What do you think about this video on Islam?

[S.A.M.]

I object you being so picky, even if you lived in a country you can't accurately speak for it.

I would say that having lived there and travelled and learned the language, I can speak with more authority than an armchair admirer of robert spencer and daniel pipes [both in themselves people who are "experts" that do not know the language or have spent any time in the region].

You can actually see the obstuseness in questions like:

Do you object to Middle Eastern monoculture?

Ignorance is not a point of view.

 

[GeoffP]

I object to people who have never been to the Middle East and know absolutely nothing about it having an opinion on its culture.

PS. Pakistan and Iran are not the Middle East.

Very well: islamic culture, if you prefer, rather than Middle Eastern per se. But since that's your criterion - religion - above, you can hardly call the question ignorant, nor recuse yourself simply because you've travelled in it, unless you care to refute the field of statistics altogether. Where is the religious diversity? Then again, I suppose there's some where you are now. May it always be so.

 

[S.A.M.]

Very well: islamic culture, if you prefer, Where is the religious diversity? .

:roflmao:

 

[GeoffP]

Ah! Different grades of the same, you must be implying.

Er...how is that different, again? Or put another way: if we don't just fancy a different kind of orange, can we not get an apple? If not, why not? A weighty issue. I'm sure you have an emoticon for it. Say, head banging against a wall? That usually serves when one doesn't have an answer for something complex.

 

[S.A.M.]

You do realise that what you call Islamic culture is the original Judeo-Christian culture?

That modern western "civilisation" [which is ready for yet another bout of ethnic cleansing if the rightward anti-immigrant shift is any indication], is not religiously diverse, because it has no religion? Its more Greco-Roman than anything else.

 

[GeoffP]

You do realise that what you call Islamic culture is the original Judeo-Christian culture?

I suppose that if it were, I could call it that. Your supposition is only obstructed by two things: i) reality, and ii) the relevance of any of that.

That modern western "civilisation" [which is ready for yet another bout of ethnic cleansing if the rightward anti-immigrant shift is any indication], is not religiously diverse, because it has no religion?

Wow. That was staggeringly wrong. Also, those who live in already-shattered glass houses...well.

Its more Greco-Roman than anything else.

That one too. Where do you come up with these? Fascinating stuff.

 

[GeoffP]

I forgot to mention: I don't really follow Daniel Pipes' writings, to be honest. Nor do I agree with Spencer uniformly either. It's an odd thing: I use my own judgement. It can be done, you know.

Strangely, I wouldn't accuse Sam of lip-synching robotically to the crazy beats coming out of some of the less-enlightened types at al-Ahzar, but there we are.

 

[S.A.M.]

Yeah the blond blue eyed Jesus in the toga is the Real Jesus™

Feel free to show that Christianity or Judaism is not Middle Eastern in culture and is indeed Greco-Roman.

lip-synching robotically to the crazy beats coming out of some of less-enlightened types at al-Ahzar

Name one. Just one. With a link to where I have done the above.

 

[GeoffP]

Yeah the blond blue eyed Jesus in the toga is the Real Jesus™

Er...and why would you think this?

Actually this raises another question: kind of a who cares, really? sort of thing. Jesus was Jewish, which is to say he probably looked Occidental Jewish. Not a shocker, exactly. But then again - does it matter anyway? Some African-American churches used to portray him as black. That was crap too, but does it hurt anyone?

Feel free to show that Christianity or Judaism is not Middle Eastern in culture and is indeed Greco-Roman.

Actually it's both. And - speaking of the Middle East and the whole Greco-Roman world - in one of these worlds it's permitted, and in another it's treated as a dangerous, traitorous meme that deserves to be savagely suppressed until it's extinguished.

Two guesses which one!

This relates back to your point about the original culture of the region and so forth.

Name one. Just one. With a link to where I have done the above.

Frankly, I'm not even sure you've taken up lip-synching. Although it is very au mode these days - even "Air Sex" has become (horrifyingly) some kind of karaoke for the socially disinclined. However, you will note the actual phrasing used in my comment:

Strangely, I wouldn't accuse Sam of lip-synching robotically to the crazy beats coming out of some of the less-enlightened types at al-Ahzar, but there we are.

"Wouldn't". As in: would not. As in: I don't. Do not. I wouldn't accuse you of doing that, because I think it would be silly. I was having a poke at your attaching me to Daniel Pipes. Chill.

Anyway, as I was saying there: I actually don't read him. Well, once or twice maybe; a good three years ago at least. Nor do I agree with Rob Spencer on everything either. I think he's a bit too suspicious at times, verging even to being occasionally slightly paranoid. Still, even I'm a bit paranoid at times - yes, yes, shocked as you are to notice it. Can't always be avoided.