Sydney Cafe held hostage by Jihadists (1 Viewer)

[Henry Ford]

Henry, man, tell me true, is there a person in the world who both uses the internet in his own home and has also burned a witch.

No. Bloomin'. Way.

A third of South Africa subscribes to the internet. They have an Occult Crimes Unit, part of the police, to investigate witch burnings, in addition to harmful curses, witches, and vampires.At one point they had a website.

 

[msommer]

Well let's put it this way, you can't accept the internet and the atom until you do stop burning witches, they are mutually incompatible.

Obviously there are muslim nations that embrace advanced technology and yet you cannot question whether Muhammed was actually a prophet, and you can't draw a cartoon of his face for fear of offending the power above or rather the powers that be. You can have an F-35 fighter but you can't let a woman drive. Now you can say that's cultural but there is no doubt the culture is so entwined with the religion that in some aspects it does look a lot like medieval Europe.

That's ridiculous. Plenty of countries have internet and burn witches. Tanzania is 60% Christian, 13% of the population are internet users, and two months ago seven people were burned to death as witches.

Yes. The culture in some places is entwined with religion so much that it looks like an unenlightened Europe. Which is an argument against religious government, not against Islam. When people rule by the authority of an infallible God, bad things happen.

Let me se if I have this right: you think the people that burned the seven persons as witches (let's assume they weren't actually witches for the sake of argument) also have the internet?

I have no idea how to prove this but I'm going to say you're totally wrong.

I don't really know why this is your sticking point, but I have family members who have smart phones and believe that there are actual witches on earth who are the literal embodiment of the devil on earth. Westboro Baptist has a Twitter account. The KKK has a Twitter account. Ignorant, stupid beliefs don't disappear just because you have the internet.

Henry, first of all, my condolences.

Secondly, had this image of an East African villager rushing to his computer to google "How to recognize a witch". Seemed incompatible.

Anyway have a good one.

Just giving someone a smartphone and an internet connection doesn't remove ages of superstition.

No Bloomin' way

 

[msommer]

http://www.pewforum.org/2009/10/07/mapping-the-global-muslim-population/

Food for thought: Three times more muslims live in Asia-Pacific (incl India) than than in Middle East-North Africa.

 

[comfortably numb]

holy crap

I think id prefer to be held hostage by the crazy jihad dude in the cafe than be in this thread

 

[rockaction]

holy crap

I think id prefer to be held hostage by the crazy jihad dude in the cafe than be in this thread

Sadly, some of us don't care, and you don't have to be.

I say that without malice, it's just true. You want to do meta-commentary about threads…I just tell it like it is now. Don't care. You're not that smart.

 

[Henry Ford]

holy crap

I think id prefer to be held hostage by the crazy jihad dude in the cafe than be in this thread

Deal!

 

[timschochet]

Well let's put it this way, you can't accept the internet and the atom until you do stop burning witches, they are mutually incompatible.

Obviously there are muslim nations that embrace advanced technology and yet you cannot question whether Muhammed was actually a prophet, and you can't draw a cartoon of his face for fear of offending the power above or rather the powers that be. You can have an F-35 fighter but you can't let a woman drive. Now you can say that's cultural but there is no doubt the culture is so entwined with the religion that in some aspects it does look a lot like medieval Europe.

That's ridiculous. Plenty of countries have internet and burn witches. Tanzania is 60% Christian, 13% of the population are internet users, and two months ago seven people were burned to death as witches.

Yes. The culture in some places is entwined with religion so much that it looks like an unenlightened Europe. Which is an argument against religious government, not against Islam. When people rule by the authority of an infallible God, bad things happen.

Sure Tanzania uses the Internet, but they didn't create it. I think Saint's point is that a society that burns witches is not going to develop ground breaking technology. It's an interesting question. I haven't considered it deeply, but I think I agree with it.

 

[Henry Ford]

Well let's put it this way, you can't accept the internet and the atom until you do stop burning witches, they are mutually incompatible.

Obviously there are muslim nations that embrace advanced technology and yet you cannot question whether Muhammed was actually a prophet, and you can't draw a cartoon of his face for fear of offending the power above or rather the powers that be. You can have an F-35 fighter but you can't let a woman drive. Now you can say that's cultural but there is no doubt the culture is so entwined with the religion that in some aspects it does look a lot like medieval Europe.

That's ridiculous. Plenty of countries have internet and burn witches. Tanzania is 60% Christian, 13% of the population are internet users, and two months ago seven people were burned to death as witches.

Yes. The culture in some places is entwined with religion so much that it looks like an unenlightened Europe. Which is an argument against religious government, not against Islam. When people rule by the authority of an infallible God, bad things happen.

Oddly, I think most "bigots" are prescribed the argument of arguing against Islam in particular, rather than adopting it. Yes, I've said negative things about the Koran, but my concern is with theocracy. It is not with their scripture. Indeed, if the social, political, and cultural aspect of Islam weren't leading to this constantly, and the moderates were set about condemning these acts rather than trying to minimize them, we'd be a lot better off.

It's odd. I feel like those on the left are trying to do battle on two mutually exclusive fronts, and often come out looking worse for wear or endorsing a slippery slope about America, federalism, and religion with respect to the Bill of Rights.

I guess my belief is that the social, political, and cultural aspects of underdeveloped countries lead to theocracy, and some of those countries happen to be majority Muslim. It's not like the majority Christian countries are doing much better.

 

[Henry Ford]

Well let's put it this way, you can't accept the internet and the atom until you do stop burning witches, they are mutually incompatible.

Obviously there are muslim nations that embrace advanced technology and yet you cannot question whether Muhammed was actually a prophet, and you can't draw a cartoon of his face for fear of offending the power above or rather the powers that be. You can have an F-35 fighter but you can't let a woman drive. Now you can say that's cultural but there is no doubt the culture is so entwined with the religion that in some aspects it does look a lot like medieval Europe.

That's ridiculous. Plenty of countries have internet and burn witches. Tanzania is 60% Christian, 13% of the population are internet users, and two months ago seven people were burned to death as witches.

Yes. The culture in some places is entwined with religion so much that it looks like an unenlightened Europe. Which is an argument against religious government, not against Islam. When people rule by the authority of an infallible God, bad things happen.

Sure Tanzania uses the Internet, but they didn't create it. I think Saint's point is that a society that burns witches is not going to develop ground breaking technology. It's an interesting question. I haven't considered it deeply, but I think I agree with it.

If that's his point, it has nothing to do with my original statement or anything he's actually said.

 

[cjv123]

For probably 90% of Africa, the "Internet" is email on Blackberry.