In Pakistan, a coward’s attack highlights historic struggle
Malala Yousafzai
“PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A 14-year-old Pakistani activist who won international acclaim for speaking out for girls denied education under the Taliban was shot and seriously wounded Tuesday on her way home from school, authorities said.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on ninth-grader Malala Yousafzai, who officials said was shot in the head by at least one gunman who approached a school bus in Mingora, a city in the scenic Swat valley in the country’s northwest….
Yousafzai became known in early 2009, when she wrote a diary about Taliban atrocities under a pen name for the BBC’s Urdu service. In 2011, the Pakistani government awarded her a 1 million rupee ($10,500) prize and a peace award for her bravery in raising her voice for children’s rights and girls’ education when few others in Pakistan dared to.”
What do you say about men so threatened by the mere words of a 14-year-old girl that their best and only response is to try to assassinate her? We can call them moral cretins and cowards, which they certainly are. But that doesn’t do much for young Malala, who at last report was still clinging to life. It also doesn’t do much to protect many others like her trapped in cultures that treat women as chattel, dominated by male authorities that fear education as a challenge to their own teetering authority.
It is some solace, I suppose, that their authority is indeed teetering. Like the lynchings that once marred the American South, such acts of violence against helpless victims are a sign of weakness, not strength, and in the long term they will be interpreted as such. Human cultures may be wildly diverse, but some things are true in all places and times, and grown, armed men attacking young children elicits admiration in very few. It is also important to remember that the circumstances that produced her attackers also produced Malala herself.
Like many outbursts of violence, this attack is an act of desperation, an act of vain, brutish protest against social changes that are coming too fast for many in Pakistan and elsewhere in the deep Islamic world, but much too slowly for Malala and others caught in her predicament.
The challenge for those of us outside that world is how to accelerate that process without putting lives in unnecessary danger. Tempting as it might be to some, it is not a problem that military power can set right. The changes that are necessary cannot be imposed at gunpoint any better than they can be prevented at gunpoint. They will come in time, but time that is measured not in months or even years but probably in decades.
The knowledge that in the meantime, heroines such as Malala remain vulnerable to such cowards does not make the wait any easier.
– Jay Bookman
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311 comments Add your comment
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:00 pm
It is indeed the same God. The same God who will, the Bible teaches, send people to Hell and (I believe after a time of punishment) annihilate them. The bottom line is this: neither God or we (to a much less extent) can put up or live with people who act really badly – even if they are family members or once close friends – if they don’t wish to change their ways. The God presented in the Koran (Allah) is not at all like the God presented in the Bible. Yahweh if primarily interested in people being good and righteous like him. Allah is primarily interested in people being Muslim in faith.
At some point mankind will get beyond such foolishness.
Its tough to deal with but there is no god. when you die your dead.
No magic man in the sky grants wishes ( prayers )
It may take a thousand years but someday man will move beyond his need for Religion.
For now we are stuck with the lesser educated of us who tend to cling to it.
Welcome to the Occupation
October 9th, 2012
4:01 pm
josef: “Their culture has given the world a lot and did pull Christian Europe kicking and screaming out of the Dark Ages, and then entered one of their own.”
Kind of funny how it happened that way isn’t it?
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:01 pm
Oh, Jam has been searching for McCarthies again?
Anyone want to go snipe hunting with me this weekend?
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:02 pm
“Shoot, that ain’t nutin’.
Kam would do that with one armed tied behind his back!”
Well as a matter of fact I do have it on good word from Harry Reid from an impeccable source that Kam would have done it with both arms and both legs tied behind his back and weighted down by concrete blocks all the while looking hotter than Doomy in his own tight, form fitting speedos.
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
4:03 pm
too little time — “The point is that one does not have to be an Arab to have opinions about Arabs.”
FWIW, I think you’re misinterpreting Jay’s criticism in your defense of what Towncrier had to say.
“One can certainly shoot down Towncrier’s Turk or my own opinion about Arabs, but you cannot simply dismiss all opinions about Arabs that do not originate in an Arabian country.”
Would an opinion about Arabs have more credence if Towncrier had heard it expressed in Japan, for example? I suspect you would not think so; nor would I.
I think Jay’s point was that not all countries in that region are Arab and that not all peoples in that region are, either. In particular, I’ve found that Iranians and Turks don’t care to be called ‘Arabs,’ and there certainly could be other groups in the region who don’t care for the appellation, either. Citing an opinion from a person who might well not have even *been* Arab, that opinion having been expressed in a country that’s not itself part of the Arab world — well, it strips that opinion of a great deal of its currency IMO.
Had Towncrier heard the opinion expressed on the streets of, say Dubai, UAE or Dammam, Saudi Arabia, then IMO it could have been much more impactful.
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:04 pm
“Its tough to deal with but there is no god. when you die your dead”
How do you know what happens?
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:04 pm
“For now we are stuck with the lesser educated of us who tend to cling to it.”
You almost got it right. As Obama said they cling to their guns and religion. Such an open minded president he is.
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
4:05 pm
M. Berrry — “How do you know what happens?”
How does anyone?
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:05 pm
Thulsa,
LOL – I just spit my liver and onion sandwich all over the monitor!
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:05 pm
OCCUPATION
It’s what happens when the clerical class puts a stranglehold on the secular society, A Dark Age descends and does so very rapidly and very thoroughly….
Towncrier
October 9th, 2012
4:05 pm
“There’s more murder and mayhem in the Old Testament than in any Die Hard or DOOM movie.”
Here is what I think you fail to grasp, DDR: there now is and has been a whole lot of “murder and mayhem” throughout human history. I mean, the 20th century is unbelievable in that regard. I think most westerners live in a bubble – a fantasy land. I watched the movie “Blood Diamond” just because a missionary I knew from Africa told me some stories of the unbelievable violence going on in that continent. Tribalism is a great evil. The gangs that infect our cities are really a form of tribalism.
Unlike perhaps a lot of liberals, I do not subscribe to the idea that people are inherently good. They have good within them, to be sure. But the reality is more like that depicted in novels like “Heart of Darkness” and “The Lord of the Flies”. Just imagine what America might be like if we removed (as Konrad might say) the “constraints” imposed by a widespread, well organized and armed police force.
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:06 pm
Yes. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all come from the same source. Its just the interatation that is different.
All three believe in the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve etc.
The Jews went with Moses, Islam with Abraham, and Christians with Jesus.
Jay
October 9th, 2012
4:06 pm
In other words, Towncrier, the brutal violence and mass murder ordered by the God in the Old Testament was JUSTIFIED, as opposed to the brutal violence and mass murder in the Koran.
Those Canaanites had it coming to them, right?
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:07 pm
How do you know what happens?
Common Sense.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:07 pm
CHEESY
“For now we are stuck with the lesser educated of us who tend to cling to it.”
I’m religious and while I may be far from the most educated, I would say that I don’t fall into the lesser category either.
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:08 pm
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:04 pm
“Its tough to deal with but there is no god. when you die your dead”
Sagan had a lot of interest quotes on religion. Most of them seemed negative if not critical of man made religion. But he had one interesting quote and I paraphrase “I do not think I’m so smart as to “know” that there is no God.”
We can believe that there is a God or that there isn’t a God. But we do not “know” for sure. An interesting question is what happens if you don’t believe and you’re wrong?
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:08 pm
CHEESY
All three are Abrahamic…
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:10 pm
THULSA
Which is why I maintain, like it or not, we’re all ultimately agnostics….
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:10 pm
JAY
Them and the Indians…
DebbieDoRight - Plantation Liberal (In Good Standing)
October 9th, 2012
4:11 pm
Joe: Needs a tutor to get through Remedial English and doesn’t have a degree?
Good one Joe. good one………..
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:12 pm
“I watched the movie “Blood Diamond” just because a missionary I knew from Africa told me some stories of the unbelievable violence going on in that continent.”
Life is cheap in much of the world.
“Tribalism is a great evil.”
The Tutsis agree with you. As do many other peoples too numerous to name.
JamVet
October 9th, 2012
4:15 pm
betty, open your eyes. The Tailgunner Joe scumbags are right there in front of you.
“I believe there is about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party.”
After a long pause, Alan West, R – Fl, adds that he is talking about the Congressional Progressive Caucus, a group of 76 of the more liberal Democrats in the U.S. House.
DDR, twelve one-hundredths.
Or 0.012.
That is the percentage of the US budget allocated to the outstanding, unrivaled PBS.
And Mitt the money-hider wants to eliminate it as some demented fiscally responsible maneuver???
F him. And his neofascist fans.
This brilliant man put the moron coddler’s foot in mouth syndrome in perspective:
Cutting PBS support (0.012% of budget) to help balance the Federal budget is like deleting text files to make room on your 500Gig hard drive. Neil deGrasse Tyson
getalife
October 9th, 2012
4:15 pm
“Syria Turkey Attack: NATO Ready To Defend Turkey “;
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/syria-turkey-attack-nato-ready-to-defend_n_1950694.html
wolf will toss softballs to mitt today in a interview but he should ask mitt about this issue.
They BOTH suck
October 9th, 2012
4:16 pm
“Which is why I maintain, like it or not, we’re all ultimately agnostics….”
Don’t need all of you jumping on my bandwagon.
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:16 pm
An interesting question is what happens if you don’t believe and you’re wrong?
Pascals Wager.
Not a reason for believing in something with no evidence whatsoever.
1. Man does not need religion to have morality. I’m an atheist and I know killing someone is wrong.
2. Religion is holding us back in many ways from reaching our full potential.
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:16 pm
Thulsa 4:08 – well said.
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:16 pm
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:07 pm
How do you know what happens?
Common Sense.
I guess that Cheesy is thus smarter and has more common sense than some of the smartest men of the last 500 years. It takes a special person to think that they really and truly know for sure. And I do mean “special”.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:17 pm
There’s nothing wrong with tribalism…there’s plenty wrong with what some have done in its name…
Matti
October 9th, 2012
4:18 pm
We can believe that there is a God or that there isn’t a God. But we do not “know” for sure. An interesting question is what happens if you don’t believe and you’re wrong?
Actually, I think it’s perfectly fine to believe there is a God. I do. I am but a speck in this universe, and freely admit that if I were able to fill my little head with all the knowledge it could hold, I still would not understand but a tiny percentage of a fraction of the knowledge that exists. It’s not a stretch to believe in something much greater than myself.
That being said, those of you who believe in God AND claim to know what He/She thinks, wants, or wants ME to do…. well, you’re just full of shizz. You’re just as tiny as I am, and all your yammering won’t make you any better. So…. *ppppbbbbblllllllpppppppppt!*
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:18 pm
Just imagine what America might be like if we removed (as Konrad might say) the “constraints” imposed by a widespread, well organized and armed police force.
The police in the UK aren’t armed.
They are pretty civilized.
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:19 pm
Cheesy, from a scientific standpoint, where does your energy go?
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:19 pm
I guess that Cheesy is thus smarter and has more common sense than some of the smartest men of the last 500 years. It takes a special person to think that they really and truly know for sure. And I do mean “special”.
Thank you.
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:20 pm
Cheesy, from a scientific standpoint, where does your energy go?
Why floating up to heaven of course.
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:21 pm
JamVet 4:15 – I’m just ribbing you a little bit.
I know there are one or two out there!
DebbieDoRight - Plantation Liberal (In Good Standing)
October 9th, 2012
4:21 pm
The Jews went with Moses, Islam with Abraham, and Christians with Jesus
In school, Catholic/private, one of my teachers introduced a reason as to why there is conflict between the Jews and the Muslim/Arab/Egyptian.
Sister Agnes stated it stemmed from the tragic story of Hagar, Abraham and Sarah.
If you know the story, I won’t get into it again, but basically when Abraham thew Hagar and his son out into the desert with only a little water and food; Hagar prayed to deliverance from Jehovah, who saved her, and asked for retribution for her and her son against Abraham.
The retribution, in short, is the constant warfare and strife between the two peoples that last still and until Abraham, (the father of Israel), apologizes and makes amends to Hagar, (Egypt/Arab/Muslim), the strife will continue forever.
I’ve got to look up the verse she was quoting/lecturing from — but according to her, that is the cause and root of the distrust and hatred towards the two races.
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:22 pm
Cheesy: “Why floating up to heaven of course.”
I said “scientifc” Einstein.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:23 pm
So, CHEESY
What’s your take on Maimonides?
BOTH
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:24 pm
2. Religion is holding us back in many ways from reaching our full potential.
Surprised no one called me out on this one.
Had an answer ready to go.
Here it is.
Ever notice how the schools in your community are crumbling. Yet there is a sparkling new Church on every corner. Especially in the South. Even Mega churches.
Imagine if that money were used for something useful. Like Science and the Arts.
One day it will.
By then we will all be dust or “energy” lol floating around somewhere.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:25 pm
DDR
Have you read Bruce Feiler on all that? If not, I recommend him highly…
Towncrier
October 9th, 2012
4:25 pm
“In other words, Towncrier, the brutal violence and mass murder ordered by the God in the Old Testament was JUSTIFIED, as opposed to the brutal violence and mass murder in the Koran. Those Canaanites had it coming to them, right?”
I hope you are NOT saying that wrongdoing should go unpunished – that someone like Jerry Sandusky should be relaxing in his home right now. If there is a God, I think the punishment of all wrongdoing is justified (in a godless universe, I would say nothing is consequential and morals are meaningless like everything else). According to the Bible, God is the one who instituted the death penalty (though He didn’t ordain death so much as He removed the means of us all living forever). And, according to the Bible, He applied it to His own sinless son. We also all pay for the sins of others. We all die because of Adam’s sin. And just because (hypothetically) an innocent little baby dies because his mother was a crack addict or from physical abuse does not mean that baby will not be in heaven and live forever. Indeed, I suspect probably all of the Canaanite children killed by the Jews will be there too. Allowing some of the Canaanites and their children to live (as the Jews actually did) was to perpetuate an interminable ethic conflict that we see to this day. But let me again impress upon you that up until the last moment, the Canaanites could have repented from their wickedness and have been spared (like the prostitute Rahab did and the Ninevites did).
That said, I think your quarrel is not with me.
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
4:25 pm
Doom — “An interesting question is what happens if you don’t believe and you’re wrong?”
An even more interesting question is what happens if you *do* believe and you’re *still* wrong.
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:25 pm
“Actually, I think it’s perfectly fine to believe there is a God. I do. I am but a speck in this universe, and freely admit that if I were able to fill my little head with all the knowledge it could hold, I still would not understand but a tiny percentage of a fraction of the knowledge that exists. It’s not a stretch to believe in something much greater than myself.”
Very nicely written Matti. Very nice.
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:27 pm
“The police in the UK aren’t armed.
They are pretty civilized.”
Hey, I hear they are looking for a new Police Chief in Chicago.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:27 pm
CHEESY
Why challenge you on that. It’s factual. Then you go on in the explantion that no one asked for the exhibit your own limited perspective…the Mega churches are there from sea to shining sea, the South has no market cornered there…
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:28 pm
If there is no G-d, then I’ve lost nothing. If there is, then I bet on the winning team.
barking frog
October 9th, 2012
4:29 pm
We do know that when we
die our bodies stop growing
and decay. All the rest is
supposition or superstition.
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:29 pm
Either way gotta go. Getting busy at work.
Have fun.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:29 pm
MATTI
Well put, a thumbs up from the Amen Corner…
Matti
October 9th, 2012
4:30 pm
Thulsa,
Thank you. I notice that you cherry picked, though, and left out the part where I explain that you don’t/can’t possibly know any more about God than I do, and is therefore full of it when trying to tell others what to think or do based on “God says” non-logic.
DebbieDoRight - Plantation Liberal (In Good Standing)
October 9th, 2012
4:30 pm
Jam: Or 0.012. That is the percentage of the US budget allocated to the outstanding, unrivaled PBS. And Mitt the money-hider wants to eliminate it as some demented fiscally responsible maneuver???
F him. And his neofascist fans.
Couldn’t have put it better Jam. You sir, are as mighty a wordsmith as our dearly departed Shakespeare!!
josef: Never read him — but now that you’ve hipped me to him, nerd that I am, (I just LOVE research!), I’m going to google him, Amazon him, and buy ALL his books.
You always stimulate my mind. If it wasn’t for Unmentionable, I’d grab you up in a minute!!
barking frog
October 9th, 2012
4:31 pm
josef
a great deal depends on
the price of the bet.
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
4:31 pm
Towncrier — ” (in a godless universe, I would say nothing is consequential and morals are meaningless like everything else)”
I would say that many atheists would disagree with you.
Towncrier
October 9th, 2012
4:31 pm
“Man does not need religion to have morality. I’m an atheist and I know killing someone is wrong.”
If there is no God, why is is wrong? Animals kill all of the time without compunction. If we are just an animal, why not? Cannibals have killed also without compunction. Why are they wrong and you right?
getalife
October 9th, 2012
4:32 pm
Debbie just cured the gay
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:33 pm
“An even more interesting question is what happens if you *do* believe and you’re *still* wrong’.
Joe mama,
Nothing. You just become a pile of dust according to the atheists that I’ve known.
But if you’re an atheist and you’re wrong then you’ve got a judgement to deal with. Just sayin…
Towncrier
October 9th, 2012
4:36 pm
“I would say that many atheists would disagree with you.”
Many have. Please tell me what you (if you are an atheist) think is consequential in a world that – through global warming, a nuclear war, some unknown and horrible disease, being stuck by an asteroid and so on – could end in the next 100 years, leaving nothing but matter. Why would it matter if I helped old ladies across the street or axe murdered them? Solomon makes something of the same argument (in a world where there is God!) in Ecclesiastes.
They BOTH suck
October 9th, 2012
4:37 pm
“But if you’re an atheist and you’re wrong then you’ve got a judgement to deal with. Just sayin…”
Judgment from whom? Your interpretation of your Christian God?
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
4:37 pm
Towncrier — “If we are just an animal, why not?”
Where’d that come from?
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:38 pm
FROG
Well, if we go G-d and not dogma, it’s not a high price…
getalife
October 9th, 2012
4:38 pm
“If there is no G-d, then I’ve lost nothing. If there is, then I bet on the winning team”
I remember them coming in the room to pray before surgery, it made me more nervous because it was like reading my last rights.
DebbieDoRight - Plantation Liberal (In Good Standing)
October 9th, 2012
4:39 pm
getalfie: Debbie just cured the gay
Ha.Ha. Very funny! josef has a way of looking at a problem or equation differently that is very “enticing” to me. I LOVE brains — I think I love brains more than I love men with muscles………………it’s a close tie.
Anyway, in describing josef i would have to give you a “for instance” statement.
For instance — we may look at a blue cloth and just see a blue cloth — josef will see the yellow, the green, the cotton, and the tag that says, “Made In China”. For me, that quality he has is very…………………….intriguing.
Towncrier
October 9th, 2012
4:39 pm
“I notice that you cherry picked, though, and left out the part where I explain that you don’t/can’t possibly know any more about God than I do, and is therefore full of it when trying to tell others what to think or do based on “God says” non-logic.”
That is, of course, assuming that no religious text is a communication from God. Otherwise, what you say would be false.
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:39 pm
“I notice that you cherry picked, though, and left out the part where I explain that you don’t/can’t possibly know any more about God than I do, and is therefore full of it when trying to tell others what to think or do based on “God says” non-logic”.
Matti,
I did not say that I know more about God than you do. Where did you come up with that? And I’m not preaching to others about what God says to think or do. That’s up to them to find out.
I do think that the Bible gives us clear guidance on many things when read correctly. Unfortunately I also think the Bible is the most misinterpreted document of all time.
They BOTH suck
October 9th, 2012
4:40 pm
getalife
I’m agnostic, but something worked……..
Matti
October 9th, 2012
4:40 pm
Since souls allegedly last forever, and bodies are clearly temporary, I’m sorta leaning toward reincarnation. You know, recycling. I feel like I must have been a man in my previous life. This womanhood thing is punishment for selfish, insensitive, chauvinistic behavior last time around. Totally.
(Makes just a much sense as any other explanation. Here’s a song:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7X5js1vE
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:40 pm
DDR
Nyanh…you just want the boa in the divorce settlement…
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
4:41 pm
Doom — “Joe mama, Nothing. You just become a pile of dust according to the atheists that I’ve known.”
You’ve misinterpreted what I said. What if there is a god and you were a theist, but you either believed in the *wrong* god or adhered to the *wrong* faith? What then?
Pascal maintained that his wager was binary; that you either believed or not and that god either existed or not. But who’s to say that his wager isn’t more like a roulette wheel — in which you have to adhere to the *correct* belief system/faith in order to ‘win.’ In that case, theists are in the same position as atheists — no one knows who’s right and who’s wrong. And even the faithful can be incorrect.
“But if you’re an atheist and you’re wrong then you’ve got a judgement to deal with. Just sayin…”
Shrug. If the ‘right’ faith happens to be Shinto or Zoroastrianism, so do you.
DebbieDoRight - Plantation Liberal (In Good Standing)
October 9th, 2012
4:42 pm
I remember them coming in the room to pray before surgery, it made me more nervous because it was like reading my last rights.
Too funny!!
PS: They should’ve prayed for LSU — just saying…………
Mary Elizabeth
October 9th, 2012
4:43 pm
That Black Guy, 3:47 pm
“This is a tragic story about a courageous young lady who dared speak out about the treatment she and others face in HER country.” (Specifically, about the treatment and perceptions of women in her country.)
——————————————————————
I agree with your post.
getalife
October 9th, 2012
4:43 pm
Both,
“If I die before I sleep, pray the Lord my soul to keep.”
I repeated this in my mind a hundred time before they put me to sleep just in case.
Matti
October 9th, 2012
4:44 pm
Thulsa,
Didn’t mean to imply. I meant “you” in a general sense of people who do that, as per my first post on the subject. It was kind of the most important part of what I said. I could well be an idiot for believing there’s something bigger out there. I’m certainly no genius if I’m right. I don’t believe it matters what I believe. I don’t believe God’s feelings are affected one way or another by our insignificant little thoughts.
They BOTH suck
October 9th, 2012
4:44 pm
JHM @ 4:41
Agreed
moonbat betty
October 9th, 2012
4:44 pm
“I remember them coming in the room to pray before surgery, it made me more nervous because it was like reading my last rights.”
Serious question, getalife:
Do you think a near death experience expands or diminshes faith in a higher power (or has no effect)?
DebbieDoRight - Plantation Liberal (In Good Standing)
October 9th, 2012
4:45 pm
I feel like I must have been a man in my previous life. This womanhood thing is punishment for selfish, insensitive, chauvinistic behavior last time around. Totally.
Ha! I feel the OPPOSITE Matti!! I feel I must’ve gotten something right in a past life, because this time around, I get a chance to be a woman!
josef — You caught me!! Can’t fool you for a minute!
getalife
October 9th, 2012
4:45 pm
“PS: They should’ve prayed for LSU — just saying”
Ouch, Florida and South Carolina are good teams this year.
Any team but Alabama.
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
4:46 pm
Towncrier — “Please tell me what you (if you are an atheist) think is consequential in a world that – through global warming, a nuclear war, some unknown and horrible disease, being stuck by an asteroid and so on – could end in the next 100 years, leaving nothing but matter.”
The here and now. If disaster comes, it comes. But I’m not going to live the one life I have cowering in a corner in fear of what might happen.
“Why would it matter if I helped old ladies across the street or axe murdered them?”
If one doesn’t want to *fall victim* to such a society, then one shouldn’t *perpetuate* such a society. If you’d prefer to live in a society in which the elderly are helped across the street and not killed with axes, then it would behoove you to help them across the street and not murder them with axes.
You might call it enlightened self-interest, but in the end, it’s just as good as religious altruism for advancing a society.
Jay
October 9th, 2012
4:46 pm
sheets
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:46 pm
One of the good things about the MOT thing is that it does not deny the afterlife, nor does it say there is. It’s a matter of choice/belief/faith whether to believe it or not. Our concern, though, is to live our lives in pursuit of justice in human terms. The Day of Judgment is metaphoric in many ways for the final day’s stock-taking of “did you treat others justly and did you leave the world a better place for having past through.”
getalife
October 9th, 2012
4:47 pm
“Do you think a near death experience expands or diminshes faith in a higher power (or has no effect)?”
Good question.
It depends if you see the light.
Georgia
October 9th, 2012
4:48 pm
Was the shooting inspired by Sharia Law?
DebbieDoRight - Plantation Liberal (In Good Standing)
October 9th, 2012
4:48 pm
— in which you have to adhere to the *correct* belief system/faith in order to ‘win.’ In that case, theists are in the same position as atheists — no one knows who’s right and who’s wrong. And even the faithful can be incorrect.
Good point.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. — Matthew 7:13
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
October 9th, 2012
4:48 pm
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/09/14316083-1-in-5-americans-is-religiously-unaffiliated-survey-shows?lite
Just to piggy back on what I was talking about earlier.
And the numbers are only growing as shown by the generational change.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:49 pm
moonbat
I know you asked getalife…but in my case it enhanced it….
DDR
getalife
October 9th, 2012
4:52 pm
moonbat,
Yes, josef saw the light but I did not.
To me, it was deep sleep that I did not want to wake up because there was no pain.
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
4:53 pm
Matti,
Okay. You were speaking generally when you said “you”. I hear ya. We may be on opposite sides of the political spectrum but I do agree with you on that. But while I agree with you I also think that many people abuse and make the Bible adapt to their particular views or to the particular social mores of the day. JMHO of course and I sure as hell don’t have all the answers. I just know that the bible is constantly abused whether it be by David Koresh, the Spanish Inquisition, or whatever. I just hope people don’t confuse the evils of man made organized religion with a belief in God.
“I don’t believe it matters what I believe. I don’t believe God’s feelings are affected one way or another by our insignificant little thoughts.”
Well if there is a loving God then I think it does matter what you or I or anyone else believes. And if he is a God that loves you and if he is omniscient and all that then your and my little insignificant thoughts are important after all. Just little ole Doomy’s humble opinion anyway.
Matti
October 9th, 2012
4:54 pm
I guess I didn’t get near enough. DANG those doctors! Why didn’t they let me go?
Towncrier
October 9th, 2012
4:56 pm
“The here and now. If disaster comes, it comes. But I’m not going to live the one life I have cowering in a corner in fear of what might happen.”
Who said anything about fear? I was speaking philosophically. What did Camus start of saying in The Myth of Sisyphus? The first philosophic question is suicide. What does he and Nietzsche say we shouldn’t? Because we should be “strong” in the face of nothingness.
“If one doesn’t want to *fall victim* to such a society, then one shouldn’t *perpetuate* such a society. If you’d prefer to live in a society in which the elderly are helped across the street and not killed with axes, then it would behoove you to help them across the street and not murder them with axes….You might call it enlightened self-interest, but in the end, it’s just as good as religious altruism for advancing a society.”
I would say neither appears to be working real well presently (or ever really). Konrad is still right, in my opinion.
Matti
October 9th, 2012
4:56 pm
“And if he is a God that loves you and if he is omniscient and all that then your and my little insignificant thoughts are important after all.”
Wouldn’t we all be happier if we could believe that? I know I would. Wishin’ don’t make it so.
josef
October 9th, 2012
4:59 pm
Meanwhile in the much maligned Magnolia State…shoo-eee me and Unmentionable together ought to get ours free!
http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20121009/NEWS/310090043/Dining-discounts-offered-in-October-for-Mississippi-s-Racial-Reconciliation-Month?sour
Unbelievably out of touch and delusional
October 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
Obama apparently thought he won the debate
Realclearpolitics.com
getalife
October 9th, 2012
5:00 pm
Matti,
It is the doctors and nurses that bring you back.
The look on their faces was relief and happiness.
I had no idea what happened until they told me.
Don't Forget
October 9th, 2012
5:03 pm
Animals kill all of the time without compunction. If we are just an animal, why not?
We are not “just an animal”. We have knowledge and reason. That is plenty to justify laws that protect individuals from killing an all sorts of other harm.
getalife
October 9th, 2012
5:05 pm
josef,
That read like the Onion.
At least give a 50% discount.
Thulsa Doom
October 9th, 2012
5:05 pm
Matti,
I know lots of people who have a firm belief in God. And what I do notice for the most part is that many of them have a calmness about them even in times of great adversity such as cancer. Your belief in the good Lord is up to you- its what you or I make of it. Personally, I’ve got a lot of shyte to atone for myself and some penance to do. Not to mention changing some things to get to that state. It aint easy and it don’t happen overnight.
hiram
October 9th, 2012
5:06 pm
Religion has a huge negative impact on everyone and most living things on our little planet. Look at how much of our finite resources are wasted because of religion. The Easter Islands are a precursor to where we are headed. The inhabitants destroyed all of the vegetation on the island in the process of building their stupid statues to fullfil some made up religious nonesense that envolved who had the most statues. The result was that they almost starved, because they didn’t have any trees left to build boats, so they had to make a living off of what they could scavenger along the island’s shoreline. Religion is a form of insantity, period – it doesn’t warrant a discussion.
Joe Hussein Mama
October 9th, 2012
5:08 pm
Towncrier — “Who said anything about fear?”
“I would say neither appears to be working real well presently”
You asked me what I thought; I answered you honestly and forthrightly.
Matti
October 9th, 2012
5:10 pm
getalife,
I wasn’t that near. You didn’t see lights or tunnels or grandmas or anything? Are our DOGS waiting for us? That’s what everyone really wants to know!
getalife
October 9th, 2012
5:12 pm
“Are our DOGS waiting for us? That’s what everyone really wants to know!”
That would be great
hiram
October 9th, 2012
5:15 pm
Man’s inability to distinguish between what is real and what is imaginary will be the ultimate downfall of our species. It seems ridiculous, but it is true.
hiram
October 9th, 2012
5:17 pm
@ getalife
Yeah, your dogs will be waiting, and so will Elvis. If you can imagine it, then it will happen…