USA Today Avoids Charlie Hebdo Muhammad Cartoons, But Allows Muslim Cleric to Pen This Op-Ed

a reply to: Jamie1

Wow!
That cleric needs a good enema of Diversity and Tolerance not to mention a Welcome Basket courtesy of the modern age.

To intellectualize Islamic terrorist actions is a sign of what we are really facing in this gigantic and complex situation.
They have been at it for decades now and, their guerrilla activities, have been fairly well absorbed by the affected countries. But crumbingl display of 9-11 emboldened their hysterical religious leaders to incite the masses and their efforts increased and spread.

Their boldness on the one side and the lack of any sincere amount of restraint from their leaders in about every country where they exist bodes badly for the future of them and us. Something that we never would have imaged a few decades ago, not a war over politics as was assumed, but a more or less one-sided war over religion.

a reply to: CharlieSpeirs

Shame that said minority seem to be able to reek so much havoc and carry so much sway regarding the Muslim world. All the same that's Sharia rule in a nutshell if you ask me.

a reply to: Stormdancer777

It may be already to late to turn this $hit storm around, the world has been complacent way to long, how can this be fixed, is this the way we will have to live our lives forever?

It may very well be too late (for the generations of people alive at this current time) to turn it around. Seeds of destructive ideology have been firmly planted in far too many minds.

There will come a day when it will come to "a head" and there will be a war that will destroy much of the world (more so the humans on this Earth)......I think the survivors will learn from this and will teach their young what not to do to repeat it. It will be a war like nothing seen before...

Having said that, even if it is "too late" to turn it around, it is NEVER too late to sew the seeds of the fire of freedom and respect for others....as long as we keep breathing, we must keep speaking truth and reason to lies and injustice and violence in its many forms.

We must pass the torch...even if only to a few.

*Remembers the scene from the movie "The Road" where the kid is asking his dad if "he has the fire inside him".....that exchange is the basis of this post.

Take care and hold ya head up......don't give up. There are far too few even now, we cannot afford to lose any more who speak truths! (even if their own truths that others might or might not agree with.)

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
a reply to: Jamie1

You picked Anjem Choudary to represent Islam in this case?



You're as bad as USAToday for muddying the waters of ATS with that #s views on Islam.

No, USA Today picked Anjem Choudary.

How can knowing facts muddy the waters. He said what he said. The USA Today published it.

I wish some of you so ardently defended Christianity on the forum,

a reply to: andy06shake

That's definitely true Andy.

Can't deny that in the slightest.



I will say, some Sharia Law is identical to what's in the US Constitution...
But that may be for another thread, another day!

originally posted by: Jakal26
a reply to: Stormdancer777

It may be already to late to turn this $hit storm around, the world has been complacent way to long, how can this be fixed, is this the way we will have to live our lives forever?

It may very well be too late (for the generations of people alive at this current time) to turn it around. Seeds of destructive ideology have been firmly planted in far too many minds.

There will come a day when it will come to "a head" and there will be a war that will destroy much of the world (more so the humans on this Earth)......I think the survivors will learn from this and will teach their young what not to do to repeat it. It will be a war like nothing seen before...

Having said that, even if it is "too late" to turn it around, it is NEVER too late to sew the seeds of the fire of freedom and respect for others....as long as we keep breathing, we must keep speaking truth and reason to lies and injustice and violence in its many forms.

We must pass the torch...even if only to a few.

*Remembers the scene from the movie "The Road" where the kid is asking his dad if "he has the fire inside him".....that exchange is the basis of this post.

Take care and hold ya head up......don't give up. There are far too few even now, we cannot afford to lose any more who speak truths! (even if their own truths that others might or might not agree with.)

peace

a reply to: Jamie1

His views on Islam are not facts, I already showed you one thing he got wrong in his article...
& I wouldn't give him the time of day to find more...
Nor would anyone else from England...
The U.S. is his only outlet now because he is a social outcast over here.


I did apologise for saying it was your decision to share this...
It seemed like an ulterior motive was at hand...
I was wrong pal.

a reply to: Jamie1

He doesn't say "We believe it is okay to kill you for printing cartoons". He says the religious texts say that it is correct to kill people who insult the Prophets. He also doesn't say "Hey everyone, go out and kill the people who have insulted the Prophets." but he does say that some will want to take action because of their religious convictions. They will view it not as a personal choice, but a direct imperative from their God.

Knowing this, and being forewarned that individuals can take that action on their own, yes. I think his article is reasonable. Knowing what we know about religious fanatics, and the power of religion to get people doing things that are monstrous because they were told to by God... are you saying we shouldn't take a responsibility for a known risk?

a reply to: CrikeyMagnet

If people went around killing everyone who insulted them or there God i image there would be nobody left but the atheists rather soon.

Surely in this day of age killing someone for an insult cannot be considered correct, Prophets or otherwise?

originally posted by: Jamie1
After the series of attacks by Islamic extremists in the last month or so, including murdering 130 school children in Pakistan, do you think people should NOT be getting "tuned up" about the evils of these people?

"These people"...by that you're referring to fundamentalist crazies, right? Because that legitimate outrage is being quite deliberately transferred to Muslims in general, so that they are made to assume the mantle the of "these people" as well. Serves them right, eh? Sitting on all that oil and giving those nice Israelis such a hard time.

Yes, you are being played...Muslims are merely this era's 'Goldstein'...and no, the irony is not lost on me.

a reply to: andy06shake

Agreed. It can't be considered correct... but it can be considered a problem symptomatic of religion in general. Not that I mean all religions instruct their followers to kill people... just that there is a faith aspect that requires giving up a certain amount of personal choice. In the shoes of a fanatic, if your God tells you to do something, do you apply your moral filter, or do you do it without question?

I'd argue that the doctrines likely show plenty of examples of people "doing it without question", but our modern society tends to focus more on "Whoa. Wait a minute. Should I really destroy all humans?"

The message that seems to get lost is that the people who will act without question do exist out there, and they exist . Messages of caution about deliberately attracting their attention should not just be dismissed, because there is really no one who will talk sense into them (to them, it already makes sense), and often no one who can even give you a heads up for what to watch for.

I see this article as that sort of warning. You know the risk of some unstable element taking their own God's laws into their own hands. You can do some things to avoid directly insulting them... or knowing what you know you can accept that there are some risks no one can protect you against.

So showing a cartoon picture of a mythical man is a perfect excuse for mass murder. What a wonderful religion of peace Islam is. Glad I am religion free, always have been and always will be.

a reply to: Aspie

Its my understanding that only true Sunni Muslims have a problem with Muhammed being portrayed because they consider it to be idolatry and Shia Muslims have no prohibitions regarding images of Mohammed or his followers. Then again they also hold the view that Shariah law applies to all humans and that Non-Muslims should be punished for not following Islam.

Sounds a little extreme and that's putting it mildly, point of fact its down right arrogance incarnate and does not exactly leave much room to maneuver both morally or intellectually.

a reply to: Jamie1


It is titled "People know the consequences: Opposing view".

Are you suddenly against free speech now?

I in no way agree with the opinion piece, but I thought a direct link to the piece may be useful.

USA today...officially the worst news source of all time. They surpassed Fox news this time! OMG!

Islam is a religion of violence. And...you never blame the victims in a situation like this. This is the gun men period. We CAN control ourselves. Terrible.

originally posted by: SLAYER69
People were killed over freedom of speech, USA Today runs this under the same rights.


People have issues only with one but not the other?

I think this speaks volumes.
Either these freedoms apply to everyone or no one.

Make up your minds peeps.

I totally agree. Everyone always screams free speech until someone from an opposing view starts to talk. Then they start screaming he should not of said that. Humans=Hypocrites.



There is nothing wrong with those cartoons being published. There is nothing wrong with this op-ed being published. Learn to love the free speech you crave in all its forms.

originally posted by: karmicecstasy

originally posted by: SLAYER69
People were killed over freedom of speech, USA Today runs this under the same rights.


People have issues only with one but not the other?

I think this speaks volumes.
Either these freedoms apply to everyone or no one.

Make up your minds peeps.

I totally agree. Everyone always screams free speech until someone from an opposing view starts to talk. Then they start screaming he should not of said that. Humans=Hypocrites.

There is nothing wrong with those cartoons being published. There is nothing wrong with this op-ed being published. Learn to love the free speech you crave in all its forms.

Yeah except...if there was for example...a high profile serial killing would you want to run an op ed by Charles Manson? Sure you have a right to, and you should have that right, but it would be in poor taste to do so, just as this is in poor taste.

a reply to: amazing

It depends on how you wanted to paint Islam at the time. You could have gone three ways - all of which are valid and true - you could have posted more cartoons, you could have taken a nice bunch of Muslims and all the standing up with Charlie comments the decent people made, or you could have an extremist spouting his ideology as to why westerners countries should be run by middle eastern clerics.

They obviously decided the later would not piss off the middle eastern clerics who want to run our countries - and perhaps deciding also this is exactly the reaction they want YOU to have. Pissed off that a bunch of middle eastern clerics are trying to run western countries via killing our civilians in the first place.

originally posted by: amazing

originally posted by: karmicecstasy

originally posted by: SLAYER69
People were killed over freedom of speech, USA Today runs this under the same rights.


People have issues only with one but not the other?

I think this speaks volumes.
Either these freedoms apply to everyone or no one.

Make up your minds peeps.

I totally agree. Everyone always screams free speech until someone from an opposing view starts to talk. Then they start screaming he should not of said that. Humans=Hypocrites.

There is nothing wrong with those cartoons being published. There is nothing wrong with this op-ed being published. Learn to love the free speech you crave in all its forms.

Yeah except...if there was for example...a high profile serial killing would you want to run an op ed by Charles Manson? Sure you have a right to, and you should have that right, but it would be in poor taste to do so, just as this is in poor taste.

So poor taste trumps freedom of speech. Got it. Is there a rule book out for all this stuff. Its kind of hard to follow all the, you have free speech until rules.