Forum Post: Its just cultural differences
Posted 12 years ago on Sept. 12, 2012, 7:56 a.m. EST by ericweiss
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Dictator Sadam Husein murders thousands of Iraqi Moslems.
Lybian & Egyptian Moslems do nothing.
Dictator Assad murders thousands of Syrian Moslems.
Lybian & Egyptian Moslems do nothing.
An American shows a film of a Moslem prophet
Lybian & Egyptian Moslems murder Americans
burglarize American territory and steal American property.
Its just cultural differences
I hope to hear at least a few American Moslem groups condemn this in the strongest possible terms.
It would be too much to expect Moslem governments to condemn this action.
Some Lybian leader has apologized but I'm not sure if he condemned the attacks. Probably did to some extent.
They need to determine that someone has incited the people, identify them, and charge them with inciting a riot, and misusing religion.
I'd like to know who created the film as well.
You wouldnt hear about even if they did. It doesnt fit into the plans.
The religious extremist groups seeking to get power, and get America out in Lybia, and Egypt used this 3 month old amateur film to incite their own religious extremist people to attack the embassies.
Just another example of unscrupulous leaders misusing religion to perpetrate violence & death for political ends.
Just announced: The marines are on their way to Lybia!
i dont want to post videos of how american solders murdered innocents and destroys property. come on man, people are tired of flow of bullshit which is being transmitted.
Who says "Moslem"??
Well, we can always find out if it's just cultural differences. We can make a movie about Jesus called "The False Messiah" and promote it big time in America, especially in the south, and have it funded by secular people from Egypt or Iraq or even Libya, and see if it's just cultural differences.
We can even make a movie about the Expulsion of the Hyksos identifying Moses as the murderous nephew of the expelled foreign occupier and have it promoted by Arabs in Israel among ultra-orthadox Jews around Passover time and see if the reaction is just cultural differences.
Of course, what we can't do is place southern caucasian Christian Americans and ultra-orthadox Israeli Jews under a few generations of imperialist interference from Islamic dominated countries to see how that would affect their cultural reactions. Oh well, we can't have everything when it comes to experimenting upon our fellow human beings to see if differences are merely cultural.
I mean, it's not as if there were say, a bunch of people bringing aid to Gaza and they were killed by Israelis that America and the rest of the world would just do nothing. Because that would be something entirely different...right?
Eric, I wonder if you'd be willing to qualify your comment. Do you agree that Islamophobia is a problem in the US? To what extent can we acknowledge that Islam is being used for some nasty political ends without contributing to Isalamophobia?
I'll try to be more specific. There are millions of honest, good Muslims in America and elsewhere
they deserve everything we all do.
But there is a minority that is terrifying.
They don't just want to convert people ( like Mormons & Catholics, etc )
the pope may protect pedophiles, but he does not issue fatwas
America has its maniacs like Timothy McVeigh
but killing people because of a book ???? or a picture ????
this is not a Jewish / Arab point, but it is a scary statistic: since Israel's independence,
35,000 Arabs have been killed by Jews
11,000,000 Arabs have been killed by Arabs
I wouldn't call it Islamaphobia - I'd say there are always some out there who will be extreme, it's hard to get away from them. In general Americans are ANGRY at the lack of response from the Muslims and their Imam leaders in OUR country for not PUBLICLY condemning and severing/separating themselves from the umbrella organization religious leaders in the Mid-East and Africa. I'd say we have a valid argument to that regard.
So those murders are all the fault of the U.S.?
The murdered diplomats? I don't know who did it,or why.If the people who did it were Mossad agents,I guess I would say Israel did the murders.If people who are sick of American and Zionist policies that cause continuous chaos in the Middle East did it,I guess I would have to admit that people who are sick of American and Zionist policies did the murders.All persons,should they go looking for trouble,would it not be a pity if they don't find it?
Huh? Where did I say anything like that? Do YOU think there's a problem with Islamophobia in the US?
So called Islamaphobic means dick. In this culture we have freedom of speech. Well, to a point. If Muslims have a problem with that it's their problem. And these recent events don't really have anything to do with that movie. More to do with the killing of Bin Laden.
I do love your working class vernacular. I sometimes wish I was blessed with such a lack of education. And I like the beginnings of an attempt to broaden the historical context. Do you think there might also be a little more than Bin Laden, like hundreds of years of western imperialism, including vicious CIA sponsored dictators in Egypt and Iran?
Also, I heard about this country having freedom of speech. I was asking do we have a problem with Islamophobia? Let me be clearer: Are Muslims subjected to all sorts of humiliating treatment in the US, or are they treated fairly?
Oh my! So smart! So superior!
There is no country called Lybia. There is a country called Libya.
In a statement Tuesday night, Romney said he was outraged by the attacks and the death of the American consulate worker. He added, "It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a statement released about the same time as Romney's, condemned the attack in Libya "in the strongest terms."
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," Clinton said. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."
In response to Romney, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said in an email early Wednesday, "We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Gov. Romney would choose to launch a political attack."
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This is the same knid of insanity that we have here when crazies murder doctors and blow up medical clinics.
The difference is that the number of Americans ready to go that crazy is measured in hundreds rather than millions.
The similarity us that they ALL worship a BOOK written by MAN.
very sad & very sick
It seems that video is just cover for actions that were planned long ago.
It's not like there was no warning about MB a blind man could of seen this comeing
The US is attacked by terrorists and 3,000 people were killed. Saudi Arabia was involved, but is an ally of the US and a profit centre for the top 1%, so Iraq and Afghanistan were attacked, which were turned into new profit centres for the top 1% (oil, military contracts). 250,000 to 1,000,000 people were killed (estimates differ) but at least the US did something.
Cultural differences are an interesting subject as they are causing much trouble. In the Netherlands we have had some experience with this, and politically incorrect facts have dominated the political debate for some time. Many stereotypes have some basis in reality. I worked on a 'cultural scorecard' to detect cultural tensions and their causes. It is important to note that a culture is a predisposition that makes certain behaviour more likely, but it does not mean that a person behaves like the cultural stereotype.
When troublesome behaviour can be linked to the culture of an ethnic group, this is a source of cultural conflict. Ignoring those conflicts out of a sense of political correctness, or naming it racism may backfire, as tensions can build as long as those tensions are not resolved. No culture is good or bad, but most cultures have problematic issues. The following types of behaviour can cause trouble:
Hard work and enterprise are destroying the planet. Natural resources are wasted on unnessecary items and activities. The fierce competition leaves many people out of the system. This type of behaviour is often linked to Western European and American white culture. In recent decades many other people caught on to this lifestyle, most notably the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese.
Blacks and Muslims on average have a different work ethic than Western European and American whites. If they have enough to live on, many of them will stop working. Historically their cultures prevented them from wasting natural resources on unnessecary items and activities. In an economic system based on white culture, many of them face problems competing in it and they have difficulties finding work. If they end up in welfare, and have enough to live on, they often feel a less strong incentive to work.
Historically Jews have been in the business of trade and finance, which are both rife with schemes to exploit and to deceive other people. Traders can become extremely rich by deception and the difference between trading and stealing is often obscure. It is therefore remarkable that many people in the top 1% are Jewish (Fortune 500 is 45% Jewish), while the top 1% has become rich of schemes to exploit and to deceive other people.
In recent decades a link between Islam and violence emerged. In the United States the level violent crime is higher than in Western Europe. Historically Europe has been the scene of many wars, but after World War II a spirit of cooperation ensued, which was the basis for founding the European Union. In multi cultural societies certain ethnic groups dominate crime statistics. Some cultures do not accept the rule of law as they are not familiar with the concept of government or reject it.
Not accepting other points of view has been an essential part of totalitarian systems and religions in the past. In Western European and American culture different viewpoint have been less suppressed than in other cultures. This did not always lead to favourable outcomes as the concepts of Capitalism, Communism and Nazism emerged in Western culture because it provided freedom of thought. It is safe to say that the fruits of free thought killed more people than all religions combined.
Thoughts can only be thought but they cannot be unthought. Inventions can only be invented but they cannot be uninvented. Deeds cannot be undone. Once you cross a line in knowledge or experience you cannot go back to unknowledge or unexperience. Consequently, blocking free thought is pointless as is prosecuting and killing people for thoughts. Totalitarian regimes like China try to control thought. Also in Islam there is little room for free thought.
Controlling speech is essential to systematic thought control.In the US,the right to Free Speech is part of the Bill of Rights-so other ways have had to be found to prohibit certain kinds of things from being said.The action of prohibition on certain kinds of speech is subtle,and takes place within the minds of individual people.If a person has thoughts related to Forbidden Speech,that person will refrain from speaking on the subject as they wish to avoid negative consequences for Saying That Which Must Not Be Said.A person would then unconciously try not to think those thoughts,since the thoughts in our minds have a dismaying tendency to slip out.People are very sensitive to what other people think & say about them.The whole situation surrounding what happened to people who spoke out against the Bush Wars was very interesting.Chris Hedges lost his job,Scott Ritter was smeared and ended up accused of child molestation,and members of Nashville based pop group The Dixie Chicks faced widespread censoring of their music and concerts.Another intriguing example of Forbidden Speech is the 9/11 Truth Movement,whose adherents have been smeared and marginalized.Also,any kind of discussion of race relations in the US is supressed by this type of social control which is sometimes called "political correctness."
That is why I use the phrase "less suppressed" as freedom of speech is also suppressed in the West. If you start from a neutral viewpoint, and do not think that one culture is superior, it must be possible to discuss race relations as the causes of the problems are cultural and not racial.
However, it is likely that it will open a box of Pandora, as the bigots will also come out into the open. Suppressing those feelings seems not a good idea as those tensions can better be resolved. This is the idea behind the 'cultural scorecard'.
As our friends in the Israeli Peace Movement might say:"Oy vey."