Stunningly accurate, though. Nobody wants to face the 800 pound elephant. The Religion Of Peace is the most violent, backward, oppresive religous culture around. How they stole that title from the christian fundamentalists is beyond me.
This is a far more complicated question than you may think, and probably could generate dozens of pages in a thread of its own.
Without justifying the violent reactions, I can say this: Newsweek, knowing how some factions of Islam react to certain information, and knowing that they may be putting people in harm’s way, irresponsibly disseminated a potentially explosive piece of information without checking the source. The fault does not lie with the recipients of this information; their reaction is the result of being programmed with extreme ideas and being fueled by an irresponsible news story.
Damn they have some powerful toilets in Gitmo…
Not as accurate. I’m sure that there are societal and economic reasons behind this that have little to do with the religion. To attribute it simply to being a muslim is oversimplifying.
Because up until now they’ve been so reasonable?
Nah. I’d even bet that if there wouldn’t be rioting even if, say, there was confirmed national media coverage of an activist group storming into a Catholic cathedral during services and desecrating the communion host.
Who is “they?”
This kind of stupid, mindless generalization of all Muslims into one amorphous blob is exactly the problem.
I beg to differ. Look what happens when you do something as simple as taking a concrete slab out a courthouse. Nobody has a bigger martyr complex than American Christian fundies.
You tell 'em. It’s not like you’ve ever lumped Repulicans and/or right wingers into one amorphous blob. :rolleyes:
Okay, let me understand this. Newsweek printed a story that included a reference to someone torturing someone else by desecrating the Koran. Because they didn’t make entirely sure that it was true, they are responsible for inciting hostile feelings among members of the Muslim world, or “starting a holy war”?
In the context of sexually humiliating prisoners, threatening them with attack dogs, beating them and killing them: a) the idea that we might desecrate the Koran does not sound particularly implausible, and b) the idea that Newsweek is responsible for negative feelings among members of the Muslim world seems equivalent to saying that Jimmy Carter’s boycott of the Olympics brought Russia to collapse. This latter is particularly true when you widen the context to consider the whole “invading a Middle East country on demonstrably false pretenses” thing.
To suggest that Newsweek caused a negative reaction from members of the Muslim world is simply to look for a scapegoat. If you don’t want people to be mad about desecrating the Koran, don’t fuck with the Koran and then blame Newsweek for it. For example, in an MSNBC report on the matter, they include the following quote: “Newsweek is back-tracking but it’s not just their report,” said Ghaffar Aziz, a top official of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. “All innocent people released from U.S. custody have said on the record that there was desecration of the Koran.”
Newsweek is wrong to print anything that it is not fairly sure of. However, to put it another way, Newsweek’s error seems to me more like a fart in a windstorm than a turd in the punchbowl.
Not to defend fundies, but what exactly are you referring to when you say “look what happens”? I’m unaware of any rioting or deaths that resulted from the removal of the Ten Commandments monument. I saw people exercising their right to free speech … in pursuit of a misguided cause, sure, but nothing else.
They were doing more than exercising their right to free speech, they were trying physically prevent the removal of the slab.
They didn’t get violent, but the fact that they thought it was an issue at all is an indication of serious deficiencies in reason and intellect.
I would also argue that they have the ability to channel their bigotry and rage into miltary assaults on those they don’t like. Rioting is caused by frustrated rage as much as anything else.
Why even print the article when it will only cause more anger towards our troops? Abu Ghraib type mistreatment is one thing, but assuming this story is true, it’s the equivelant of someone peeing on my Seven Samurai DVD. And this “It’s a believable story so it’s our fault” argument is horseshit.
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic]
They were doing more than exercising their right to free speech, they were trying physically prevent the removal of the slab.
They didn’t get violent, but the fact that they thought it was an issue at all is an indication of serious deficiencies in reason and intellect.
And this is comparable to a Holy War how?
Again, though, they were doing this non-violently. I’m unaware of any fistfights or any type of violent altercation that occurred.
So?
Well, sure. I have the ability to channel my bigotry and rage into a military assault on Julia Roberts, if I so choose. Doesn’t mean I will … doesn’t mean I’ve even contemplated doing it. What it does mean is that somebody here is engaging in the time-honored, hyperbolic tactic known as “making stuff up.”
Who said it was comparable to “Holy War?” I’m saying it’s an indication that Christian fundies would be no less prone to riot if the situations were reversed.
Yet when said commandments are removed, they DON’T riot. I’m still failing to see how the generic US fundy is comparable to these Muslims.
So they were interfering with law enforcement and trying to physically blocade them from taking the statue. They had to be physically removed by the cops. It shows that they were willing to do more than express an opinion, they were willing to try to physically impose their beliefs on others.
It was just one example. I can bring up anti-abortion terrorism if need be.
My point is that if some extreme segments of the Christian right are so quick to take offense that they are willing to break laws and impede the rights of others when they have all the power and are not even being insulted, it’s not hard to imagine what they’d do if their power was actually taken away from them and they were humiliated, tortured and had their Bibles torn up in front of them.
I take issue to the suggetsion that this reaction is a Muslim thing. It’s a human thing and a religious fanatic thing. The specific religion is irrelevant.
No, you do not have that ability. Or at least you do not have the ability to watch a president and the US military do it for you at no risk of consequences or responsibility to yourself.
I’m sure you can. I can also cite the civil rights movement in this country as an opposing example. Peaceful demonstrations (on the part of those assembled) to make a point.
Granted. The human imagination is a wonderful thing. I can imagine that you’d make a post in this thread that’s actually rooted in reality, but it doesn’t mean it will happen. Hope springs eternal, though.
While I agree with you in principle, you chose a piss-poor example to make your point. The ultra-right-wing, ultra-fanatical fundie religious right (as you painted them) had “their God” (specific quote from one of the protestors) removed from the rotunda of Alabama’s Supreme Court. If they then went on a rampage and killed 17 people, I am unaware of it. Sure, the could have done that … but they didn’t.
They go on rampages and invade other countries instead.