No, I’m going to stick with the comparison being an apt, if not exact.
It would be one thing if Ryan was willing to fight jihadists that really do mean him harm. To be fair half the time that seems to be the argument he is trying to put forward. But the clansmen analogy fails as he has compromised his comments ( whether he is aware of it or not ) too many times by making it clear he is worried by Muslims generally. And the argument that Muslim majorities would inevitably = repression severe enough to resort to armed violence doesn’t fly with me. And it doesn’t just seem to be repression - the impression I get is one of dedication a type of static monocoulturalism that is both unrealistic ( those Muslim immigrants are already part of urban British culture ) and undesirable.
Hence the charge of xenophobia, which I think is warranted. He wants to “take up arms” against a group that do not necessarily mean him any harm and most of whom are not likely to be in favor of the kind of dystopia he seems to fear ( IMHO of course ). That is a bit more extreme than just wanting to oppose cultural things he finds distasteful and puts him over the border ( however slightly ) into the same terrain as the jihadists of the world, that see the world through their own version of intolerance-coated glasses.
What are you saying here clairobscur? That France has no problems with anti-Semitism and (Muslim) immigrant from the Middle East or that Paul is a bigot for pointing it out?
:rolleyes: Please, I’m not bothered too much about immigration, just more the replacement of one culture of another. Besides, I’m all for changing my opinion, I can admit I’m wrong on points, as I have done so in this thread and ok, I made some daft comments and silly points which are on the xenophobic side and I apologise for it.
Happens all the time and every day, mate. You’re already part of the culture that replaced your grandfather’s. He learnt to live with it, and so will you.
Now there you go, spoiling the debate by actually admitting you’ve listened and taken on board the other side’s argument!
Could someone (ideally Fitzroy) explain the point of this cite to me?
Because he seems to have used a URL that goes immediately to JPEG. It shows a picture of a Swastika on a gravestone with a Jew walking by, but contains no words. So where do I find the story behind it?
Note: if there is no story - then why the cite? It could just as well have been done by a white supremacist organization. Please explain (anybody).
Well, I could not bring myself to read this whole thread because it is obvious from the beginning that you follow a completely irrational line of thinking.
I’m sorry, but what you write here in your OP does not reflect well on your ability to think and reason independently. You come across as someone who is very much under the influence of amazing ignorant people who don’t know what they are talking about.
If you are 18 you are most certainly able to inform yourself, for instance by going to to a library. You could start with reading about what it takes in a democratic nation to bring about a change in its constitution. You could read about the democratic process needed to even get a proposition for a law to pass.
You are aware of it that the vast majotirty of Muslims who live in Western nations are citizens of these nations, no?
What you don’t seem to realize is that Islam is a religion, hence it is not the same thing as cultures where it happens to be practiced. Cultures can be influenced by Islam but it is far more accurate to say that the cultures influence the religion in its practice. Islam is also not the same thing as a nation and it is also not only a State Religion in the so called Islamic nations. It is for example one of the state religions in Belgium.
I can imagine that in your view my late father did a reassuring thing by marrying a EU citizen in his own country and next stay there with her. No fear for taking over my mother’s nation by the Ugly Dangerous Muslim in that case. Great Relief on your side.
Of course, since I went there to do a great part of my studies, since I speak the languages, since I am very familiar with the country etc… I am in your view very silently setting up an undercover operation to repare his Big Mistake. You are what “your people” call " Jihadist", or you are not a Muslim, isn’t it?
I shall keep you informed on my progress to organize the infiltration of the whole EU political system by Us Ugly Jihadist Muslims, question of giving you time to organize The Great Resistence. (Good advise: try to grow a beard and get used to Taliban Looking clothing style or We Jihadists will chop your head off in no time).
Maybe if you dropped the “I Am In Great Panick For Muslims Taking Over my Country” and start threads with serious questions about Islam - since that seems to make you afraid so much - it would be easier for us (Muslim and non-Muslim members both) to address your posts, because then you give reason to take them serious.
Take into account birth rates, death rates, immigration and emigration rates and it is quite possible the EU could be taken over one or two countries at a time.
Don’t know how warranted pit threads are since islam is an ideology and is therefore fair game for criticism (like all ideologies). In fact it’s perfectly acceptable to hate an ideology with every fibre of your being. It’s just an ideology, a belief system thought up by humans.
It’s exactly the same as all other ideologies including christianity, communism, nazism, democracy, whatever. All ideologies are the same when thought of on this level. To the believers they are the TRUTH, to the detractors they are EVIL.
But they are all the same really - and it is perfectly ok to hate one of them if you wish, or love one of them (if that is your bag).
Anyway I only came in here to cast doubt on this statement made earlier by Marley:
cough…splutter…what??
I don’t think so.
Accurate figures for the sizes of religions are hard to come by (because all religions inflate their own size) but I think we can say that there are about 2 billion christians in the world and about 1.1 billion muslims in the world so no way is islam going to be the largest religion in the world in 15 years time (or indeed ever).
It all depends on how you define things but if you break christianity up into it’s different sects and also break islam up into it’s different sects then the biggest religion in the world is catholicism (since there are more catholics than sunni muslims).
If you have in mind the oft-repeated claim (usually by muslims) that “islam is the fastest growing religion in the world” then I would say that I’m extremely sceptical about this claim. Lots of muslim countries also happen to be very poor countries and, like all poor countries, they often have high birthrates (as well as high deathrates). So the number of muslims may be growing but islam itself is not necessarily growing particularly fast.
In fact, in Africa as far as I’m aware, christianity is growing much faster (in terms of conversions).
I disagree. Tamerlane’s comparison was rather apt and the level of insult perceived depends on your perspective. For some people, it would be quite a compliment.
And having hung out with Angua in person on two continents, this is one Jewish agnostic who would much rather have her running my country than the people who are currently doing so. She is one Muslim who could teach you a thing or two about tolerance.
Seems like her and a boy were caught having sex in a public place. She got hanged and he got 100 lashes. Whilst the case was pursued with exceptional vigour by the chief judicial administrator of her city (apparently she got furious with him during the trial and threw off some garments), the execution was approved by the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Court within three weeks of being referred to them.
It was intended less as an insult than an attempt to get Ryan to think about the comparison. I will ( as I obliquely did earlier ) retract the"exact" part of my remark - a poor attempt at trying to use emphasis early in the morning, my time.
However if I have offended your sensibilities, I apologize.
“The general rule is to attack the other poster’s arguments, rather than the other poster him- or herself.” - MEBuckner
Is this supposed to be some sort of rule here? Because it isn’t being observed very well in this thread.
I think the poster asks a legitimate question. I’ve read that 1 out of 3 babies being born in France is Muslim. So how long WILL it take for Muslims to be in the majority in that country?
In fact I will amend that to say in addition that attacking his arguments was precisely what I was trying to do. If anything should convince oneself of the dubious nature of their arguments, comparing them to the all too similar worldview of terrorists would seem to me a slam dunk.
Because quite frankly I am none to clear and just what was meant by “taking up arms”, but it sounded pretty ominous from my corner.
