Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Double Standard

I'm sure that by now you all have heard about the shooting at Fort Hood here in Texas. It's a tragic thing, so many people killed for no good reason. It's really sad. What's also sad is some of the comments left on various news articles. Instead of offering the families of those who were slain their condolences, the racists are out in force and the anti-Muslim sentiment is oozing forth. The shooter is apparently of Jordanian descent and his name is of Arabic origin.

Whether or not he did what he did because of his religious beliefs (which I do doubt at this moment), why does everyone blame Islam? What truly would be irony is if he turns out to be a fundamentalist Christian evangelist, but I do digress. You see, crazy doesn't discriminate. He didn't open fire on those people because of religion, even if he claims that is the reason. Rather he did it because he's crazy. Period. Crazy. Nothing else.

But you say, the Koran is full of violence. Then I dare you to read the Bible. The Bible too has commandments to kill non-believers, witches, idolaters, homosexuals, etc. But when some crazy Christian kills someone, even when they claim their religion made them do it, we don't see people condemning Christianity.
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Ex 22:18

And the man that committeth adultery with [another] man's wife, [even he] that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. Lev 20:10 (Man, all the cheating Republicans better watch out!)

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. Lev 20:13

A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood [shall be] upon them. Lev 20:27

That is of course not counting all the smiting that "god" does, or ordering the killing of a man for gathering sticks on the sabbath (Num 15:32-35) or the ordering of the ancient Israelites to keep all the virgins for themselves after slaughtering an entire town (Num 31:17). However, "god" appears to change his mind by Deu 5:17 by saying "Thou shalt not kill" but forgets all about it by Deu 13:6,
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which [is] as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; [Namely], of the gods of the people which [are] round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the [one] end of the earth even unto the [other] end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Deu 13:6-10
The Bible is full of genocide, of "god" ordering the ancient Israelites to kill their neighbors and take their land. Of ordering them to kill unbelievers. During the Medieval period, western Europeans took all of this to heart, and murdered millions because of it, and that's not counting the crusades in the Middle East.

On that note, do you want to know why the Middle East is in the state it's in today? Because Medieval Christians invaded one of the most enlightened civilizations on earth and reduced it to ashes, and the British came along and finished it off in the 19th and early 20th century. Of course, they fucked up Africa too, so go figure.

The Arabs gave us the number zero, algebra, optics, and a myriad of other things prior to the invasion by a bunch of barbaric western Europeans. If you were a female in the Middle Ages, it would have been best for you to have been born in the Muslim world. During the Medieval period, women in the Middle East had rights that the women in western Europe did not have. Such as the right to testify in court, hold property and initiate divorce. And this history is buried here in the west, glossed over by people who would rather forget that our ancestors were a bunch of asshats.

Recommended reading: The Crusades through Arab Eyes

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Fox News is of course NOT NEWS!


The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
For Fox Sake!
www.thedailyshow.com
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"But according to Fox, their weekday news programming, and this is according to Fox, runs from 9am to 4pm and from 6pm to 8pm for a total of nine newsy hours a day. So for the audience let me help you out because it does get confusing.

The three hours that you spend in the morning with Fox and Friends, not news! Your four o'clock to five o'clock post tea and crumpets neo-Kabudo break, NOT NEWS! The five o'clock to six o'clock emotional whirl wind and national group therapy session that is Glenn Beck, not even close to news!

O'Reilly, Hannity, Van Susternenenen, NOT NEWS! This is according to Fox News. Those people, the ones featured in promos about how "Fair and Balanced" Fox News is, are not news. These people, otherwise known as the only people you ever think of, when you think about Fox News, are not news. They're Fox Opinu-tainment. Apparently Fox News are these folks, or as they're known, who the fuck are these folks? That's Fox News...

The truth is the news side of Fox and the opinion side of Fox are like the McDLT. The hot side stays hot, and the cool side stays cool, but when you put it together and eat it, well I think you know what ends up happening."