All things Middle East related

Racist? And which 'Race' is islam/moslem?

Its' Muslim, not moslem... or did you deliberately use the pejorative form of the word because of your obvious discrimination and hatred of people of the religion?


Rat and Alvin:

Your hatred of people, regardless of race or religion, who condone abuse of women in all its forms (domestic violence, rape, mutilation, etc.) is morally justified. I'm 100% with you on that. But judging a billion people in the middle east (the majority of whom are muslims) based on the actions/attitudes of a small minority is cookie cutter racism.

You want to say you dont prejudge people of the middle east and only muslims, then you are a "religious discriminator." Its no different than racism and just as ugly.

Islam doesnt teach that its ok to rape and beat women or perform FGM... thats just a small portion of people who happen to live in those countries and claim to be muslim. Judging the majority of people in those countries based on those few is overt discrimination.

How would you feel if someone beleived you were a "god hates fags" soldier funeral protester just because you lived in the US?

Discrimination is ugly in all its forms. Your comments show you are prejudiced against people from the middle east and/or Muslims. Im ashamed that others here seem to share your ignorant and hateful views.

Spot on dude, I dont deny any of that.
Congrats, you're a well read bleeding heart.
Sorry, cant get past any of that crap after watching people jump to their deaths from the Trade Center.
I'm not a cheek turner.
Eff all of them.

Just used my brain. The article stated:



thats about 1,333 cases of violence against women and girls reported per year. Doesnt that seem shockingly small to you? even on a purely annectodal level, when you think about similar crimes here?

However, since you wanted some substaiting evidence, about 2.3MM people are raped or assaulted by their current or former partner each year. 3-4MM women are beaten or assaulted by their husbands, male lovers, or exboyfriends.
http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence_in_the_United_States#Incidence_o f_domestic_violence

Now, I would imagine there would be some overlap between those two statistics, so lets go on the low end and say that equates to about 4MM cases of violent domestic abuse against women in the US per year.

you have 4,000,000 violent assaults against women per year in the US compared to 1,333 reported cases in Afghanistan. Now, before you the data is skewed due to the US having a much larger population, consider that the US has about 300 million people and Afghanistan has about 30 million (10 times more). So even if you multiplied the Afghan statistics by 10 to correlate the numbers, you'd have 13,333 attacks in Afghanistan to 4,000,000 in the US.

Granted, women are more likely to report crime here than in some of the more "backwater" areas of Afghanistan, but you cant argue with the numbers.

Also, interesting reading is this this UN report on violence against women:

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/Worldswomen/WW2010%20Report_by%20chapter(pdf)/violence%20against%20women.pdf

The first statement in the report is that violence against women is universal. Neither the US or Afghanistan is on one of the charts shown, but surprisingly, Australia was the 4th most violent country surveyed, with over 50% of women experiencing physical violence in their lives.


Ultimately, my point is this: People get so outraged at these crimes against women in these other countries, but they dont share the same outrage when it happens here. In my opinion, its partly racism. "Its the middle east. Theyre muslim, so theyre so much worse over there." Bull crap. The truth of the matter is, violence against women is so common here (and in pretty much every other country in the "western" world) that we're immune to it. But people are only outraged when we see our "enemies" doing the same things. Its hypocritical and its shameful.

Probably because it does not get reported because nothing will be done. Women can actually cause themself more problems if they report abuse. Also in the US what we call abuse is very broad. If I grab my wife to get her attention (not something I'd do) and left a mark what so ever its called an assult. In the middle east they would laugh at you.

Its' Muslim, not moslem... or did you deliberately use the pejorative form of the word because of your obvious discrimination and hatred of people of the religion?

As it's an Arabic word, it's phonetic. It's commonly written that way in older texts. Yes, I mock people of all religions equally.

Rat and Alvin:

Your hatred of people, regardless of race or religion, who condone abuse of women in all its forms (domestic violence, rape, mutilation, etc.) is morally justified. I'm 100% with you on that. But judging a billion people in the middle east (the majority of whom are muslims) based on the actions/attitudes of a small minority is cookie cutter racism.

You're showing YOUR ignorance and bigotry. Only about 350 million people live in the ME, yet their tenets of faith are wider spread and they are surprisingly vocal. There's a chart for that. Let me know if you'd like to see it?

You want to say you dont prejudge people of the middle east and only muslims, then you are a "religious discriminator." Its no different than racism and just as ugly.

I have NEVER said that, or wanted to. When people base their life on idiotic intangibles I am free to treat them as I see fit. Show me evidence of a god, I'll apologize.

Islam doesnt teach that its ok to rape and beat women or perform FGM...

Yet sadly it's their culture that forces them. Shocking that their faith allows it then, no?

thats just a small portion of people who happen to live in those countries and claim to be muslim. Judging the majority of people in those countries based on those few is overt discrimination.

So you're saying their faith isn't as strong as their bestial urges?

How would you feel if someone beleived you were a "god hates fags" soldier funeral protester just because you lived in the US?

Anyone who knows me knows that's not the case, I could care less what most people think of me.

Discrimination is ugly in all its forms. Your comments show you are prejudiced against people from the middle east and/or Muslims. Im ashamed that others here seem to share your ignorant and hateful views.

I'm shocked that people know so little about such an abhorrent cult, we all get surprises every day. Hopefully you'll learn something.

p.s. Still hating the off season.

well, right now the talbian's version of islam says it's cool to recruit 6-10 year olds and turn them into living bombs.

if you haven't seen the first episode of vice (hbo), please check it out. it's like, an actual investigative news show... not worthless/endless opinions or entertainment stories (like fox/cnn/msnbc/etc).

Probably because it does not get reported because nothing will be done. Women can actually cause themself more problems if they report abuse. Also in the US what we call abuse is very broad. If I grab my wife to get her attention (not something I'd do) and left a mark what so ever its called an assult. In the middle east they would laugh at you.

Abuse is not widely reported here either. Abuse of women is a global epidemic, men will justify it by religion, their upbringing, stress at their jobs, whatever. The excuses are different, but the underlying fact is that there are assholes everywhere. Abuse of women is just as prevalent here as it is everywhere else.

I commend you for treating your wife well. You would be surprised to know hundreds of thousands of American men don't. I'm not trying to defend a demonic religion. My only point in all my posts is that the average afghan Islamic man is no more of an asshole than half the men in any of our neighborhoods. There are extreme afghan Islamic men that are horrific assholes. And there are extreme white male Christian men who are also horrific assholes. Abuse of women us a global problem that transcends race, religion, and nationality. It's not fair to judge a society by a couple of assholes. If we did that, then we'd all be assholes. Judging an entire group of people, based on th actions of a minority, isn't right, it's morally abhorrent and goes against everything we should stand for as citizens.

Judging an entire group of people, based on th actions of a minority, isn't right, it's morally abhorrent and goes against everything we should stand for as citizens.

That's where you are wrong. It's not a minority.

We all agree that treating anyone in a dehumanizing way everyone is worse off. Religion has built in excuses for abhorrent behavior.

That's where you are wrong. It's not a minority.

We all agree that treating anyone in a dehumanizing way everyone is worse off. Religion has built in excuses for abhorrent behavior.

Dont get me started on religion. For thousands of years, assholes have used religion to justify all sorts of horrible things. The Catholic Church and Islam have more blood on their hands than any other organizations/governments in the history of mankind. Anyone with a brain who beleives in a benevolent God of some sort could easily recognize that he/she/it would abhor both organizations. Anway, back on topic.

Where I think you are wrong is in your belief that the majority of Muslims condone the sort of behavior we've been talking about in this thread. They dont. Just like the majority of Christians in this country dont condone waving "god hates fags" flags and soldiers funerals. The fact is, the majority of Muslims in the world view the extremists who torture women the same way the majority of Christians view the Westboro Baptist church. That said, i think its obvious that those muslim extremists are even more heinous than the WBC.

On a side note, Moslem is an offensive, perjorative term for Muslims. In Arabic, "Muslim" means "one who gives himself to God." "Moslem" means "one who is evil and unjust." Its a big difference, so most Muslims would take issue with being called "Moslems."

Dont get me started on religion. For thousands of years, assholes have used religion to justify all sorts of horrible things. The Catholic Church and Islam have more blood on their hands than any other organizations/governments in the history of mankind. Anyone with a brain who beleives in a benevolent God of some sort could easily recognize that he/she/it would abhor both organizations. Anway, back on topic.

Where I think you are wrong is in your belief that the majority of Muslims condone the sort of behavior we've been talking about in this thread. They dont. Just like the majority of Christians in this country dont condone waving "god hates fags" flags and soldiers funerals. The fact is, the majority of Muslims in the world view the extremists who torture women the same way the majority of Christians view the Westboro Baptist church. That said, i think its obvious that those muslim extremists are even more heinous than the WBC.

On a side note, Moslem is an offensive, perjorative term for Muslims. In Arabic, "Muslim" means "one who gives himself to God." "Moslem" means "one who is evil and unjust." Its a big difference, so most Muslims would take issue with being called "Moslems."

interesting link on the difference from George Mason University
http://hnn.us/articles/524.html

BHA, always be wary of 'decent' people in large groups who just follow along.

I will be sticking with 'moslem', it seems apropos.

But on the topic of pronunciation and spelling: This (http://ask.metafilter.com/35958/Potato-potahto-Muslim-Moslem)