Muslims Assault U.S. Embassy in Indonesia

[KB9YCO]

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad tried to storm the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, smashing the windows of a guard post but failing to push through the gates. Several people were injured... (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060219/ap_on_re_as/prophet_drawings)

I just don't get it, a Danish paper prints one stupid picture, a few other papers in Europe print it as well, and they attack the U.S. embassy? I know it's part of a larger issue (and an image of us as aggresors against Muslims that our current administration hasn't probably done much to help change by some of their actions) but now it's getting to the point where America is to blame for everything?

Just another reason for me to absolutely abhor organized religion in all it's forms, be it Muslim, Christian or anytyhing else. Religion once again proving that it causes more problems than it solves and fostering intolerance and a cut and dried view of life and the world.

A personal philosophy or faith is one thing, but this notion of always being right based on one religion is ridiculous, not to mention hypocritical since most religious texts preach tolerance.

Organized religion practiced in it's extremist form is the leading cause of death, war and hatred for as far back as written history has recorded. Religious zealots need to start killing each other instead of killing everyone else.

RELIGION IS THE PROBLEM, NOT THE SOLUTION. Just my perhaps not so humble opinion, but I sure am tired of religious pomposity and intolerance that is far too popular these days.

[al2i]

I do not abhor Christians, Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, or any other religion that does not abhor me.

[KB9YCO]

Quote[/b] (al2i @ Feb. 19 2006,15:53)]I do not abhor Christians, Mormons, Buddhists, Hindus, or any other religion that does not abhor me.
Agreed, that's why I made the differentiation of 'organized' religion, used as a political force more so than a personal philosophy of life to live by. Though I am personally not religious in any way I don't begrudge anyone their right to believe as they choose to believe, with the exception of when it effects others negatively, which unfortunately is far too often these days as in the case of these extremist Muslims. There are plenty of examples from other so-called 'faiths' as well, that have little to do with religion and more to do with power, money, intolerance, societal divisions, misunderstandings, stereotypes, etc., etc...

[al2i]

Most Christians, Jews, and Mormons I know are more tolerant than my atheist comrades, despite a lot of heavy press to the contrary. I do not personally know many others.

[ae4fa]

Quote[/b] ]Religious zealots need to start killing each other instead of killing everyone else.
Actually, they have started. So far, more than 30 have been killed in these demonstrations of abject stupidity - and scores have been injured.

[N9XR]

Iran calls for End in Violent Protests (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3671828.html)

[KB9YCO]

Quote[/b] (ae4fa @ Feb. 20 2006,08:11)]Quote[/b] ]Religious zealots need to start killing each other instead of killing everyone else.
Actually, they have started. #So far, more than 30 have been killed in these demonstrations of abject stupidity - and scores have been injured.
The problem with that is that they inevitably take innocent people with them, we need a good religious war with no collateral damage, which is of course an impossibility, but I can dream.
Really, what needs to be done is for people to wake up and get over their hardline mythology worshipping instead of more killing. If people spent all the time and energy on common sense and logic that they do on extremist religious doctrines and activities then maybe something would get done. But again, I can only dream since the brainwashing tactics employed by most hardcore organized religions are far too prevelant and also help some governments to keep their people ignorant and kowtowing to the powers that be.

[n0ov]

Brett

I believe what we are seeing is classic Mob behavior. A few leaders get a large group of folks stirred up and before you know it any sense of accountability gets lost. Protests evolve from peaceful, to spirited, to hostile and that is when the damage gets done.

I believe one of the skills our enemies have mastered is the ability to use group think to motivate mob behavior to ensure maximum visibility in the press -- meeting a tactical objective of unconventional warfare.

Nice to know the media is doing their part. They know all they have to do is flash that picture and it's good for 5 or 10 more spots in the evening news.

[n4dmx]

IMHO, this comes from a lack of a sense of humor due to the females in the region not being allowed to show any skin. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

Seriously, it's a cartoon for <insert deity here>'s sake.

[K3XR]

Might this be a factor:

This month former VP Al (forrest gump) Gore was in Saudi Arabia for an event sponsored, in part, by the Bin Laden Family where he criticized the US for being too tough on Arabs.

Former Pres. Bill (slick willie) Clinton, on Friday, said it was a mistake to publish the cartoons. #No reaction could be found from his freedom of speech, freedom of the press, ACLU fans.

[n0jaa]

It is because Muslims are intolerant. If you insult their religion, they'll call you an infidel and kill you (or try).

All religions have some degree of intolerance, but the Muslims are the most intolerant of all. They consider all other religions to be blasphemous.

I wonder... what is more blasphemous than thinking someone will receive 72 virgins when they die?


Paul, N0JAA.

[KD6NIG]

Honestly its not the religion, although they are using that purpose right now.

Humans have used odd reasons to riot, kill, attack, for ages. A good portion of them are related to religion, yes, but there have been other incidences of violence too because of the acts of others:

Rodney King Riots in LA
Looting and thrashing of a few towns after wins (or losses) of soccer, basketball, or other sports games.

Those are just 2 examples, I can probably come up with more if given a chance.

I wouldn't totally blame religion for every riot or situation like this. The bottom line is, people believe that if they have some sort of justification, be it religion, or because thier sports team lost and they are drunk, or whatever, they think they have the right to go out and damage property, hurt people, etc. But if you went to thier houses and did the same thing, they would be screaming about it.

Yeah, they are definetely way beyond normal rioters, but to say that every fanatical act in this world had a religious basis is wrong too. Alcohol and other drugs play thier role in all kinds of wacky behavior. The scary thing is, we also see some bizarre behavior from people who are stone cold sober, so whats thier excuse?

I can understand being offended, fine, but the things we're seeing now would be like my neighbor chucking his dogs excrement into my yard, and then I go and beat him up for it instead of at least trying in some civilized manner to get him to stop, and then going to the proper authorities instead of taking the law into my own hands.

But yeah, its nice to see how the other humans react. Most of us react with shaking heads that these people are nuts to be doing what they are doing, but then you have that small splinter of society thats at the base of the fire, fanning the flames. Makes you wonder what logic base they came from, eh?

[W2ILP]

Victor Borge was a famous DANISH pianist and comedian.
He made fun of classical music ,even though he himself could play it well.
He made fun of old people, even when he was old.
He made fun of Jews, even though he was Jewish.
Nobody protested.
I wonder what would have happened if Victor Borge was a Muslim?http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

I think that the Muslims could get even on the Danish cartoonists if they made a cartoon showing the Danes, who made the cartoons, making the cartoons. Then the Danes could get even by making a cartoon showing the Muslims making that cartoon. Like religious terrorism...this could go on forever...but without killing anybody.

Charlie Chaplin stared in a movie, where he played a dual role. He played the part of Adolph Hitler and he also played a Jew who was persecuted by the Nazis.
This was IMHO ingenius...because it showed that both were pathetic. What the Danish cartoonists needed to do was to show both Bush and Mohammad with bombs in their heads. This would have been a fairer picture or the causes of the present situation.

I read that Muslims weren't against making pictures of Mohammad, until recently when many learned to read the Koran. Before that what they didn't know didn't hurt them and many Muslims actually made a living by modeling for oil paintings of Mohammad. How did they know what Mohammad was supposed to look like? There were no cameras 1500 years ago when he lived. Somebody must have painted his picture or nobody would know what he looked like. There is no shroud of Mohammad as far as I know, so he wasn't painted by accident.
A picture is worth a thousand words...but a cartoon of Mohammad may be worth a billion protests. Go figure.

w2ilp (Inequality Leads Protesters)

[W2ILP]

I was just thinking about this situation again...
Nobody knows what Moses looked like....same as Mohammad.
This might be a good thing.
If someone publishes a silly picture of Moses even the most Orthodox Jews can save face by saying that they didn't recognize him. Nope... The picture of Moses deviously chiseling his own commandments was not really Moses, it was an impostor.

w2ilp (Images Lack Persuasion)

[K0RGR]

Not to defend the bizarre factions at all, but one thing most of here don't realize is that pictures we've seen published in the west are not the same ones the Muslims are seeing. Radical imams took the fairly innocent Danish cartoons and added some of their own, which were patently offensive, in order to fan the flames. One depicts Mohammad fornicating with a dog, for example.

The truth of those picture's origins needs to be documented and broadcast throughout the Muslim world. The 'Arab street' has been duped, and so have we. We just assume that they are all lunatics, while they assume that we are deliberately insulting The Prophet, when in fact, it is just a bunch of Bin Laden's good buddies stirring up more anger in the world.

[KG4CGC]

To the poster that said that Muslims are most intolerant of all. I personally know of a Christian sect that practices the level of intolerance that the Muslim extremists do. The only difference is that here in America, they are well aware of the fact that it is much more difficult to get away with murder.
In many of the countries that practice Wahabism, killing your neighbor is an everyday thing and is even expected, lest you be thought of as less than a man in their society. YMMV.

[WB2WIK]

There are likely more muslim extremists than any other religious group, but religion in and of itself breeds extremism by the way it's been taught for centuries.

Every religion I've encountered even peripherally thinks it's best, everyone else is to be pitied, and the best thing to do is spread the good word about how great it is.

Doesn't that make them all ridiculous?

The actor/wrestler "Mr. T" used to say, in his younger days, "I pity the fool..." (the unsaid part was, "who gets in my way"). I believe the four spoken words were just perfect, but should be followed by "who is part of any organized religion."

[ac4ut]

Quote[/b] (K3XR @ Feb. 20 2006,11:44)]Might this be a factor:

This month former VP Al (forrest gump) Gore was in Saudi Arabia for an event sponsored, in part, by the Bin Laden Family where he criticized the US for being too tough on Arabs.

Former Pres. Bill (slick willie) Clinton, on Friday, said it was a mistake to publish the cartoons. #No reaction could be found from his freedom of speech, freedom of the press, ACLU fans.
You should not be making fun of our home town boy Al from Tennessee.
That's my job!