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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alex MG who wrote (282954)	11/15/2015 11:31:13 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 541711

Extremists are extremists; they come in all flavors. Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland of the Land of Israel, is being claimed by Palestinian Arabs as a part of their heritage. The truth, however, is that the land is of no historical significance to the so-called Palestinians whatsoever. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, “Judea and Samaria, the places where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David and Solomon, and Isaiah and Jeremiah lived are not alien to us. This is the land of our forefathers.” unitedwithisrael.org

To: Alex MG who wrote (282954)	11/16/2015 7:06:06 AM
From: epicure	Respond to of 541711

I think the matter is one of discrimination. It's not really the fault of Islam- I think. There are, after all, millions and millions of peaceful Muslims- just as there are millions and millions of peaceful Christians. "America's Taliban" isn't the fault of Christianity. It's the fault of personality (xenophobic, fearful) meeting fascistic ideas that tickle the nativist, bigot censors in the brain- and the critical mass of a lot of people self reinforcing each other. I suspect it's the same for the terrorists. I'm not one, so I can't tell you for sure- but considering the rather small loss of life to them (relatively speaking), I can't say terrorists are one of my top worries, and I certainly wouldn't fixate on Islam (which isn't one of the main problems in my life- is it in yours?) You can criticize Islam all you want- it's as stupid as any other religion- but what do you accomplish when you do? If you just want to blow off steam, I get that. It's annoying to have primitive beliefs intrude upon your 21st century society. But it's not like you can do anything about it by being critical. In fact, people tend to dig in. Remember our little Mormon here? She got very upset and retrenched when Mormomism was crticized- and that's a freaking crazy cult. Gold tablets? A moronic angel running around the new world? Special underwear? Your own planet when you die? Seriously? But you can't argue with faith- once people choose to give their faith to something, you actually validate their belief by attacking them. Every religion gives you special bonus points for "resisting" the infidels - whether they're taunting you, or making you a martyr. Religions eat that shit up. The people who made them up weren't stupid- they knew attacks would come. So when you come up with a practical utilitarian reason why non-Muslims criticizing Islam, and making all Muslims feel attacked is a Good Thing- let me know. I haven't seen such a reason yet. I don't give Islam a pass any more than I give any other religion a pass- but I'm not going out of my way to go after Islam until I see a good reason to do so.