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

12 comments:

  1. Honestly, I think the whole military/brainwashing/trained to kill & the inhumanity of it all is a real reason for any soldier to snap.
    I understand the historic religious history aspect you explore here.
    What militaries do is expect "good soldiers" to abandon their souls.
    As one soldier put it, in war, you see things you never should see.

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  2. Also the Muslim World in the medieval era, had preserved the art of midwifery. Something that was actively quelled in Europe at the time due to the emerging medical profession, and they didin't want the competition, nor did they want to wash their hands.

    The military is a mixed bag of nuts anyhow. I know, I have served and so have other family members. Some for 20 years. When things go wrong for a person in the military normally bad problems can be magnefied, drawn out and conflagrated due to the insular nature of the service.

    I suspect that they will discover a man who was driven over the edge. This isn't stated to justify the violent acts he committed. It simply is what it is. When people feel threatened, trapped, singled out--and for a long time--it has a tendency to push some folks over the edge.

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  3. "The Arabs gave us the number zero..."
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    I love that. How long did that take? Please don't tell me it took years.

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  4. I get it...Muslim Jihadist killed because of the causational evils of Christianity. I guess it's slightly more refreshing than "Bush did it".

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  5. Not at all. There is a reason that Judaism, Christianity and Islam are called, "The Abrahamic Traditions." They all three descend from the teachings of Abraham. So scripturally, they have similar mentalities towards religious elitism. See Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So when you look at what Christians called the Old Testament, that is the Pentateuch, which is where books such as Deuteronomy and Kings, Genesis, and the like come from, these recorded histories that talk about whiping out whole villages in order to either preserve the purity of the Children of God-or to acquire land for those children of that god-the original tribal peoples who held that Covenant is important. Because all three religious groups claim spiritual and literal ascendency from those peoples. Their mentalities about warfare, about spiritual purity, towards women, cleanliness etc. are very similar. In fact if Jesus hadn't reformed some aspects of Judaism, then Christians would be Jews and we would be living by Mosaic Kosher dietary laws, which are similar in some respect to the Muslim concept of Halal. Their claims about being *entirely religions of peace are equally ridiculous, when weighed against their own religious writings.

    As for inventing the theoretical number Zero--this is huge. I don't expect the Progeny of NASCAR inbreeding to get that. Their preservation of knowledge and development of mathmatical theorems like those in basic algebra--when it eventually made the treck to Europe, is in part what lead to our ability to do complex astrolonomical calculations. We also acquired our Gun Powder Technology from Arabs during the Crusades, they in turn got it from Asians--being closer to Asia on the Silk Road and all.

    In actuality, your comment about the Causational evils of Christianity would be more correct if you changed it to the "Causational Evils of the Abrahamic Theologies."

    We in the West will not have an abiding peace with Islam, until we come clean about several things. 1. We want their resources. We take their oil and other natural resources for now. Next it will be water. 2. Stop treating them and other Oriental and Asian cultures like retarded little brothers.

    Bush didn't do it all by himself. He had help, and he conflagrated an already poor situation by being a ham handed idiot.

    Don't even get me started on what the Chinese gave us. If you like a clean asshole, you should thank them profusely. Europeans were still using pine cones, whereas the Chinese invented toilet paper.

    I am waiting to see what other facts emerge in this story regarding the shootings--On the surface, thusfar it looks like we are looking at someone going through an exestential crisis brought on by the cognitive dissonance due to his religion, his military service and the ideals that neither are living up to. You mix that up with some PTSD, and other sources of high stress levels, disillusionment and a smattering of religious bigotry--and it can make quite a mess. Mass gun violence is a terrible thing wherever it happens. And unfortunately this is not unknown in the military. Its a hard job and a dangerous job even in peacetime--and it doesnt matter what church you go to, if you go at all.

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  6. As for inventing the theoretical number Zero--this is huge. I don't expect the Progeny of NASCAR inbreeding to get that.
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    Yes, the number zero would be huge to you, so let's call you Zero for now on. Hey Zero, let me offer you a few corrections; I live in NY, the liberal Mecca of the world, don't watch NASCAR, and you get a zero in spelling, Zero...it's mathematical, not mathmatical.
    Your whole last paragraph reminds me of what we hear when Obama tries to answer a simple yes or no question.
    Now, Zero, what I just did for you is what's called a good old fashioned European butt wiping...enjoy.

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  7. The Arabs brought us basic algebra and zero, then Sir Isaac Newton, ehem...an evil European Christian, brought us Calculus. Seems unfair, doesn't it? Why do Christians always have to bring things up to their highest forms?
    Here are some other losers who didn't invent toilet paper: Michelangelo, Mozart, Bach, Galileo, Martin Luther King Jr.

    Go grab yourself another pine cone, sweetie.

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  8. Anonipuss,

    You really illustrate the truly insideous form of religious bigotry and historical ignorance. You do realize that Christianity originated *gasp! in the Near East, right?

    That Jesus was not a Saxon, Angle or Jute? I don't want to bust your balloon--thinking that Christianity some how reformed Judaism in the heart of Berlin or anything.

    Wow, looks like the author of this blog has her first troll. Congrats!

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  9. Chick,

    Thanks for the history lesson...Jesus was not from Germany, got it. When is your next dissertation?

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  10. You really illustrate the truly insideous form of religious bigotry and historical ignorance
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    That leads to what? Sounding just like you, except in an equal and opposite point of view?

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  11. This is so amusing. Here I don't check in and think no one is reading my ravings and we have half a conversation here. Well, SeeingEyeChick has a conversation, troll here is just meandering waffle.

    I've had him for a while now BTW. Every once in a while he stops in, grunts a bit and then I suppose wanders back to under his bridge.

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  12. LOL.

    That'll teach you to ignore your virtual Lair! They only come out of their bridges when they can no longer find a spot to poop in, so then its off to poop under someone else's bridge or cave, or blog.

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