40 replies to this topic

[niner]

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The article is a biased opinion piece.

And this is your biased opinion. I read a book of his called "The End of Faith" and he makes a very solid logical case why Western secularism is morally superior to Radical Islam. His premise is based on moral realism and the rejection of relativism as a moral philosophy. You can read the book to see for yourself- this is the premise the bases his "opinions" on.

Yes, we all have our biases, don't we?  His premise may well be based on moral realism- that's great, but it's only going to be correct to the extent that he gets his facts right.  I think it's great that he rejects moral relativism.  I reject it too, as does every liberal that I know.  Moral relativism is a boogieman that the right likes to try to pin on liberals, despite its inapplicability.

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The main threat posed by radical Islam is a direct result of Bush's vanity war in Iraq. That has dramatically increased anti-Americanism throughout the world, and has increased the threat of terrorism as well.

Oh, you mean on September 11, 2001, there was very little in the way of a terrorist threat, and the threat only emerged after the US invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003?

I mean that Bush's initial response to 911, the invasion of Afghanistan, was fine, liberals supported, even celebrated  that.  Then he went and started his vanity war in Iraq, and caused terrorism (outside of Iraq and Palestine) to become demonstrably worse.  The data is in this article: http://www.motherjon...q_effect_1.html

Do you consider Fox News to be a reliable source of information?

[xanadu]

9-11 was the excuse for the right wing to take over and impose a virtual state of martial law. It was comparable to the burning of the reichstag in pre-ww2 Germany that led to the rise of the nazis. Bush's invasion of Iraq was, I believe, on orders from Israel which is the only country to benefit from it. They hated Saddam for being an arab leader and for financing the resistance. Isreal has all usa politicians by the short hairs and no one, I mean no one, ever opposes their interests. If it's a clash between the interests of this country, the one that pays their salary and who they have sworn to defend and those of Israel, they will look for a way to support Israel even at the cost of their own country. We've seen that over and over. Israel also has enourmous control over the media so we don't hear anything about this except positive things in favor of Israel and biased against arabs.

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If Americans and Israelis are so morally pure, why are little Lebanese kids getting blown up daily by American cluster bombs that the Israelis scattered all over southern Lebanon?


Perhaps it is because Hezbollah started a war by kidnapping Isreali soldiers and launching rockets into Isreali territory.

It all goes back to Israel's invasion and theft of arab land. Hezbola didn't start any war, they are trying to defend themselves. The occupation by Israel has been going on since the beginning of the 20th century. There is no excuse for us giving Israel those bombs and letting them use them against civilians. It's even against usa law but our bought and paid for politicians have little choice but to look the other way or lose their jobs.

[Rational Madman]

RighteousReason, on 11 February 2007 - 12:34 PM, said:

Why radical Islam might defeat the West

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Garrett's organization, the World Conservation Union, is devoted to preserving fragile cultures. As a matter of fact, I reported in this space that in the next decade, yet another 2,000 distinct ethnic groups would go extinct (Live and Let Die of April 13, 2002). Ignore the endangered Ewoks for a moment, Mr Garrett, and explain why the imperial peoples of the past two centuries - Germans, Japanese, French, Italians, Russians, and so forth - have elected to disappear, through failure to reproduce (Why Europe chooses extinction, April 8).

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Unlike lower species, humans require a sense of the eternal. The brute instinct for self-preservation is a myth. It should be no surprise. Precisely a century ago, George Bernard Shaw in his 1903 interlude Don Juan in Hell warned that Western hedonism would lead to depopulation.

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Not a single Western strategist has proposed an ideological response to the religious challenge of Islam. On the contrary: the Vatican, the guardian-of-last-resort of the Western heritage, has placed itself squarely in the camp of appeasement. Except for a few born-again Christians in the United States, no Western voice is raised in criticism of Islam itself. The trouble is that Islam believes in its divine mission, while the United States has only a fuzzy recollection of what it once believed, and therefore has neither the aptitude nor the inclination for ideological warfare.

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The West has no armed prophet. It doesn't even have an armed theologian.

This constitutes nativist hysteria bordering on insanity.  Look at the demographic data, and the polling data of the preferences of Muslim subjects, and then return from the planet Xenu.  There's not the slimmest chance that our values, culture, or numbers  (in the broadest sectarian sense) are facing the prospect of marginalization---since the former two are quite appealing to most Muslims and the rest of the world.  Looking at the demographic picture as a whole, it's decidedly mixed, with demographic patterns in many countries appearing likely to suffer an extreme change---Iran especially.

Edited by Rol82, 29 October 2010 - 03:32 AM.

[JLL]

Give them iPhones and porn, and muslims will eventually come to their senses.

[EmbraceUnity]

JLL, on 28 October 2010 - 12:56 PM, said:

Give them iPhones and porn, and muslims will eventually come to their senses.

Too bad the stalinist Apple Corporation censors pornography on iPhones.

Yes, this thread does seem like the perfect place for an Android vs iPhone flame war. You will be assimilated into the Android borg swarm, as will the muslims. om nom nom

Edited by EmbraceUnity, 28 October 2010 - 03:34 PM.

[JLL]

EmbraceUnity, on 28 October 2010 - 03:33 PM, said:

JLL, on 28 October 2010 - 12:56 PM, said:

Give them iPhones and porn, and muslims will eventually come to their senses.

Too bad the stalinist Apple Corporation censors pornography on iPhones.

For real? Seems like a stupid business decision.

[EmbraceUnity]

JLL, on 28 October 2010 - 05:09 PM, said:

For real? Seems like a stupid business decision.

http://www.wired.com...02/iphone-porn/

This is the least of the ways that Apple is stalinist.

[Rational Madman]

EmbraceUnity, on 28 October 2010 - 05:34 PM, said:

JLL, on 28 October 2010 - 05:09 PM, said:

For real? Seems like a stupid business decision.

http://www.wired.com...02/iphone-porn/

This is the least of the ways that Apple is stalinist.

Sure, it's bad, but be careful with trivializing Stalinism, even though you're not attempting to make a serious analogy.

[chris w]

"The App Store continues to evolve, and as such, we are constantly refining our guidelines. Your application, Wobble iBoobs ..."

How does one fit these next to each other ? Seems more like the senile Breznev era.

[RighteousReason]

holy ancient threads batman

[Rational Madman]

RighteousReason, on 29 October 2010 - 01:34 AM, said:

holy ancient threads batman

Well, it has gotten kind of dead here, so I decided to play Frankenstein.