 |
| I wonder if the need to be under threat is a universal of humanity, or just an artifact of our current media environment? |
 |
| ...And everywhere he stopped, he'd plant a weasel. |
 |
| Uh...Holy crap! |
 |
| ... |
 |
| Literally Everyone in WW-2 turned out super well. Soldiers all! |
 |
| The jolliest of Rogers. |
Anyone feel up to a small challenge?
ReplyDeletePick any "Christians are getting hassled" news article. Not threads, but actual, real news, though you can use threads as a start point. No blogs - genuine news sources only.
Find an article - again, actual real news, from the same country that shows another religion getting the same amount of bashing.
I am betting that anyone who takes on the challenge will struggle to do so.
So - who's playing? Your prize is nothing but an agreement.
Not exactly sure what that would demonstrate, regardless of which given country you pick out of a hat. Pakistan alone could probably give numerous examples. You have minority Christians facing violence alongside a number of other minority faiths, particularly the local Hindu population; and that as a backdrop to Sunni/Shia conflicts and the constitutionally-enshrined persecution of the Ahmadis.
DeleteWhat's supposed to be the point of the exercise, here?
Well - I didn't want to mention the point - it would spoil the exercise. But you actually have the point in your hand right now. (please, tell me that does not sound as dirty as it looks on screen!)
DeleteTry to play. I am curious what you get.
I've already given one example.
DeleteHere's another: Gujarat, India. Hindu nationalist organizations burning churches, carrying out violent attacks, and attempting forced conversions of Indian Christians. Other local examples include Orissa (the Staines murder, and the later fallout after the trial), Karnataka (mob attacks on Jehova's Witnesses, et al)... there's quite a few. Likewise, the ongoing Hindu/Muslim conflicts there that run from the modern day all the way back to colonial times: the Gujarat riots (same place, different fights) being a good example that led to a couple thousand deaths.
The general rule there seems to be that the national government pushes for peace and improved relations while the local/regional governments ignore, or even quietly participate in, the violence.
Honestly, EC, your challenge seems kind of silly. First off, "hassled" and "the same amount" are both utterly subjective, and allow for all sorts of wiggle room on both sides.
DeleteSecond, what constitutes "religion"? Does Sunni vs. Shia count? 'Cause I could point you to some interesting current news stories about that longstanding disagreement.
And are you lumping Judaism in with "Judeo-Christianity" as the wingnuts like to do? 'Cause it seems almost too obvious to mention that Judaism and Jews are not very popular in a number of regions, and that the dangers Jews face go a bit beyond not getting to restrict other people's use of, say, legal contraceptives. In fact, you won't find many Jews to persecute in some places, like Pakistan, for the simple reason that many of them fled for their lives some time back. Are we to conclude from this that its harder to be a Christian than a Jew in Pakistan? That would seem dubious, at best.
But you know, beyond all of that, Jesus said that his followers would be hated and mocked by the world, and persecuted, for all their days. And I think he had a lot more in mind than occasionally getting mocked on The Daily Show. And I also don't think his preferred response was for people to be perpetual crybabies and whiners. Or to arm themselves with AKs and dispense double-barreled justice to the infidel.
Which is not to say that I'm in favor of persecuting Christians, or turning a blind eye to it. I'm not. But unlike a lot of folks these days, I interpret "persecution" as something a little stronger than public disagreement, or not enjoying the same undue privileges in a pluralistic society as one's forebears did. And when we filter out the patented Fox News cry of "I'm oppressed because unbelievers are putting limits on my temporal political power," I think it's pretty clear that Christians aren't getting globally "hassled" more frequently, or more violently, than Jews or Muslims. And of course, none of these groups suffer more daily oppression than gays or, in far too many countries, women.
Perhaps your point is that where religious people are seriously persecuted, you'll usually find Muslims doing the persecuting. Which is, by and large, quite true. But of course, that hasn't always been and may not always be the case. (And some would argue, with some justice, that the bedrock component of racial and religious animus that has informed modern U.S. policy toward the Muslim world has a far more significant body count. And that's without going back to the British Empire, when the ugly attitudes we treat as some far-fetched alleged subtext of foreign policy, nowadays, were proudly trumpeted by the people in charge.)
That preamble aside, I'd say that Buddhist fundamentalists in Burma and Sri Lanka, and Hindu nationalists in India, are basically equally opportunity haters of Christians, Muslims and Jews (see http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-130614.html, for instance); suffice it to say that I wouldn't want to fall into their hands no matter which of these religions I accepted. (Somehow, though, I'm guessing that's not the answer you're looking for.)
Nah - You both did good - figured the readers here were up to the task of throwing a little rationality into an often fraught discussion topic.
DeleteThe answer I were looking for, which you both illustrated beautifully, is that every religion (or none religion - some atheists can be downright nasty at times) both persecutes and is persecuted in equal measure.
It's not a function of religion. It's just about people. They are all the same - you have your perpetual victims and your perpetually angry in any culture. Religion, the thing which generally is there to provide comfort and a framework for life and the world, just seems to magnify that and make it far more visible.
Thank you both! :)
Someone please tell me that rainbow mafia flag is for real. WANT.
ReplyDeleteI'm amused that they couldn't just photoshop Obama getting teh #homosex, but that had to make his ears larger too. What a buncha freaks.
ReplyDeleteAlways with the Alinsky. I think Freepers and other RWNJs are more familiar with Alinsky than most liberals, even though they've read no further than, "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."
ReplyDeleteFreepers and other RWNJ's love "Rules for Radicals". It's their play book.
DeleteThey have a new theory about the recent shooting in Las Vegas.
ReplyDeletesmokingfrog asks, "The autopsy should be able to tell us who shot who, right?"
Billthedrill replies, rather ominously, "It'll tell somebody. Whether that somebody tells us is quite another question."
Cue the spooky music, the Freepers are at it again.
Change in Las Vegas Shooting Story Prompts Alternate Theory
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3167769/posts
One guy says, "The truth seems unlikely to escape...." but truth is so often beyond the grasp of Freepers, I say the truth stands a chance. Run, truth, run!
SADMILLIE, subject of a vikingkitties spotlight, has been zotted by the jimcompoop himself.
ReplyDeleteSADMILLIE's crime? Arguing Ted Cruz's non-natural born status, and resulting ineligibility for the presidency.
TheOldLady (aka TheOldWrinkleBag) crows in post #185.
After reading TheOldWrinkleBag's post, are we sure Freepers aren't really junior high students? Their sense of humor, mentality and lack of understanding of basic sociology reminds me of some of the kids I knew when I was in my early teens... but even they grew out of being complete assholes and dumbasses!
DeleteNow that the birther movement on Free Republic must be almost officially dead (in light of the Cruz candidacy) I'd like to express my heartfelt thanks to the birthers are Free Republic. Thanks for the laughs, Freepers. That shit was hilarious.
DeleteButterdezillion is still there to keep the birther movement alive with her invisible frogmen and image analysis in Microsoft Word.
DeleteWhy do they even still have a NBC (Natural Born Citizen) section, anyway? What's the point? Are they going to still be trying to retroactively remove him from office after he's dead?
DeleteI nominate Wagglebee for a Friday spotlight.
ReplyDelete