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DM2525 hits on some of the similarities between radical christian and radical islamic goals and thinking. I think that a believer from either side would reflexively call this video a gross mischaracterization of their faith and the positions that they hold.
Perhaps, but from an atheistic point of view it really is same poo, different pile – just applied in the differing constituencies to varying degrees. Are US christians pining for a formal theocracy? It may certainly seem like it but I think they are just responding to societal pressures in a way that makes sense to them.
The social pressures (mostly due to the plundering of society by the elite) are then analyzed through the looking glass of christian religion and the set of solutions that dogmatic christian thought offers.
Given that the base of christian though is well, based on fear and magic we can deduce why so many religious solutions to societal problems are ineffective and often counter-productive.
Consider the example of given in the video of the Woman and her role. Is the reasonable answer to the problem of women in society(?) their isolation and cloistering to the domestic sphere? The answer of course is a resounding “No”, but consider what the religious have to work with as their moral and philosophical grounding with regards to women.
The Koran and the Bible are based on the musings of dudes in a society that treated women as inferior by nature – there is nothing in either text that allows for the progress women have made toward them being regarded as full human beings and thus neither source should be considered when it comes to women and their place in society.
Yet, this exactly the case, that is that people are using religious texts to try to understand the society that they are living in *now* and it just doesn’t work out very well.
I’m not sure if all religious dogma has an logical endpoint in theocratic rule, but the stuff that we are dealing with here (radical islam and christianity) is certainly in love with theocracy and is doing its best to bring those conditions to fruition.
I have our local University Radio station CJSR to thank for turning me onto this Canadian band called the Souljazz Orchestra. The songs I’ve heard so far all make me want to chair dance and/or wiggle embarrassingly in my car.
The following article reproduced in its entirety from Altnet.org.
Noam Chomsky explores the history of repression and violence that stand as precursors to the current conflict.
August 7, 2014 |Amid all the horrors unfolding in the latest Israeli offensive in Gaza, Israel’s goal is simple: quiet-for-quiet, a return to the norm.
For the West Bank, the norm is that Israel continues its illegal construction of settlements and infrastructure so that it can integrate into Israel whatever might be of value, meanwhile consigning Palestinians to unviable cantons and subjecting them to repression and violence.
For Gaza, the norm is a miserable existence under a cruel and destructive siege that Israel administers to permit bare survival but nothing more.
The latest Israeli rampage was set off by the brutal murder of three Israeli boys from a settler community in the occupied West Bank. A month before, two Palestinian boys were shot dead in the West Bank city of Ramallah. That elicited little attention, which is understandable, since it is routine.
“The institutionalized disregard for Palestinian life in the West helps explain not only why Palestinians resort to violence,” Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani reports, “but also Israel’s latest assault on the Gaza Strip.”
In an interview, human rights lawyer Raji Sourani, who has remained in Gaza through years of Israeli brutality and terror, said, “The most common sentence I heard when people began to talk about cease-fire: Everybody says it’s better for all of us to die and not go back to the situation we used to have before this war. We don’t want that again. We have no dignity, no pride; we are just soft targets, and we are very cheap. Either this situation really improves or it is better to just die. I am talking about intellectuals, academics, ordinary people: Everybody is saying that.”
In January 2006, Palestinians committed a major crime: They voted the wrong way in a carefully monitored free election, handing control of Parliament to Hamas.
The media constantly intone that Hamas is dedicated to the destruction of Israel. In reality, Hamas leaders have repeatedly made it clear that Hamas would accept a two-state settlement in accord with the international consensus that has been blocked by the U.S. and Israel for 40 years.
In contrast, Israel is dedicated to the destruction of Palestine, apart from some occasional meaningless words, and is implementing that commitment.
The crime of the Palestinians in January 2006 was punished at once. The U.S. and Israel, with Europe shamefully trailing behind, imposed harsh sanctions on the errant population and Israel stepped up its violence.
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A handy reference for dealing with the MRA crowd.
What follows is a response to a popular list of claims and arguments made by men’s rights activists.
1. SUICIDE: Men’s suicide rate is 4.6 times higher than that of women’s. [Dept. Health & Human Services — 26,710 males vs 5,700 females]
Not for lack of trying: women attempt it three times as often. [1] Researchers have found that gender differences in socialization is the strongest explanation for men’s relative success in suicide attempts. In the United States, for instance, it has been shown that unsuccessful suicide attempts are considered “feminine” while it is considered masculine to succeed. In other words, the fear of being labeled “feminine” or “weak” in a male supremacist culture encourages men to ensure their attempts are successfully completed. [2] The statistic given here also masks that many of these “suicides” were actually murder-suicides. In the United States, an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 people died in suicide…
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Fairly well this year, as long as we keep up with watering!
Le jardin chez Arbourist et Intransigentia
Follow the theme – Hint: It is the ‘eggs’ :)
Oh radio 2, how I wish you’d reformat again with more classical music. A huge hattip to the CBC for producing this wonderful journey through song.
Also, who knew Tom Allen was a purveyor the dark art of lower brass musicianship? :)
Oh hey our conservative government is trying to squash the CBC and ventures like this, go here and tell them in no uncertain terms where they can go. (also, support the CBC):)
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
Your opinions…