No Sense of Humor, Not Even Of Irony

Annie

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Nov 22, 2003
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I could swear I posted this, but I'm finding no links:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/21/AR2006092101513_pf.html

Tolerance: A Two-Way Street

By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, September 22, 2006; A17

Religious fanatics, regardless of what name they give their jealous god, invariably have one thing in common: no sense of humor. Particularly about themselves. It's hard to imagine Torquemada taking a joke well.

Today's Islamists seem to have not even a sense of irony. They fail to see the richness of the following sequence. The pope makes a reference to a 14th-century Byzantine emperor's remark about Islam imposing itself by the sword, and to protest this linking of Islam and violence:

· In the West Bank and Gaza, Muslims attack seven churches.

· In London, the ever-dependable radical Anjem Choudary tells demonstrators at Westminster Cathedral that the pope is now condemned to death.

· In Mogadishu, Somali religious leader Abubukar Hassan Malin calls on Muslims to "hunt down" the pope. The pope not being quite at hand, they do the next best thing: shoot dead, execution-style, an Italian nun who worked in a children's hospital.

"How dare you say Islam is a violent religion? I'll kill you for it" is not exactly the best way to go about refuting the charge. But of course, refuting is not the point here. The point is intimidation.

First Salman Rushdie. Then the false Newsweek report about Koran-flushing at Guantanamo Bay. Then the Danish cartoons. And now a line from a scholarly disquisition on rationalism and faith given in German at a German university by the pope.

And the intimidation succeeds: politicians bowing and scraping to the mob over the cartoons; Saturday's craven New York Times editorial telling the pope to apologize; the plague of self-censorship about anything remotely controversial about Islam -- this in a culture in which a half-naked pop star blithely stages a mock crucifixion as the highlight of her latest concert tour.

In today's world, religious sensitivity is a one-way street. The rules of the road are enforced by Islamic mobs and abjectly followed by Western media, politicians and religious leaders.

The fact is that all three monotheistic religions have in their long histories wielded the sword. The Book of Joshua is knee-deep in blood. The real Hanukkah story, so absurdly twinned (by calendric accident) with the Christian festival of peace, is about a savage insurgency and civil war.

Christianity more than matched that lurid history with the Crusades, an ecumenical blood bath that began with the slaughter of Jews in the Rhineland, a kind of preseason warm-up to the featured massacres to come against the Muslims, with the sacking of the capital of Byzantium (the Fourth Crusade) thrown in for good measure.

And Islam, of course, spread with great speed from Arabia across the Mediterranean and into Europe. It was not all benign persuasion. After all, what were Islamic armies doing at Poitiers in 732 and the gates of Vienna in 1683? Tourism?

However, the inconvenient truth is that after centuries of religious wars, Christendom long ago gave it up. It is a simple and undeniable fact that the violent purveyors of monotheistic religion today are self-proclaimed warriors for Islam who shout "God is great" as they slit the throats of infidels -- such as those of the flight crews on Sept. 11, 2001 -- and are then celebrated as heroes and martyrs.

Just one month ago, two journalists were kidnapped in Gaza and were released only after their forced conversion to Islam. Where were the protests in the Islamic world at that act -- rather than the charge -- of forced conversion?

Where is the protest over the constant stream of vilification of Christianity and Judaism issuing from the official newspapers, mosques and religious authorities of Arab nations? When Sheik 'Atiyyah Saqr issues a fatwa declaring Jews "apes and pigs"? When Sheik Abd al-Aziz Fawzan al-Fawzan, professor of Islamic law, says on Saudi TV that "someone who denies Allah, worships Christ, son of Mary, and claims that God is one-third of a trinity. . . . Don't you hate the faith of such a polytheist?"

Where are the demonstrations, where are the parliamentary resolutions, where are the demands for retraction when the Mufti Sheik Ali Gum'a incites readers of al-Ahram, the Egyptian government daily, against "the true and hideous face of the blood-suckers . . . who prepare [Passover] matzos from human blood"?

The pope gives offense and the Mujaheddin al-Shura Council in Iraq declares that it "will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the 'jizya' [head] tax; then the only thing acceptable is conversion or the sword." This to protest the accusation that Islam might be spread by the sword.

As I said. No sense of irony.
 
I don't know, something about organized religion, and humor, just doesn't go well together.

Wouldn't actually want anyone to ENJOY themselves.

Oh well, back to what I was doing...:sleep:
 
Irrefutable point, but are the rules of the road really dictated by Islamic mobs, Chuck? I'd say they're enforced by Jews like you, bucked by Islamic mobs with nothing to lose, and passively observed by the rest.
 
Well, Choudary is at it again:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2546266,00.html

UK preacher in secret web call for jihad
Abul Taher
ONE of Britain’s most vocal, extremist preachers has been using a false name on a secret website to incite Muslim followers to go on jihad, or holy war, in Somalia.

Anjem Choudary, former spokesman of the banned group Al-Muhajiroun, has posted a statement on a jihadist internet forum telling followers they must join the “divine call of jihad” in the African state.

His call in the password-protected site came days before America mounted air raids on suspected Al-Qaeda units in southern Somalia and news emerged that seven British passport holders had been captured in Somalia by Ethiopian troops.

...
 
Though they might not be as violent, Christians show outrage when their religion is satirized and criticized and made fun of.

Don’t you remember the public outcry that went out when the movie The Last Temptation of Christ was released? In fact, a French Catholic fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside a theater to protest against the film projection.

Also consider the shouts of outrage following the movie Dogma. There was more than picketing. Death threats were actually made against its director producers.
 
I don't know, something about organized religion, and humor, just doesn't go well together.

Wouldn't actually want anyone to ENJOY themselves.

Oh well, back to what I was doing...:sleep:

I disagree. We have a great sense of humor. What is the point of faith in God if you dont know how to laugh at yourself?

Besides, I think non-religious fanatics have even less of a sense of humor. Look at liberals for example.
 
I disagree. We have a great sense of humor. What is the point of faith in God if you dont know how to laugh at yourself?

Besides, I think non-religious fanatics have even less of a sense of humor. Look at liberals for example.

I agree. I think the exception is being presented as the rule.

And liberals won't even admit to being liberals when you call them one.:cool:
 
I disagree. We have a great sense of humor. What is the point of faith in God if you dont know how to laugh at yourself?

Besides, I think non-religious fanatics have even less of a sense of humor. Look at liberals for example.

Sorry Avatar, I can't here you laughing above the words of denial.

To the rest of your post, I agree.
 
Sorry Avatar, I can't here you laughing above the words of denial.

To the rest of your post, I agree.

"Denial" can mean either refusing to see the truth, or refuting an untrue allegation.

First, you would have to define "sense of humor" specifically. I would say there is a line in the sand you don't cross between humor and blasphemy.

How much sense of humor do non-religous people have when a Christian tells them they are going to Hell? Not much at all. Most explode into vicious diatribes. Obviously, a line is crossed and a raw nerve struck when pronouncing judgement upon the non-believers.

Likewise, I've seen religious people go ballistic when their religion is denigrated.

What I would point out is there is a BIG difference between taking personal offense and arguing about it, even to the point of name calling, and ganging up and going out and destroying shit, hurting people, and/or making threats against the lives of others for it.
 
Though they might not be as violent, Christians show outrage when their religion is satirized and criticized and made fun of.

Don’t you remember the public outcry that went out when the movie The Last Temptation of Christ was released? In fact, a French Catholic fundamentalist group launched Molotov cocktails inside a theater to protest against the film projection.

Also consider the shouts of outrage following the movie Dogma. There was more than picketing. Death threats were actually made against its director producers.

And don't forget "The Life of Brian". The religious right wing-nuts had a field-day with that one.
 
Drawing comparisons between supposed 'death threats', protests, etc. and what has happened regarding cartoons, plays, movies, speeches, that result in actual deaths is beneath contemptible. But as long as you do it, it seems to work for you.
 
i find it odd that self proclaimed intelligent people justify islamists killing people for their beliefs because of the actions of another group that has nothing to do with islamists.....
 

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