"You are a bad Belgian and you have signed your own death warrant."

[a space oddity]

@Space: The BBC is about as European as I can handle. If it were any more European I wouldnt be able to read it

edit: wouldnt be able to read it because it wouldnt be in English

Thank you for treading carefully... Yes, polyglot-ness has its' advantages. Someday I want to learn some chinese too. More than ni hao that is.

 

[betazed]

Are you suggesting that I don't think that it's wrong what happened there, betazed? Of course it is!

No I am not suggesting that at all.

I am suggesting that if as a group Europeans or Americans or anyone else are xenophobic then i will not be surprised at all. OTOH, I will be surprised if they are not xenophobic. This is because xenophobia comes naturally to all humans. It comes instinctively.

As I said to Bozo, if you think that xenophobia is wrong, then it is you who is aberrant.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Betazed, let me see if I get this straight: Xenophobia/racism isnt wrong, because its natural? Huh? Watchu' tawkin' 'bout Willis??

 

[a space oddity]

In this case I'm not sure that xenophobia is the issue here. It's more scapegoating, a group of people is viewed as the cause of all that's wrong. People feeling powerless will hate the scapegoat group the most, which is what is happening now IMO.
And it is happening in the big cities, of which there are a lot in our densely populated corner of the world.

 

[betazed]

Betazed, let me see if I get this straight: Xenophobia/racism isnt wrong, because its natural?

Where did I say anything about right or wrong?

I talked about normal and aberrant. But I did not say which one is right and which one is wrong.

In any case how do we know what is right and what is wrong in this matter anyway. It seems to be that we are after all taking a moral decision and like all moral decisions it is unproven. In fact, if I put my mind to it I can come with excellent arguments for xenophobia (although I am not sure they will stand for long).

 

[Bozo Erectus]

In fact, if I put my mind to it I can come with excellent arguments for xenophobia (although I am not sure they will stand for long).

Well by all means lets hear 'em then I'll link your arguments in favor of xenophobia in my sig While the 'good' people sit in comfort debating the relative pros and cons of xenophobia, the xenophobes are out buying ammunition, and writing hate letters. How does that old song go? "How can we sleep while our beds are burning"

 

[betazed]

Well by all means lets hear 'em then

Ok. I will put my mind to it and write it up. Expect a writeup on "In support of Xenophobia" by tomorrow.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Ok but can I reccomend a different title? How about 'My Struggle'

 

[Elrohir]

While it's certainly bad that someone sent threatening letters - and that this ever happened at all - I don't see why she was so upset over taking off the headscarf. I mean, sure, it's her right to wear it, but "I cried for hours that day"? I don't see why she was so upset.

 

[The Last Conformist]

I'm not prone to crying, but having to give in to this kind of threats would have irked me profoundly.

 

[Syterion]

I've yet to see a Muslim cleric call for tolerance towards a non-Muslim religion.

Yeah, because I'm sure they get news.

Christianity went through a long period of brutal violence and wars motivated by god but Christianity has gotten better at resorting to non-violent methods over the centuries but why hasn’t this happened in the Middle East for Islam? Of course there are plenty of intolerant Christians (I’m in the middle of a very religious town) but most would never resort to violence or forced conversions.

Christianity had that Enlightenment. And forced conversions? From what I've been taught in history, Muslims(in the middle east at least) had been pretty liberal about conversions.

 

[Azadre]

Yeah, because I'm sure they get news.


Christianity had that Enlightenment. And forced conversions? From what I've been taught in history, Muslims(in the middle east at least) had been pretty liberal about conversions.

There was a tax, not the genocide of a race. To be fair, the genocide by Christian missionaries was due to their illnesses though.

 

[Azadre]

While it's certainly bad that someone sent threatening letters - and that this ever happened at all - I don't see why she was so upset over taking off the headscarf. I mean, sure, it's her right to wear it, but "I cried for hours that day"? I don't see why she was so upset.

Religion. Faith. Dedication. Worship.

 

[Elrohir]

Religion. Faith. Dedication. Worship.

If you need to wear a small piece of cloth to earn you a place in Heaven, then your religion is screwed up.

I didn't say it was a good thing, it was a very bad thing this person did, and he shouldn't have done it. But even so, I don't understand why she cried all day over removing a headscarf.....

 

[Hundegesicht]

I think it compares in a way to the situation of "african americans" in the US.

People living in the 1940s and 1950s receieved death threats for employing blacks. The U.S.A. matured and has left such racist stupidity 40 years in the past. How does what happened in the U.S. decades ago relate to what's going on in Europe presently?

Unless you mean Europe has yet to catch up with the U.S.A. socially? (But I'll let you confirm/deny that before going on as I don't want to be mistaken for a troll due to the current "shoot on sight" policy. )

 

[Azadre]

If you need to wear a small piece of cloth to earn you a place in Heaven, then your religion is screwed up.

I didn't say it was a good thing, it was a very bad thing this person did, and he shouldn't have done it. But even so, I don't understand why she cried all day over removing a headscarf.....

Because Religion isn't work free. Of course, you wouldn't understand... you're not a Muslim.

If you had faith, I'd mock it right back..

 

[Scuffer]

If you need to wear a small piece of cloth to earn you a place in Heaven, then your religion is screwed up.

I didn't say it was a good thing, it was a very bad thing this person did, and he shouldn't have done it. But even so, I don't understand why she cried all day over removing a headscarf.....

It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven? Compare and contrast to tele-evangelists. Apologies for any misquote, but the genuine faiths of a believer will never make sense to those who don't, myself included.

 

[amadeus]

Unlike Christians, if a Muslim is struck, he will strike back twice as hard.

Go on living in your fantasy world, Azadre.

I don't know if you consider yourself an American, but if you do -- we were struck, do you remember? We struck back in Iraq and Afghanistan. Qadaffi is loading in his pants and Lebanon is throwing off Syria's shackles.

 

[Elrohir]

Because Religion isn't work free. Of course, you wouldn't understand... you're not a Muslim.

As a Christian, I don't see how anyone can believe they can earn a place in Heaven. (Especially by wearing a scarf.... ) So I don't see why she was so upset. *Shrugs*

 

[Azadre]

As a Christian, I don't see how anyone can believe they can earn a place in Heaven. (Especially by wearing a scarf.... ) So I don't see why she was so upset. *Shrugs*

Of course, all you need to do is walk around celebrating the death of a prophet by showing him dying then following up by worshipping the very man.... I should wear a gun around my nceck to honor JFK, same logic.