BTW… I don’t know whose picture that is up there, but it’s not me, OK?

I’m just at a loss on this one, Phil. I’d like to join in the gleefully un-PC fun — okay, actually, no I wouldn’t — but I fail to see how all of us rallying around this “See? Muslims are barbaric retards!” rant will do anything whatsoever to a) make the world a better place and b) make us better followers of Jesus. All I see such a rally accomplishing is us feeling ever more justified in any action that benefits us to their detriment, and honestly…I don’t think we need the help. We’re already sitting pretty high on the horse, happily ignorant of anyone getting trampled.

You may, of course, proceed with your efforts to distract us from where we have gone wrong by pointing out how much everyone else sucks. But don’t expect applause from me. I already know how much they (and WE) fall short of the glory. It’s not news.

[I feel like I ought to offer a disclaimer about how my therapist is encouraging me to just be angry when I'm angry and to leave off trying to be diplomatic. But I'm not going to. Even if I was trying to be diplomatic and well-adjusted, this post would piss me off.]

I was just IMing with Michael and he suggested that you were posting about bias in the media pertaining to Islam, and not posting about the wholesale insanity of Muslims. If that’s the case, oops. My bad.

How foolish of you, young woman, to think your opinion carries any weight with a true follower of Islam. The world WILL be a better place when all you followers of the false messiah are gone, or converted to the true faith.

In any case, women should know and keep their place, which is not disagreeing with their betters, and certainly not leading others into apostasy. Those who do shall have their reward.

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/005942.htm

I think this is more a commentary on the media coverage than on the actual Muslim response. There are several things about the tenor of the global commentary that I think are interesting:

The very first casualty of the media coverage was the context of the Pope’s comment. He was arguing for the place of reason within the dialog of faith. Ironic.

I understand why the Muslim community is outraged – the Pope highlighted some very embarrassing corners of their theology and practice, and echoed some invective commentary on it. What I don’t understand is the outrage of the 3rd party observers – did they think that there was no disparity between Catholicism and Islam? That both are basically the same, and that no difference in belief between them should be highlighted that might raise controversy?

Catholicism and Islam are both patently exclusivist beliefs – they hold certain things as true that necessarily entail that the opposite be false. To say “Jesus is God” necessarily entails that “Jesus is merely a prophet” be false. For the Pope to be Catholic means, necessarily, that he denies the veracity of most of the truth-claims of Islam. He must, therefore, believe that the person making those claims, namely, Muhammad, is either deceived, or a deceiver.

I guess the elephant in the room has been, until now, he has refrained from saying so in such a pointed way.

Which brings be back to the outrage of the 3rd party observers. I think it centers around this: they are willing to accept religious practice only ever as an anthropological institution, existing for the purpose of charity and moral instruction, never as a systematic world-view that actually believes things to actually be true. In as much as it actually believes things to be true, it is repugnant to them.

They aren’t really all that offended by the Pope’s comments about the Islam practice of violent forced conversions. They are deeply offended that his comments forced them to acknowledge that some truth-claims are intractable, irreconcilable. How dare he say things that he believes to be true!

Aly, as is usual, both you and Mike were right. Part of my point is the utterly warped way the coverage of muslim related issues of any kind is done. Not all, though.

The rest, as you infer, is that the muslims, in a word, are nuts. Not all are dangerous nuts…. but if you accept that nuts aren’t likely to restrain the dangerous nuts among them, then we have a very big problem whose root is that muslims are nuts.

I’m being charitable here. Instead of nuts, I could have said evil, and several very good arguments for exactly that exist.

But I’m sticking to nuts, for now.

It is simply nuts to respond violently (includes acts and threats) when someone expresses concern about how violent you are.

The world is made a better place when more people understand more clearly certain objective truths about fundamental issues facing our culture.

You are a better follower of Jesus if you understand these truths, and apply them to your own decisions in life.

It does little to move the dialog forward for you to label my attempt at mocking the eminently mockable as a “rant”. Did I say a single untrue thing? Did I leave out anything critical that would help us understand why the Pope should receive death threats?

Besides, I thought mockery was considered educational activity in these quarters. You know… if you can’t stand being mocked, you’d better be able to examine yourself, etc.

http://addisonrd.com/WordPress/?p=864

Perhaps YOU think muslims are retards, because they don’t respond well to mockery (even offered with such a gentle spirit as my own). Is there a double standard here? Mockery is only good for us mangy, warty Christians, but not for the obvious excesses of the rest? Or do you fear the muslims won’t respond well? Well, whyever? Are you some kind of religious bigot, who thinks only people on your side will respond maturely to just criticism, kindly offered (with a humorous bite, of course)?

Let me see if I get it: It’s OK to mock Jesus, the church, traditional morality, the USA, the Republicans, the military, people who don’t want to pay taxes to support other people who don’t work, etc.

It’s not OK to mock Bono, the belief that anything hatched in the west is going to fix the problems of africa, crazy muslims (probably only 10%… say 150 million or so), farmAID, bandAID, koolAID (that last just slipped in… sorry), muslims who say they aren’t the crazy ones, but who defend the crazy ones, people who think we could fix it all if only us well-meaning folk could just get our act together, etc…..

No, I wasn’t posting primarily on the wholesale insanity of Muslims.

I was posting primarily on the wholesale insanity of a world that believes if we just treat them a little better then the crazy muslims will gave way to the nice ones.

You already know the definition of insanity without me having to post it, right?

By that definition, I am not insane. Are you?

There is nothing we can give them or do for them that will make them hate us less.

There is nothing we can stop giving them or stop doing that will make them hate us less.

The mainstream media proceeds daily as if the forgoing were not true.

The best thing that could happen for Islam (and the world) is for them to have their 100 years war (a bracing thing, that) and then a nice 30 years war as a chaser. That should be enough to bring about a nice reformation of Islam, and in about 200 years they’ll be able to sit at the table with the rest of us like grownups.

In the meantime, it may be that the best we can do is to tip them over the edge a little sooner (hopefully before they get nukes).

ISLAM HAS NEVER REFORMED. Does anyone really think that will happen without enormous bloodshed? And yet, reform it must, for if it does not, the west is going to kill it. I’m starting a pool on this topic (wanna join in?). How many USA cities would have to be attacked before we would respond so forcefully that Islam would have no holy sites left, and pretty much no one who remembers where they used to be? This is properly terrifying… and it’s what’s going to happen if Islam doesn’t fight it out internally.

So, a little mockery to clear the sinuses… mockery of the muslims, and mockery of the people who can’t see the muslims clearly.

Stewart and Colbert are in no danger…. cosider it an homage.

P.S. — the one wild card. If, somehow, amazingly, Iraq becomes a functioning democratic, free society, THAT may be the beginning of a reformation that could spread on that level. But I ain’t holding my breath.

I think the picture is Oliver North, isn’t it?

Personally, I think it’s a picture of Mike Lee from the year 2040. Hasn’t he aged well?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALY (yesterday)!!!!!

I’ve written a doofy tribute here.

Cerise

Way to change the subject, Cerise. ;)~

Diplomacy girl, that’s me.