Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on March 16, 2013 at 9:29

What amazes me about this more than anything else is that people let themselves be manipulated by this.  Oh, I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised; people are manipulated by words all the time.  But driven to the point of violence and property destruction is more than a bit much to me.

These are people who apparently care so much about their belief system that they can't see that they're being played, and the belief system is the means to that end.  Maybe it's their lack of self-awareness that scares me the most.

Permalink Reply by Sayed Iman Rafizadeh on March 16, 2013 at 11:03

The worst part is that the 'Islamic' regimes do not bother themselves to tackle such an act of violence. They not only avoid protecting the innocent people, but also they trigger off the mob violence by administering cruel punishments for blasphemy.

Permalink Reply by James M. Martin on March 16, 2013 at 18:24

The only way they are "played" is by The Priesthood.  These are the guys, including Pope Francis, who take advantage of a fear of death, gullibility in general, and childhood indoctrination to enslave mankind in a farrago of myth, superstition, and constant reinforcements by such tactics as appeals to tribal affiliations (thus, the Pope is "the holy FATHER," &c.).  Why should we be surprised?  Christianity is the predominant delusion in the Western World, and as we all know the USA is the Great Satan.  (Bear in mind that in Arabic, an evil spirit, of which there are legions, is a shaitan.  To call the U.S.A. the Great Satan is thus an extraordinary insult, worse than throwing a shoe at George W. Bush.  A friend of Iran, the late Hugo Chavez, addressed the U.N. once after Bush had taken the podium, and the communist leader said he still smelled sulfur. Arguably, anyone who believes in this nonsense has no business leading a nation.)  Much of what we do here in the West is an affront to Muslim values, good family values such as death to homos and stoning of women for not dressing as they please.  Perfectly normal except that they smack of homophobia, misogyny, and intolerance, with the exacting of archaic, hyper-Draconian punishments, especially for women and the sexual minorities.  But I fail to see much difference between the average imam or mullah and, say, "Rev." Jeffress.  Do you?

Permalink Reply by amer chohan on March 16, 2013 at 19:39

Libral people espacially athiest who live in Pakistan see this situation as much more serious than inner nonsense of a religion. Blasmphy Law is a problem now of protection of religious minorities in Pakistan. 

I don't know how people with such beastly behaviours can pride their religion as a religion of peace and humanity?

Permalink Reply by Pat on March 16, 2013 at 10:30

I'm not at all surprised. We in the west are no more superior and/or immune to this type of mob violence ignited by manipulative, self-serving, fanatics which use the ignorance, bigotry, and hatred of the mobs to carry out their wishes, than any others.

Kristallnact

American Lynchings

Mob violence Northern Ireland

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on March 16, 2013 at 10:55

You're right of course, Pat.  I'd like to think that most if not all of us here on A|N are sufficiently self-aware that we wouldn't get snookered into that kind of behavior.  Still, we have to live with it, see it on the news too often, and realize that while we wouldn't behave like that, others would.

We get it ... and I for one wonder why they don't.

Permalink Reply by amer chohan on March 16, 2013 at 11:50

General public do have strong religious emotions but this kind of phsical damage is not done by public. They are fanatics for religious schools. People can't do anything about it even if they wanted to, because these groups are heavily armed and organised at very high levels(they killed a very influential cheif minister in recent past who was in support of a christian woman convicted of blasmphy). Good thing is that unlike past, now there are voices in the media who has started condeming it openly and strongly.

Real dark aspect of blamphy law and matters regarding it is that all religious minorities in the country live under a shdow of a fear. They feel insecure even doing thier every day dealings.

Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on March 16, 2013 at 12:32

Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a human being.  I wouldn't blame space aliens for coming in and taking over.  Maybe flood the planet to drown us all and start over.  Although that would make them no better.

Oh what, that's the story of Noah.  And Gilgamesh?  And Arthur Dent.  Although that last one wasn't for punishment, just a road project.

Sorry, free associating here.

Permalink Reply by amer chohan on March 16, 2013 at 13:00

Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a human being.

There is the darkest aspect of religious psychology, instead of being sad on such horrible acts like someone murdered or whole of someones life's earning burnt to ashes, they even glorify it. They are able to do these horrible acts without any feelings of guilt.

Permalink Reply by Napoleon Bonaparte on March 16, 2013 at 14:34

L'incident a commencé après un musulman accusé un chrétien de blasphème - une infraction au Pakistan est puni par la prison à vie ou de mort. Une foule de musulmans en colère ont saccagé le quartier chrétien, brûlant environ 170 maisons. Ces accusations de blasphème au Pakistan peut inciter les foules à prendre la loi entre leurs propres mains. Une fois qu'une accusation est fait, il est difficile d'inverser, en partie parce que les fonctionnaires de police et les politiciens ne veulent pas être considérés comme étant doux sur les blasphémateurs.

http://www.atheistnexus.org/video/pakistan-christians-call-for-bett...

Permalink Reply by Mordekhai ben-Yosef on March 17, 2013 at 9:22

Someone remind me why we bother dealing with the treacherous, murdering, backward primitives in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Everyone there hates outsiders more than they hate each other. This is saying quite a lot.

What's wanting is a departure of our forces from those lands that is speedy and complete. Then, a warning to what passes for "government" there: We will leave you alone and in peace. The price for this is to let unhappy/marginalized men and women depart thence to some place where they may breathe easier. And if we find the regimes are attempting to perpetrate more cowardly attacks against foreigners -in their own lands, FFS- they will be bombed as carelessly as they blow up trains, planes, and automobiles.

I'm fed up with savage pissants anymore.

Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on March 17, 2013 at 9:39

Several reasons, not the least of which is: They Have NUKES.  The Pakistan government is also not all that stable, even with a successful completion of a first term of office of Prime Minister Ashraf.  The questionable loyalty of the Pakistani ISI, never mind the presence of the Haqqani Network makes Pakistan a country worthy of continued attention.

There's also the matter of their ongoing feud with India and their proximity to Afghanistan, which has made more difficult the matter of dealing with al Qaeda, which treats Pakistan as a safe haven from which to base their hit-and-run attacks.  Granted, give it a year and change and the US is essentially OUT of Afghanistan and the problem becomes more Hamid Karzai's than it is ours, but that doesn't mean we wash our hands of it entirely.

Sadly, there are plenty of savage pissants still out there, and so long as the US remains a presence in the world, we're stuck with having to deal with them.

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