tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post115635761972296478..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: "Those" peopleBadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-1156850213694382052006-08-29T04:16:00.000-07:002006-08-29T04:16:00.000-07:00I spent a couple of sleepless nights thinking abou...I spent a couple of sleepless nights thinking about this, and I spent Saturday morning online looking up anything Islam or Arab. I learned alot of things. <BR/><BR/>I'm here to say: Mea Culpa.<BR/><BR/>Yes I was acting in just the odious way that you described in your post. <BR/><BR/>No excuse, but perhaps an explanation. If you are not interested in an explanation, you can cheerfully stop reading now.<BR/><BR/>I was stuck on the issue, and didn't know why myself, but after a sleepless night I recognised that my sticking point was and is sharia law. <BR/><BR/>I had the impression that wherever Islam gains a super majority, sharia law follows. I was wrong. First, Turkey is the lone secular non-repressive state that is nearly all Islamic. They have gone to the extream of writing it in their constitution that they won't have sharia.<BR/><BR/>I was wrong also in the impression that it takes a super majority. Even in western democracies, when there is even a sizeable minority, there have been calls for the institution of sharia law. <BR/><BR/>Italy, Great Britian, Australia and Canada have all had to fight off sharia movements. Canada had to close it's religion based family law courts, to fend sharia law off. France recently outlawed headscarves - and note here that Turkey also banned headscarves.<BR/><BR/>So, I find I am intolerant, of an intolerable sore on the face of human society. The Islamists are going backward, and a BIG part of the blame for that is our own hard hearted, stubborn, stupid headed interferance into their governments and into their internal affairs - and all for filthy lucre. <BR/><BR/>*we should know better, but there you are*SB Gypsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14104522586390324382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-1156450761858585702006-08-24T13:19:00.000-07:002006-08-24T13:19:00.000-07:00If the version of history I learned is distorted, ...If the version of history I learned is distorted, it's because I learned it from the Sikhs. Their version says that the Hindus were believers in non-violence, and would not defend themselves. Thus the Sikhs formed themselves as a force to protect against injustice. <BR/><BR/>I also know that history is the story told by the victors.<BR/><BR/>If this is wrong, I apologise for messing up your thread with erroneous info.SB Gypsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14104522586390324382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-1156439477940224722006-08-24T10:11:00.000-07:002006-08-24T10:11:00.000-07:00SB Gypsy, the "Arab" nomads in Darfur are about as...SB Gypsy, the "Arab" nomads in Darfur are about as Arab as you and I. They're all Africans. As I pointed out, the violence there has no more to do with religion or race than in Rwanda. It's classic nomads vs. farmers, Tutsi vs. Hutu, Gingawid vs. Fur, Mongols vs. Eastern Europe, Navajo vs. Hopi. It's what happens when nomads get driven out of their own home range by drought, overpopulation, or outside forces, migrate elsewhere, and start driving the farmers off their lands so that they can graze their herds there. You persist in reading some sort of race or religion message into something that has nothing to do with race or religion.<BR/><BR/>Regarding conversion by the sword, there hasn't been any of that done by Middle Eastern Arabs since around 700AD. Indeed, around 20% of Israel's population is Middle Eastern Jews (who the Arabs call the "Arab Jews") who lived in Muslim countries for 1400 years without being converted at swordpoint or exterminated. Seems to me that's 1400 years of "what they do when they're in a position of power" to fall back upon. <BR/><BR/>As for Sikhism in India, you distort the reason the Sikh religion was created. It was created as much because of Hindu violence against Muslims as the converse. Hindu violence which, I might add, still is ongoing. 'Nuff said. <BR/><BR/>_BTBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-1156421149149899202006-08-24T05:05:00.000-07:002006-08-24T05:05:00.000-07:00I'm sorry you thought that was ugly, Badtux. I rea...I'm sorry you thought that was ugly, Badtux. I really am not an US or Them kinda person. I weep just as much for an Iraqi youth who has lost everything (family, home, society, culture, next meal) as I do for the US soldier being shipped home on a stretcher to face endless months of reconstructive surgery and rehab.<BR/><BR/>You said the moderates SAY that they just want to send the Israelis back to where they were born, and I say - Israel, Bushco, the Arab Muslims and the African Muslims can SAY anything - and Bushco is the prime example of the danger of taking someone at his word.<BR/><BR/>You must therefore judge their intentions by what they do when they are in a position of power - legitimate or illegitimate power. <BR/><BR/>The arab Muslims in Darfur are committing genocide upon the African population, with the support and connivance of their own government. Our govt is ignoring the whole thing. And, I realize that the specific sect may not be the same in Africa as it is in the mideast.<BR/><BR/>The muslims have a long history of conversion by the sword, the rise of Sikhism in India was a direct opposition event in response to that. <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, Spain in the time of Moslem rule was a golden area (and era) of peace and tolerance.<BR/><BR/>Do you blame me for wanting alot more than the word of the moderate-on-the-street? Our government is not responsive at all to our moderates. The elected governments in the mideast are leaving their moderates behind.<BR/><BR/>It's disgusting to me the extent to which our govt is encouraging, supporting, and committing violence around the world. <BR/><BR/>If it's true that Israel has less than twenty years left, don't you think that after all this time with our govt singing their praises, we would open our arms to the Israeli people? That prolly would not sit well in the south, but I cannot imagine NYC, or for that matter, LA refusing them.SB Gypsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14104522586390324382noreply@blogger.com