http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2142403,00.html.
the times april 20, 2006 .
muslim students 'being taught to despise unbelievers as filth'.
Hellrider, my point wasn't that you must be a Bush supporter - I didn't state that, nor did I even imply it. My point was merely that American neoconservatism is more dangerous than radical Islam, a proposition with which I see you agree, at least somewhat.
As for your idea about "closing down the borders" - I pointed out why that won't work in the long term. You might not be a Bush supporter, but you certainly sound like a xenophobe.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2142403,00.html.
the times april 20, 2006 .
muslim students 'being taught to despise unbelievers as filth'.
"The technology of 2006 combined with the mindset of the 1300s, is a very dangerous combination."
True. That's why it's so dangerous to have Bush in power right now.
Come off it, man. Islamic extremism is an extremely dangerous, toxic, destructive ideology. I think we can all agree on that. But look at the kind of weak sauce results it gets - 23 people died in the resort bombings in Egypt the other day. Appalling, sickening, atrocious - but how many Iraqis do you think American troops have killed every day on average since the start of Bush's precious war? The most conservative total estimate runs at thirty thousand civilian casualties, and the Lancet study from a year ago estimated it at one hundred thousand.
Instead of worrying about who might get the bomb tomorrow, you might want to take a look at who's got the bombs right now, and consider the fact that their mindest is just as bloodthirsty, regressive, totalitarian, and ass-backwards as that of any Islamic extremist. One billion problem Muslims in the world doesn't worry me too much. Three hundred million problem Americans - now that's something to lose sleep over. Suicide bomber in the marketplace? Dangerous. American fighter jet raining phosphorus bombs on civilian areas? Way more dangerous than any Muslim fanatic could ever hope to be. The fact is that Americans are every bit as barbaric and dangerous to the rest of the world as the fanatics who want Sharia law imposed on all the rest of us - in fact, they are more dangerous because they already have the power to impose their poisonous ideology on other people and they do it every day. The fanatics can only dream and make bombs in their caves and kitchens.
And as a side point: although allowing immigrants from the Third World into Western countries en masse is causing some thorny problems, not allowing them in will be even worse. Check the birth rate in your own country: Europe isn't making babies fast enough to offset the chronic labour shortage that will result when the current working generation retires. My country isn't either. But somebody's got to fill that economic gap, and people from other countries are the only solution unless you're going to force women to stay home and have children - and then what would separate your from the extremists? These immigration policies are not short-sighted, they are a necessary step in the preservation of our standard of living.
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i live in an apartment building, and i just heard the door bells ringing here and there, which automatically made me think that it could be the jw's.... when someone is at the door here, knocking or ringing, i'm always fearful that it will be them....
My roommate is on notice to tell the JWs that I'm not there if they happen to come around. He said he didn't know any JWs and I told him he'd know them if he saw them. I live in an area heavily populated by students, where people usually aren't home in the mornings, so naturally JWs are seen around here quite frequently (I used to doorknock in my current neighbourhood all the time) but I haven't seen any in the six months since I quit going to meetings. Thankfully.
you know something friends ?
i watch a lot of news, i guess you can ay i am a news junkie of sorts.
everyday something is happening in the world that seems to leading to one thing.
God's not coming, man. He's not coming soon and he's not coming later. I too note the increasingly surreal quality of global conditions and the peculiar tensions that have arisen in human society as a result of world events - but I think the key is to remember that none of these conditions or events are totally outside of our control. Every day we get closer to the point where we will be sufficiently enlightened, as a species, to put a stop to the madness and produce a truly peaceful, stable, productive global society. God's not going to do it for us, but it's not going to happen tomorrow either. Chill out and do what you can to help - that's my plan.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2142403,00.html.
the times april 20, 2006 .
muslim students 'being taught to despise unbelievers as filth'.
It's ironic to see you talk about the "naivete" of the left, Hellrider, when in the same breath you demand that the Islamic world be secularized RIGHT NOW. That's just as naive an idea as any I've ever seen, particularly when you admit yourself that these things take large amounts of time. The Islamic world will eventually embrace an enlightened, primarily secular world view just as the West has (well, excluding America), but it will take time - probably many generations. Probably we won't see it in our lifetime. But it will happen.
Mary: in pre-Enlightenment Europe the culture and political structure were based almost exclusively on religion and horribly bloody wars (much, much more vicious and destructive than any act of Islamic terrorism) were waged over the interpretation of certain writings. At the time all the smart money would have been on Islam as the religion of the future. Yet somehow Western society was able to progress to a point of sophistication and achievement unparalleled in human history. If you don't consider that Islam has the same potential, in spite of having stultified for the last few centuries, you're arguing from a pretty poorly informed point of view. Maybe checking out some more Zionist websites will help you out. Or not.
does anyone out there have any wise words for us to live by?
a favorite motto?
please share your wisdom if you don't mind.
Don't let the bastards get you down.
accepted origin
, high times magazine, the marijuana-logues, and the straight dope claim that in the early 1970s, a group of teenagers at san rafael high school in san rafael, california used to meet every day after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the water tower.
one piece of evidence supporting an origin of the term from the time 4:20 is the fact that the number is always said "four twenty" and not "four hundred twenty.
XJW, I don't think anybody "stepped on you" for voicing your opinion. You made an insulting and derogatory remark and when the target of it responded in protest (and, might I add, not even in kind) you accused everybody of persecuting you undeservedly. Dantheman is right: you're jumping at shadows. Grow a thicker skin, man.
i grew up like alot of you on my book of bible stories with all the beautiful illustrations .
thinking back the characters that i was most fascinated with were those like jezebel, delilah, queen vashti etc.
being a young teenage girl, to me they seemed way more interesting.
When I was younger I was intrigued by the story of Jehu. He was so badass. Drive his chariot anywhere he damn well please. After I got a little older I was really intrigued by David's military strongman Joab, who killed Abner and Amasa (his only competition for the post) and also Absalom when his hair got caught in the tree (actually, Absalom is an interesting character too). The story of Solomon's succession struck a new chord with me after I'd read a little history and politics - what he basically does is send his assassin Benaiah to kill off or otherwise eliminate everybody who could pose a threat to his regime (Joab, the high priest Abiathar, his own brother Adonijah, Saul's last powerful relative Shimei). He knocks off the last remnants of the previous Bronze Age dynasty to assure his own. Pretty savvy. Kind of interesting how God's chosen people seem to fall prey to the same dynastic court intrigue that affected other Bronze Age governments, isn't it? Almost as though there was nothing really special about them at all.
accepted origin
, high times magazine, the marijuana-logues, and the straight dope claim that in the early 1970s, a group of teenagers at san rafael high school in san rafael, california used to meet every day after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the water tower.
one piece of evidence supporting an origin of the term from the time 4:20 is the fact that the number is always said "four twenty" and not "four hundred twenty.
"You smoke weed? You are scum."
"Hey man, that's not really fair."
"Oh, so now I'm not allowed to have an opinion? MY RIGHTS ARE BEING TRAMPLED ON. I AM A VICTIM. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY COUNTRY THERE ARE STONERS EVERYWHERE."
Should have kept smoking, man. Might have kept your mind open a little more.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2142403,00.html.
the times april 20, 2006 .
muslim students 'being taught to despise unbelievers as filth'.
"they've always had a special hatred for the Jews"
What, more so than the Christians? It was Christians who made up the blood libel, Christians who expelled Jews from European nations time and time again, Christians who led pogrom after pogrom against Jews accused of well poisoning, usury, spreading plague, or any number of idiotic fabrications. The Holocaust took place in a historically Christian nation. By contrast, the Jews of the Muslim Middle East spent centuries in relative peace and safety. Only recently have the Islamic populations of the world come down firmly (and appallingly) against the Jews - and that probably has a lot more to do with Zionism (and if you want a xenophobic, intolerant, nationalist, ass-backwards ideology, look no further) than with any tenet of Islam. If you want to root out anti-Semitism in the Islamic world, spreading this type of misinformation is a poor way to go about it.
"they expanded through war and augmented their numbers by forcing most indivduals in the conquered nations to convert to Islam."
It may be true that Muslims conquered a good deal of the Middle East by force, but how on earth do you think that a tiny force of soldiers could forcibly displace religious traditions in place there for centuries, or millennia in the case of Persia? The regions administered by the Byzantine and Sassanid Persian Empire - the sites of the initial Islamic conquests - were prosperous, well-educated, and culturally sophisticated, everything the Arabs were not. Any attempt to enforce a new religion would have produced large-scale uprising and a dramatic disruption in the way of life in these regions. In actuality, the conquering minority must have come to some kind of terms with the local populations, if only because order could not have been maintained in any other way. Only gradually were these populations converted to Islam - in all likelihood because a dynamic new faith offered more to them, spiritually, than their former traditions - and substantial minorities of other faiths remained prominent features of these regions for centuries, just as pagan populations remained firmly entrenched in Europe for generations even if the ruling classes (frequently invasive itinerant peoples swarming into the Roman Empire) adopted Christianity for various reasons of their own.
People like to talk about Islamic fundamentalism as though this kind of religious fanaticism is something new and horrible, and an integral part of the faith. History shows otherwise - at least to people who actually read it.
