I did not wake up with any bizarreness in the middle of the night last night. I also had rice with terriyaki sauce for dinner, which Patty had to make because I have not yet mastered rice, because anything else seemed too challenging. On the other hand, now I am cured.
Yay, thing that was fucked up with new lease is now unfucked up. Although management company person on speaker phone, with music playing, filing your nails (yes, I could hear the emery board), you completely suck.
There was also an incident this morning involving city inspectors and a caulking gun.
Everything I hear about Torchwood S4 is making me so excited. Yesterday's big news, at least in my book, is that it will be taking place 2 years after the events of CoE. We're not sure if that means Ianto and Steven's deaths, or when Jack takes off from earth six months later. But it's a really compelling amount of time to me either way, in terms of where Jack's head is going to be, and is really a random piece of info I've felt those of us who want to be writing speculative S4 fic really, really need. I am all over this detail. ALL OVER IT.
Last night on Buffy: It's the apocalypse sex episode! Hey, own your tropes. Also, jeez, how is Spike the only grownup around? And really, King ARthur? The sword in the stone, really? What's most ridiculous is the degree to which it works, at least in the moment of watching.
See again you are wrong, but insist on painting me into something I am not.
Islam was used as part of the Bin Laden/Al Qaeda/Wahabbi "inspiration". If you have any doubts, read this : http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html If you can read that and tell me that it is not related at all to Islam .. well , I'd like to hear how that could be.
If I was biased against Islam I would not be constantly saying that the religion is bearing the burden of it's extremists, and that they bring down the religion as a whole. I would simply say that they are all evil and so on... and clearly that's not what I am saying. I also have said on multiple occasions that I have peacefully lived next to Mosque, and interacted with the people therein. I also have mentioned that I have friends who follow Islam. I have not said anything against them. Your statement of me being biased is without basis.
Islam was used, and in the opinions of some was misrepresented, by Bin Laden in declaring a fatwa against the United States. That's not bias, just read the statement as linked above.
Now , to some people the mere presence of a Mosque makes them think of this - and while that is a byproduct of fear, there is some basis to that fear. This reduces their comfort level. On the other hand there are people who would be uncomfortable having a Catholic Church next to a day care center. while this is extreme, it's not unfounded.
Instead of looking at this objectively, it's much easier to slap a racist/Islamiphobic sticker on someone and condemn them, and move on to the next person. This is very similar to McCarthyisim when being a Communist was used in a similar fashion. That is what I personally have a problem with. It seems that a person can not have an opinion without being told that they have a secret back door purpose or hidden agenda .. especially if they don't. It's frustrating to have people draw assumptions and refuse to even consider that their assumptions could be wrong.
A bunch of people fired up some discontents by selectively quoting from Holy Writ.
That covers a *lot* of the sins of both Islam and Christianity. It's when you go beyond that, to "and so saying that by definition, putting a mosque there is the wrong thing to do", that you're making a bad leap of logic.
My mother has a bird phobia. It has no reasonable basis. She knows this. She still has the phobia. She just doesn't try to rationalize it.
On the other hand, a lot of people who are homophobic, racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, etc. all *justify* their bias. They have reasons why they dislike or disrespect or apply the actions of the few to the whole.
I suspect you're quite kind to individual Muslims. I think you're too willing to paint all Islam with the taint of a few extremists.
I strongly believe, rather than saying, "oh, the people who lump in all Islam do have a point", that it's important to highlight the schism. This isn't the same as the Catholic Church, since there isn't a single Islamic religious head who is signing off on the twisted dogma. It wasn't a Catholic schism, like the ones that Mel Gibson's father follows, that were engaged in the coverup of pedophile priests. But it *is* a radical offshoot that is fueling Al Qaeda. Failure to recognize that leads to a radicalization of mainstream Islam. This does not benefit anyone except Al Qaeda. And those who profit from this "war" -- Halliburton and other related interests.
In sum - there's something that the rationalization is based on. But it's still a rationalization, and worse, one that aids the cause it's allegedly fighting against.
"In sum - there's something that the rationalization is based on. But it's still a rationalization, and worse, one that aids the cause it's allegedly fighting against."
Exactly. I'm not trying to justify it , I'm just saying that it is what it is. People will feel that way, and there is a reason for it. Whether or not that reason is justified is a matter of personal opinion. I'm not willing nor trying to paint all of Islam as evil because of that has happened in it's name, but it is happening.
There is a giant hole in the ground and several thousand people dead. A person has stood up and claimed that they did it in the name of Islam. That's a reasonable basis for people to be afraid of it. What they do with that fear is what separates them.
I've found that most phobias have a reasonable basis, if you look hard enough and analyze it. I have a phobia of flying. It's based on having been on a hijacked airplane, and watching 9/11 happen from the fire escape of my apartment.
Some people *believe* that it was done in the name of "Islam" because they don't have enough exposure to Islam to have been innoculated against this idea.
If someone had claimed to have done it in the name of Christianity, most people would roll their eyes and say, "idiot extremist".
If someone had claimed to have done it in the name of feminism, would that merit doing away with all women's groups in a certain radius?
The answer to this wrongful bias is to have the Islamic center there to educate people. To keep that Islamic center away is to pander to the irrational bias.
I can only agree that having an Islamic center to educate is an excellent idea. I just think that the location is not the best choice. The noise created by it's presence there - right or wrong - would block out the signal that it's trying to send. Saying to not put it in one particular block out of all of Manhattan is better than saying no don't do it at all. It may be pandering to bias, but I think it would be better to look at the long term goal of eradicating that bias than the short term.
That's really the place where it *should* be. Anywhere else, and we're pretty much engaging in the Douglas Adams "oh, what do you mean you didn't know your house was going to be demolished, it was POSTED!" scenario. Only those in the know will go to some other place, the very people who needed the education will never see it, smug in their satisfaction at having chased away "those damned terrorists".
Useful, but not lucrative. Who'd pay the rent there?
Frankly, I'm hoping that putting it by the WTC site leads to various people making the pilgrimage and then having a place to decompress and process their feelings about Islam.
Excuse me, but we call things "phobias" because they aren't reasonable.
It's not reasonable to assume, given the number of flights that go smoothly, that you'll be hijacked again; the odds are just against it. That's why it's called a phobia. It's not reasonable for me to be terrified to go out on unprotected balconies because I'm sure I'll fall, but I am. That's why it's called a phobia.
If it is a phobia, it is not reasonable. The word "phobia" is a psychiatric term. People have phobias of many things that are reasonable to fear, but the degree and pervasiveness of their fear of those things, and the fact that it can't be quelled by the reasonable precautions most people would take, is pathological and unreasonable by definition.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 09:52 pm (UTC)Islam was used as part of the Bin Laden/Al Qaeda/Wahabbi "inspiration". If you have any doubts, read this : http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html If you can read that and tell me that it is not related at all to Islam .. well , I'd like to hear how that could be.
If I was biased against Islam I would not be constantly saying that the religion is bearing the burden of it's extremists, and that they bring down the religion as a whole. I would simply say that they are all evil and so on... and clearly that's not what I am saying. I also have said on multiple occasions that I have peacefully lived next to Mosque, and interacted with the people therein. I also have mentioned that I have friends who follow Islam. I have not said anything against them. Your statement of me being biased is without basis.
Islam was used, and in the opinions of some was misrepresented, by Bin Laden in declaring a fatwa against the United States. That's not bias, just read the statement as linked above.
Now , to some people the mere presence of a Mosque makes them think of this - and while that is a byproduct of fear, there is some basis to that fear. This reduces their comfort level. On the other hand there are people who would be uncomfortable having a Catholic Church next to a day care center. while this is extreme, it's not unfounded.
Instead of looking at this objectively, it's much easier to slap a racist/Islamiphobic sticker on someone and condemn them, and move on to the next person. This is very similar to McCarthyisim when being a Communist was used in a similar fashion. That is what I personally have a problem with. It seems that a person can not have an opinion without being told that they have a secret back door purpose or hidden agenda .. especially if they don't. It's frustrating to have people draw assumptions and refuse to even consider that their assumptions could be wrong.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 10:21 pm (UTC)That covers a *lot* of the sins of both Islam and Christianity. It's when you go beyond that, to "and so saying that by definition, putting a mosque there is the wrong thing to do", that you're making a bad leap of logic.
My mother has a bird phobia. It has no reasonable basis. She knows this. She still has the phobia. She just doesn't try to rationalize it.
On the other hand, a lot of people who are homophobic, racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, etc. all *justify* their bias. They have reasons why they dislike or disrespect or apply the actions of the few to the whole.
I suspect you're quite kind to individual Muslims. I think you're too willing to paint all Islam with the taint of a few extremists.
I strongly believe, rather than saying, "oh, the people who lump in all Islam do have a point", that it's important to highlight the schism. This isn't the same as the Catholic Church, since there isn't a single Islamic religious head who is signing off on the twisted dogma. It wasn't a Catholic schism, like the ones that Mel Gibson's father follows, that were engaged in the coverup of pedophile priests. But it *is* a radical offshoot that is fueling Al Qaeda. Failure to recognize that leads to a radicalization of mainstream Islam. This does not benefit anyone except Al Qaeda. And those who profit from this "war" -- Halliburton and other related interests.
In sum - there's something that the rationalization is based on. But it's still a rationalization, and worse, one that aids the cause it's allegedly fighting against.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 10:39 pm (UTC)Exactly. I'm not trying to justify it , I'm just saying that it is what it is. People will feel that way, and there is a reason for it. Whether or not that reason is justified is a matter of personal opinion. I'm not willing nor trying to paint all of Islam as evil because of that has happened in it's name, but it is happening.
There is a giant hole in the ground and several thousand people dead. A person has stood up and claimed that they did it in the name of Islam. That's a reasonable basis for people to be afraid of it. What they do with that fear is what separates them.
I've found that most phobias have a reasonable basis, if you look hard enough and analyze it. I have a phobia of flying. It's based on having been on a hijacked airplane, and watching 9/11 happen from the fire escape of my apartment.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 10:45 pm (UTC)If someone had claimed to have done it in the name of Christianity, most people would roll their eyes and say, "idiot extremist".
If someone had claimed to have done it in the name of feminism, would that merit doing away with all women's groups in a certain radius?
The answer to this wrongful bias is to have the Islamic center there to educate people. To keep that Islamic center away is to pander to the irrational bias.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 11:10 pm (UTC)Again, my opinion.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 11:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 11:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-10 11:47 pm (UTC)Frankly, I'm hoping that putting it by the WTC site leads to various people making the pilgrimage and then having a place to decompress and process their feelings about Islam.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-11 01:07 am (UTC)It's not reasonable to assume, given the number of flights that go smoothly, that you'll be hijacked again; the odds are just against it. That's why it's called a phobia. It's not reasonable for me to be terrified to go out on unprotected balconies because I'm sure I'll fall, but I am. That's why it's called a phobia.
If it is a phobia, it is not reasonable. The word "phobia" is a psychiatric term. People have phobias of many things that are reasonable to fear, but the degree and pervasiveness of their fear of those things, and the fact that it can't be quelled by the reasonable precautions most people would take, is pathological and unreasonable by definition.