Comments on: State of the World Address

By: Dork Nation » Blog Archive » Answer

Dork Nation » Blog Archive » Answer — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 16:59:04 +0000

[...] If you notice, the tags on the “Question” post are politics and Middle East. Now, what does Rodney King have to do with those topics? Nothing, however, I had a theory that one’s reaction to the beatdown would parallel one’s reaction to the Israel/Lebanon boondoggle. So I snuck behind those of you that left answers (here or at NiT) and checked your blogs. Many of you gave an ambiguous response, either not chosing from the choices offered or asking if you could say “both.” That response was reflected in those who stated opinions on the current conflict, too. Like with (Sorry to pick you out, mate) Say Uncle, who expresses concern about Israel’s actions while still rooting for the home team. [...]

By: straightarrow

straightarrow — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 21:24:41 +0000

“More people read my friggin� blog every day than follow Fred Phelps. Why is that? “-xlrq

Because we look at Phelps and know he is a stone ignorant jackass because we think for ourselves. Not something muslims do well.

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:26:57 +0000

Primarily because we are one of the richest if not THE richest country(-ies) in the world. And also because we as a nation don’t take religion anywhere near that seriously. With the exception of a very small subset of self-professed Christians, most are “cafeteria Christians,” who patently disregard vast swaths of what the “good book” teaches. “Our” fundamentalists are less dangerous because there are fewer of them, and because they hold a lot less influence, not because they’re inherently less dangerous.

It also doesn’t hurt that our standard of living here is exponentially higher (see richest nations, again) — a fact owed in no small part to the fact that we don’t allow religion to rule all. It’s a lot harder to convince someone to blow her/himself up if s/he’s happy and well fed.

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 04:11:33 +0000

Neither do I. Yet, for some reason, even in one of the richest if not THE richest country(-ies) in the world, Fred Phelps can’t seem to get any money at all, or even a congregation that extends beyond his own extended family. More people read my friggin’ blog every day than follow Fred Phelps. Why is that?

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:09:43 +0000

Chris: The problem, I'm afraid, isn't limited to Muslim extremism, although our greatest danger does currently come from that sector. It's religious extremism (of any kind) that's the problem. Witness, for example, abortion clinic bombings. I don't kid myself for one moment into thinking that if the "reverend" Fred Phelps ever got any appreciable amount of power, he wouldn't do things just as vile as what today's Muslim extremists do.

By: tgirsch

tgirsch — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:07:22 +0000

There is, unfortunately, no one to root for in all of this. Not a year goes by when we aren’t reminded how colossally stupid it was to give the Jews a sovereign state in that location — holy land or not. It’s orders of magnatude worse than if we had an anti-gay holocaust and subsequently decided to give the gays a sovereign “safe haven” in Alabama.

And, of course, Israel is in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t scenario. By engaging in excessive retaliation, the Israelis are doing exactly what the anti-Israel extremists want: fanning the flames of anti-semitism and anti-Zionism ever higher.

All of this isn’t to say that Israel shouldn’t respond to attacks against them — they absolutely should — but how you respond and against whom matters greatly, a fact that current Israeli leadership seems to miss completely. If Israel were to use the Mossad to take out key Hizbollah targets and leaders, I’d be all for this. Instead, they proverbially bomb Peter to get revenge against Paul.

By: chris

chris — Tue, 18 Jul 2006 14:57:58 +0000

We are engaged in a cultural war with radical Islam, which, unfortunately, seems to constitute a good portion of the religion of peace.

I has evolved into a hit and run shooting war on its part and a real war on our part and on the part of Israel.

It will not end anytime soon, particularly with Europe’s slowly morphing into a Muslim society (e.g. France, where 20 percent of its residents are Muslim).

Israel has more nuclear warheads than Yamulkas (sp?), and it will wind up using one or more of them one day.

Then, things will probably cool down for a while (think Japan, 1945).