Today, juxtaposition of the Koran burning nutjob and politicians who protested the Ground Zero Mosque for political means.
1) The GZM protesters were not (for the most part) lighting their torches, they were exercising free speech (perhaps poorly, true).
2) The GZM builders and the Koran burner have more in common than the burner and the BZM protesters. Builders and burners are both operating completely within the law, however, they are, in least in part, if not in the whole, knowingly doing what they're doing to annoy people.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Ground Zero mosque
Well hell, every other dickhead who can hunt and peck or speak three words in a row has said something about the ground zero mosque, so why not me. Particularly regarding the Cracked article about it, which makes some good points.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-reasons-the-ground-zero-mosque-debate-makes-no-sense/
Specifically, point three - you can not simultaneously admit they have the legal right, and ask the government to block it. Of course. The sane people are not the ones saying this; the sane people are the ones saying they don't like it, but that it's completely legal to do, and that's what makes American great (insert flag waving here). The point is, if you're all for peace and tolerance, you could take into account how people would react. If you want to prove a point, you could at least make an attempt at recognizing the sensitivities of others; as a white male, that is apparently my purpose in life these days - to recognize the hot buttons of others.
And, I haven't seen plans, I don't know what's in the Islamic center, yes, there's probably plenty of other stuff besides the mosque, but I've seen an "Islamic Cultural Center" here locally, and it's a mosque. There are signs on the doors saying where the men and women are to enter separately, and prayer instructions. All the other stuff is great, and not related to prayer, but if there wasn't a mosque, there wouldn't be any of that other stuff either.
But in case I wasn't clear - the rules are clear, if they are followed, build the dang building, whatever it is. But don't go changing the dang rules to screw with it.
Next lecture (get your reading done in advance) - Bills of Attainder.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-reasons-the-ground-zero-mosque-debate-makes-no-sense/
Specifically, point three - you can not simultaneously admit they have the legal right, and ask the government to block it. Of course. The sane people are not the ones saying this; the sane people are the ones saying they don't like it, but that it's completely legal to do, and that's what makes American great (insert flag waving here). The point is, if you're all for peace and tolerance, you could take into account how people would react. If you want to prove a point, you could at least make an attempt at recognizing the sensitivities of others; as a white male, that is apparently my purpose in life these days - to recognize the hot buttons of others.
And, I haven't seen plans, I don't know what's in the Islamic center, yes, there's probably plenty of other stuff besides the mosque, but I've seen an "Islamic Cultural Center" here locally, and it's a mosque. There are signs on the doors saying where the men and women are to enter separately, and prayer instructions. All the other stuff is great, and not related to prayer, but if there wasn't a mosque, there wouldn't be any of that other stuff either.
But in case I wasn't clear - the rules are clear, if they are followed, build the dang building, whatever it is. But don't go changing the dang rules to screw with it.
Next lecture (get your reading done in advance) - Bills of Attainder.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Sphincters
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/08/31/west.bank.shooting/index.html?iref=allsearch
So, Hamas claimed responsibility for shooting four Israeli civilians in the West Bank. Every report on this makes sure to point out that one of the victims was pregnant in the first sentence, because it's such a great lead.
Following that, there was some sort of celebratory riot of 3000 people in the Gaza strip. This happened on Tuesday the 1st, and I didn't hear about it until today, Friday the 3rd, on someone's blog. Either this isn't news anymore because its happened too often, or no one wants to pick on Hamas. One response also indicated that that poster had not heard about it before, and only found a blog reference to it. Leaving aside that person's apparent complete ineptitude at web searches, a few comments. The Blogger took the position that the celebrators were the scum of the earth, less than human, etc. ALL of the respondents (six at that point) took him to task, pointing out how oppressed and suffering the Gazans are, and how the US military keeps killing civilians all the time, so how dare he complain.
Well, as far as I understand, the suffering people in Gaza brought it on themselves, and continue to bring it on themselves, and the rest of the middle east wants them to keep bringing it on themselves. But that's not really what I want to talk about.
Second, the US military does try to not deliberately target civilians. Especially women walking down a public street in broad daylight. And when things like that happen, and they do, nobody feels good about it, and certainly doesn't celebrate it like a great military victory, bringing me to my next point -
You killed FOUR unarmed civilians, and treat it like winning the Battle of the Bulge? How fucking petty and stupid are you? You are small assholes, with small minds, and this is why people hate you. This was not a victory, this was not useful, and all you are doing by celebrating is publicly showing how stupid you are. Bringing me to my real point -
The protesters may be hoping for martyrdom (possibly many are), but they're also demonstrating, and probably even counting on, the moral superiority and restraint of the people they hate so much. 3000 people just went out and identified themselves as some of the biggest Israel haters in existence, essentially painting a huge fucking bullseye on themselves. The IDF could have wiped them all off the face of the earth in about 2 minutes, with almost no collateral damage. But didn't. Yes, if Israel had done that, they would have gotten all the international condemnation that Hamas doesn't, but over and over again, Israel has shown astounding restraint with people who, over and over again, profess that they want every Jew to die. Would Hamas avoid a big juicy target of 3000 undefended Israelis milling around shouting about how much they hate Palestinians? I doubt it.
I see this shit over and over. Angry protesters scream bloody murder and call the targets of their vitriol monsters, killers, and everything else - knowing that there is almost no chance of retribution. Yell at the government, yell at the police, yell at all the institutions that have the guns, and yet, no one gets shot. The fact that the screamers know that they can get away with it means that they know that their targets are not really soulless, heartless, inhuman killers, or else they'd be dead.
Look around. Who are the groups that no one criticizes, or gets warned off that they'll get themselves in deep if they do? (And don't say there aren't any, we all know some.) The groups that actually respond with retribution or violence to criticism. Who really needs to be criticized to change their ways? People who react violently to those who are different or disagree. Israeli politicians get assassinated for opposing Hamas, but when they had the chance to squish Arafat, they let him go. Who looks like the better people in this picture.
Anyway, one last peripheral thing. In thinking about these Assholes, I was thinking about what to call them in more polite places than here. I thought of orifices, which is decent, and sphincters, which is the "polite" euphemism that I've heard the most, but then something occurred to me. A sphincter is a ring of muscle with the task of keeping something under control. The pyloric sphincter controls when food moves out of the stomach. The rectal sphincter (asshole) controls when shit comes out. That is exactly what these people are not. They have no control, and shit flies everywhere around them. Those words are too good for them, so I will start calling them cloacas, which is what birds and frogs have. The cloaca has no real sphincter or asshole, and the shit just comes out whenever it's there. That's what those people are.
So, Hamas claimed responsibility for shooting four Israeli civilians in the West Bank. Every report on this makes sure to point out that one of the victims was pregnant in the first sentence, because it's such a great lead.
Following that, there was some sort of celebratory riot of 3000 people in the Gaza strip. This happened on Tuesday the 1st, and I didn't hear about it until today, Friday the 3rd, on someone's blog. Either this isn't news anymore because its happened too often, or no one wants to pick on Hamas. One response also indicated that that poster had not heard about it before, and only found a blog reference to it. Leaving aside that person's apparent complete ineptitude at web searches, a few comments. The Blogger took the position that the celebrators were the scum of the earth, less than human, etc. ALL of the respondents (six at that point) took him to task, pointing out how oppressed and suffering the Gazans are, and how the US military keeps killing civilians all the time, so how dare he complain.
Well, as far as I understand, the suffering people in Gaza brought it on themselves, and continue to bring it on themselves, and the rest of the middle east wants them to keep bringing it on themselves. But that's not really what I want to talk about.
Second, the US military does try to not deliberately target civilians. Especially women walking down a public street in broad daylight. And when things like that happen, and they do, nobody feels good about it, and certainly doesn't celebrate it like a great military victory, bringing me to my next point -
You killed FOUR unarmed civilians, and treat it like winning the Battle of the Bulge? How fucking petty and stupid are you? You are small assholes, with small minds, and this is why people hate you. This was not a victory, this was not useful, and all you are doing by celebrating is publicly showing how stupid you are. Bringing me to my real point -
The protesters may be hoping for martyrdom (possibly many are), but they're also demonstrating, and probably even counting on, the moral superiority and restraint of the people they hate so much. 3000 people just went out and identified themselves as some of the biggest Israel haters in existence, essentially painting a huge fucking bullseye on themselves. The IDF could have wiped them all off the face of the earth in about 2 minutes, with almost no collateral damage. But didn't. Yes, if Israel had done that, they would have gotten all the international condemnation that Hamas doesn't, but over and over again, Israel has shown astounding restraint with people who, over and over again, profess that they want every Jew to die. Would Hamas avoid a big juicy target of 3000 undefended Israelis milling around shouting about how much they hate Palestinians? I doubt it.
I see this shit over and over. Angry protesters scream bloody murder and call the targets of their vitriol monsters, killers, and everything else - knowing that there is almost no chance of retribution. Yell at the government, yell at the police, yell at all the institutions that have the guns, and yet, no one gets shot. The fact that the screamers know that they can get away with it means that they know that their targets are not really soulless, heartless, inhuman killers, or else they'd be dead.
Look around. Who are the groups that no one criticizes, or gets warned off that they'll get themselves in deep if they do? (And don't say there aren't any, we all know some.) The groups that actually respond with retribution or violence to criticism. Who really needs to be criticized to change their ways? People who react violently to those who are different or disagree. Israeli politicians get assassinated for opposing Hamas, but when they had the chance to squish Arafat, they let him go. Who looks like the better people in this picture.
Anyway, one last peripheral thing. In thinking about these Assholes, I was thinking about what to call them in more polite places than here. I thought of orifices, which is decent, and sphincters, which is the "polite" euphemism that I've heard the most, but then something occurred to me. A sphincter is a ring of muscle with the task of keeping something under control. The pyloric sphincter controls when food moves out of the stomach. The rectal sphincter (asshole) controls when shit comes out. That is exactly what these people are not. They have no control, and shit flies everywhere around them. Those words are too good for them, so I will start calling them cloacas, which is what birds and frogs have. The cloaca has no real sphincter or asshole, and the shit just comes out whenever it's there. That's what those people are.
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