Im going to take a contreversial stand.

[Mr.Conley]

ooooh, well, want a cookie for your life experiences?
I lived in Iran for nearly 6 yrs. and the anti-American sentiment was loud and clear.

Yeah, bring your notes, I need something to wipe my ass with.

Iranians are Persian, not Arab, but, hey, at the end of the day they're all foreigners, right?

 

[RightWingSpirit]

I don't need a cookie... and your experience with persian shiite muslims is really not all that indicative of the larger worldwide population of muslims, only 15% of which are shiites and even fewer persian.

and let me get this straight...you lived in Iran for six years and met five muslims?

LOL

no, I met 5 Muslims at home (northeast USA).

I see you wont tell us about your experiences with Muslims.

 

[maineman]

no, I met 5 Muslims at home (northeast USA).

I see you wont tell us about your experiences with Muslims.

I lived in a city inhabited by them. They were my neighbors, my landlords, my grocer, the owners of the restaurants I dined in, my tailor, my optometrist, my friends, my acquaintances, my co-workers... I met thousands of them. I interacted with thousands of them. I was pleasantly acquainted with hundreds of them. I was friends with scores of them. I was close friends with a dozen of them. I dated two of them. I slept with one of them.

95% of ALL of them were friendly and cordial to me and were not at all angry or antagonistic about America or demeaning to our religions and our ways of life.

 

[eots]

I lived in a city inhabited by them. They were my neighbors, my landlords, my grocer, the owners of the restaurants I dined in, my tailor, my optometrist, my friends, my acquaintances, my co-workers... I met thousands of them. I interacted with thousands of them. I was pleasantly acquainted with hundreds of them. I was friends with scores of them. I was close friends with a dozen of them. I dated two of them. I slept with one of them.

95% of ALL of them were friendly and cordial to me and were not at all angry or antagonistic about America or demeaning to our religions and our ways of life.

ya but how do you ever know that they are not just acting that way to lure you into a false sense of security..until orders come from allciaduh and they turn into suicidal killers...and what of those less than cordial 5% at times like these. i am not saying it is so but if it is the risk is to great. no what this situation requires is preemptive thinking git them befer they gits us i say
and remember theys children looks cute and all when theys small but they gonna grow up one day so don't let them fool ya either

 

[Doug]

Hmmmm........ I think we have selective memory on both sides here.

I doubt very much, from polls I have seen, that 95% of Lebanese are just brimming over with good will towards the USA.

On the other hand, there are plenty of low-key pro-Americans in Iran, although they tend to be concentrated among the intelligentsia, which might explain why RWS didn't meet them.

 

[maineman]

Hmmmm........ I think we have selective memory on both sides here.

I doubt very much, from polls I have seen, that 95% of Lebanese are just brimming over with good will towards the USA.

On the other hand, there are plenty of low-key pro-Americans in Iran, although they tend to be concentrated among the intelligentsia, which might explain why RWS didn't meet them.

I went to Lebanon in 1981. Are you suggesting that, because Lebanese dislike us now, that means that they disliked us then? What do you think might have happened since 1981 to alienate muslims?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I went to Lebanon in 1981. Are you suggesting that, because Lebanese dislike us now, that means that they disliked us then? What do you think might have happened since 1981 to alienate muslims?

Wait? You mean to say your life experience just might NOT be valid now? You have argued hard and long they ARE quite valid for a Country you were never even in.

 

[jodylee]

I think america should deport all of its hard line christian evangelical extremist, its catholic extremists and its neo facists, but then who would run the country.

 

[maineman]

Wait? You mean to say your life experience just might NOT be valid now? You have argued hard and long they ARE quite valid for a Country you were never even in.

my life experience is certainly valid. and arguing that my experience with sunnis and shiites in lebanon is not germane to suggesting how sunnis and shiites may interact in Iraq is synonymous with saying that experiencing the strife between black and white americans in Georgia is irrelevant to understanding the strife between black and white Americans in Alabama.

Have you ever even LOOKED at a map of the middle east, let alone ever been within three time zones of being there?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

my life experience is certainly valid. and arguing that my experience with sunnis and shiites in lebanon is not germane to suggesting how sunnis and shiites may interact in Iraq is synonymous with saying that experiencing the strife between black and white americans in Georgia is irrelevant to understanding the strife between black and white Americans in Alabama.

Have you ever even LOOKED at a map of the middle east, let alone ever been within three time zones of being there?

Make up your mind. You can not , when it is convenient for you, claim things have changed and when it is convenient claim things haven't changed.

 

[maineman]

Make up your mind. You can not , when it is convenient for you, claim things have changed and when it is convenient claim things haven't changed.

the fact that "things have changed" does not make my experiences "irrelevant".

Like I said...have you ever been within three time zones of the middle east?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

the fact that "things have changed" does not make my experiences "irrelevant".

Like I said...have you ever been within three time zones of the middle east?

Have you been to Iraq? Better yet when was the last time you were "within" 3 time zones of the area?

Before you answer, the question you ask is irrelevant. But it is your usual modus operandi.

 

[actsnoblemartin]

Well, I like your outside the box thinking, It is one option that should be considered.

How about a compromise: break the law, and off you go to socialist Zimbabwe, minus your citizenship.

 

[RightWingSpirit]

I lived in a city inhabited by them.

95% of ALL of them were friendly and cordial to me and were not at all angry or antagonistic about America or demeaning to our religions and our ways of life.

good for you. I have much different experiences with them. The ones I have met are vocal about their disdain for the country they now take full advantage of

 

[maineman]

good for you. I have much different experiences with them. The ones I have met are vocal about their disdain for the country they now take full advantage of

so...one would have to surmise, from our widely different experiences, that the muslim world is hardly monolithic in its opinions about the United States.

correct?

 

[AllieBaba]

I think people often confuse a polite and cultured demeanor with "niceness" or tolerance.

No Muslim in the world is going to antagonize westerners when they are living in a western country, earning money off of westerners and surrounded by them. They are merchants and businessmen, peeps, and good ones.

Ask the friendly Muslim family who they are supporting in the old country, and what the views of those people are. Ask them if they think you have a soul. Ask them if they would protect you from jihadists.

For the most part, the answer is no.

 

[Shogun]

jesus christ...

You just gave me a flashback of debating against the wall of zionists around here.


Do you think that shit doesn't work BOTH ways?

 

[AllieBaba]

I think there's a big difference between the philosophy of the Koran and the philosophy of the Bible.

And I think there are more killers who believe it's okay to kill innocents because of the Koran than there are killers who think it's okay to kill because of the Bible.

Mainstream bible believers don't think it's okay to take out groups of innocents.

 

[Shogun]

we can go strait back to the ethnocentric filter.


Do you really thing palestinians don't feel the same way about jews and christians who routinely rationalize their marginalization?


Have you even READ the OT for christs sakes? Remind me, what land did Moses's people buy instead of invade and take? Elisha's She bears ring a bell?


Your opinon probably doesn't root from the fact that you identify with the bible over the koran, eh?

 

[AllieBaba]

The OT is the OT. It is not the entire Bible. The OT (and I believe I've told you this before. If not, here goes) is a collection of laws for a group of people, ex slaves, who had never had their own government and who were constantly at war in the desert.

With the coming of Jesus, the law was fulfilled...which meant that we no longer had to concentrate on the "law" because all we had to do was believe and love one another. Including non-believers. Nowhere in the NT does it say we should kill non-believers. Nowhere does it say to insult them.

And that is borne out by what is going on in the world today. Christians are martyred every day by Muslims who hate them simply because they are Christians. The same cannot be said about Muslims. They are not martyred by Christians who hate them because they are Muslim. They are killed in battle, which is not the same thing.

How many Christians walk onto buses with bombs strapped to their chests? How many Christians deliberately target children?