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jammies · 03-23-2016, 10:15 AM

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Arti...tegoryId=14090

Bombing at gay pride event in Brazil yesterday. Latin American terrorism? Impossible, there's no Muslims there!

Again, organizations like Al-Qaeda have lots of money with which to support terrorism in the West, due to their backers having all kinds of oil money around, with which to import slaves to build skyscrapers and malls, buy military hardware from Canada, and fund some fundies. That's why these particular lunatics are so visible and successful. If you want to stop ISIS and its ilk, your best path is end world reliance on oil, not pontificate about how "Islam"* is to blame.

To be clear, I think religion is a mostly negative force in the world and I am a fervent, if not militant, atheist. But one of those liberal values that CHL and CliffFletcher tout is freedom of religion, and I agree with those values even when I know that this particular freedom is dangerous and open to abuse. Further, being a Muslim or a Christian or a Buddhist or whatever is irrelevant to how I perceive you as a person, just like being an atheist doesn't endear certain intolerant and bigoted people - even on this very board - to me.

*What is "Islam" anyway? That was my main original point, it's far too broad a term to really mean anything useful as far as tracing causes of events. If someone said "This particular group of Wahhabi Muslims subscribe to the teachings of this particular cleric who advocates violent terrorist action, and that's a problem", well, I would agree with that, provided it was true. When you say "Islam" this, or "Muslim" that, you are almost certainly about to frame a statement as "Us vs. Them", and that is exactly the thinking that creates the terrorism you claim to abhor.

03-23-2016, 10:15 AM	#247
jammies Basement Chicken Choker Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants. Exp:	http://www.laht.com/article.asp?Arti...tegoryId=14090 Bombing at gay pride event in Brazil yesterday. Latin American terrorism? Impossible, there's no Muslims there! Again, organizations like Al-Qaeda have lots of money with which to support terrorism in the West, due to their backers having all kinds of oil money around, with which to import slaves to build skyscrapers and malls, buy military hardware from Canada, and fund some fundies. That's why these particular lunatics are so visible and successful. If you want to stop ISIS and its ilk, your best path is end world reliance on oil, not pontificate about how "Islam"* is to blame. To be clear, I think religion is a mostly negative force in the world and I am a fervent, if not militant, atheist. But one of those liberal values that CHL and CliffFletcher tout is freedom of religion, and I agree with those values even when I know that this particular freedom is dangerous and open to abuse. Further, being a Muslim or a Christian or a Buddhist or whatever is irrelevant to how I perceive you as a person, just like being an atheist doesn't endear certain intolerant and bigoted people - even on this very board - to me. *What is "Islam" anyway? That was my main original point, it's far too broad a term to really mean anything useful as far as tracing causes of events. If someone said "This particular group of Wahhabi Muslims subscribe to the teachings of this particular cleric who advocates violent terrorist action, and that's a problem", well, I would agree with that, provided it was true. When you say "Islam" this, or "Muslim" that, you are almost certainly about to frame a statement as "Us vs. Them", and that is exactly the thinking that creates the terrorism you claim to abhor. __________________ Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.