tm[/sup]
In addition to the ignorant sods on the linked sites completely ignoring actual Muslim leaders condemning the killing, there’s you further spreading ignorance. Good job.
I’m very tired and sick at heart at this. I’ll leave you to your unctuous apologia.
I’m neither unctuous nor an apologist. I just despise bigotry. Your comment was bigoted and asinine. Don’t like it being pointed out? Quit making bigoted and asinine comments.
Larry Borgia, stop threadshitting.
Monty, dial it back.
[ /Moderating ]
I haven’t said anything that’s not “dialed back.” I made a factual comment about a post.
I take offence at sarky comments like Religion of Peace tm’
If any religion is specifically dangerous to non-believers despite its proclamations, it is Christianity!
Every religion has its share of loons.
Pjen, you are also contributing to a hijack.
Drop it.
[ /Moderating ]
Wow! Ali G on scene and be comentatin’
That tweet link indicates that the soldier was alone. Now, I’ve spent the last nine months in China and the previous seven years plus change in South Korea. In China, I have never seen any of the PLA soldiers stationed here off-base alone. Also, at every one of the US bases in South Korea, the soldiers are strongly advised (perhaps even required) to be using the “buddy system” when off-base. Yes, I know England is generally safe; however, it hasn’t been all that long before now since there’ve been attacks against UK military personnel and property. Are the British soldiers not also advised to use the “buddy system”?
ETA: That tweeter (twitterer?) also said this event was in the top 3 weird things he’s seen. I’m wondering now what the other two were.
Are you suggesting that all serving personnel, when at home, should never ever venture out alone?? Do serving personnel in the US use a buddy system when they nip down the shops in, I don’t know, Portland? The UK is not a war zone you know. :dubious:
Often the feeling in the UK is that it’s the public that need to be out in groups if off-duty soldiers are around. The “pissed up squaddie” is a menace in many towns at the weekend. They are no worse or better than any other group of young men out on the lash, but lots of people avoid garrison towns due to the risk of trouble at weekends.
Things might change now but when you say the UK is “generally” safe, it underplays things a bit… even during the IRA years there were not many attacks on individual soldiers on the mainland, and the attack yesterday was so horrific and outside of the norm that no-one would reasonably expect it to happen to them.
Now confirmed on the BBC that he was a soldier.
Neither is South Korea, contrary to certain intimations from a not very nice country in the region. Yet, the US military personnel are, as mentioned, strongly advised to use the buddy system when venturing out. I was just curious if the UK had a similar advice for their folks given how not a few people seem to view military folk.
There is not the hero worship of the military that is common in the US (although certain factions of British society are manipulating toward that end) but there is little open animosity towards troops unless they are acting abysmally (which having worked in a garrison town, I can tell you that they do!- and expect to get away with it; they don’t!)
This is a deeply strange story - I do wonder if these two murderers were running on jihadi zealotry alone, or had some sort of chemical dutch courage to enable them to cold-bloodedly kill someone and then just hang around showing off.
A couple of women in my office asked ‘what the world was coming to’ this morning, and I pointed out that murder with handheld weapons in the name of religion was barely a new invention.
And it is quite startling how - were it not for the Islamist cobblers they were spouting - this would be treated as just a particularly brutal street attack. But add the ‘homegrown terrorist’ element as their justification, and the Prime Minister flies back to the UK for an emergency COBRA meeting.
Now confirmed that both men were known to MI5 and one had been prevented from leaving the UK.
I suppose being mad as a box of frogs as well as a terrorist is totally possible.
Caught red-handed.
(too soon?)
Seriously though, I’m disgusted at the media showing unblurred photos of the victim’s body lying in the road, all over the place. Do the family really need to see the body of their loved one plastered all over the TV and papers like this?
While not wishing to belittle the tragedy of the death of this soldier, and I hope that those responsible suffer the full consequences of the law, dare I say that I think the public reaction has been a tad shrill?
I say this, given that just two weeks ago an elderly Pakistani man was killed with a knife in a suspected racist attack, and it was barely reported.
It disgusts me that as soon as a black person does this, everyone loses their minds!
Heh, apparently a beheading on the streets of London in broad daylight followed by the arrival of armed police who promptly shot the nutcase perpetrators only ranks in the “top three” crazy things this guy has seen in his life.