prole

No one is "holding their tongues when witnessing depraved acts of religiously inspired barbarism". What you construe as relativism is simply an unwillingness to entertain an argument that lays blame for incidents of religious violence on the religion itself when the overwhelming majority of practitioners do not engage in them and when a comparative approach clearly shows that bloodyminded imperialism, oppression, and barbarism are themes present across the spectrum of religious texts. Your appeals to Jainism are ridiculous, as it's clearly been shown with regards to religious and communal violence in India, what Jainism doesn't provide, Hindutva certainly does. What's the point of laying blame for the Gujarat massacres on Hinduism, Jay? Where does that go? I don't blame Christianity for 17th century witch burning. What would be the point? Real scholars that study these topics would find the prospect laughable and people working on human and women's rights in countries where this shit happens would find it, for the practical purposes of their work, totally irrelevant. What's your excuse?

There are whores getting stoned in the streets of Paris right now however...

And it seems that you can't explain why there aren't, right now, whores being stoned in the streets of Paris or witches being burned at the stake in Boston or Jews being tortured by the Grand Inquisitor in Madrid simply by appealing to Christian texts. What you are at pains to ignore, as is Sam Harris in the video you posted, is that the waxing and waning of religious violence is largely a matter of historical forces operating independently of what people read in 1200 year old books.

PRAISETHELORDHALLELUJAH!!

Amen. I'm glad someone pointed out the root of the problem, which is that some people just aren't pulling their weight around here.

Whatever anyone does, be sure to exclude any spinoff benefits that might result from the original investment but that probably wouldn't be reflected in an immediate cost analysis...

Have you considered the possibility that, for all intents and purposes, the connection between the existence of ancient texts and contemporary violence might be entirely irrelevant with regards to actually dealing with any of the issues? Or are you starting a "Burn Every Koran On Earth And Invent One Of Those Memory Wiper Thingies From Men In Black To Use On Every Muslim" Facebook page?

Really? Don't remember that - but I'd be interested in reading that. I do remember thinking that at the end of the day they'll have to hash out whatever endogenous conflicts persist within their own societies and there's not a whole lot that exogenous actors will be able to do to exert a decisive influence on how they get settled. Just theoretical walls, apparently...

I condemn.

Yet another reason increased transit investment is a good idea. Aging boomer drivers!

clapping funt

Is this "Celebrate Naivety Day" or did I get skipped in the toke circle again? We're still reeling from a financial crisis caused by investment banks reaping billions by knowingly selling junk paper and betting against their own customers. The fossil fuel industry is one of dozens that hires "scientists" and lobbyists to knowingly spread misinformation about the impacts of its practices. Corporations are not people and the calculus of profit and growth they're ruled by more often than not doesn't include the kind moral/ethical consciousness or intention you're applying here.

Yes, why can't we all just get along?

Yay Obama!

Dude, it's so they can Save the Children!!

That would be stupid, let's not.

"Alternatives"

which countries come to mind, and how was the transition instituted? turkey and indonesia come to mind Well? Though not without its problems, Turkey is the model that most commentators optimistic about the potential for democratic reforms in Egypt point to. The post-colonial era is rife with examples of vibrant secular movements and broad based national coalitions that provided an alternative to Western dominated authoritarianism and pre-modern religious and tribal politics. Unfortunately, they were suffocated in the crib or encouraged to morph into dictatorships in the name of fighting the Commies. At any rate, the Cold War-turned-GWOT security order is unravelling and the US's policy of propping up autocrats is clearly untenable with regards to our money, our values, and most importantly, their people. The Egyptian uprising (whether it's a revolution remains to be seen) and the society itself have a number of qualities that suggest potentialities very different than Iran '79 or Hamas '06. The US should be building relationships and capacities among the secularists and moderates at the forefront of the uprising rather than continuing along the path to "containment" through military dictatorship. Not doing so will simply thrust potential allies into the arms of better organized, less savory actors, when they realize that Twitter and Facebook do not a revolution make.

"Audios!" Brilliant.

You mean there's a way to do this with Billcoe?

Reaganmania, flimsy and misguided though it is, keeps the attention off the conservative's more recent wonderboy who can't leave the country for fear of being prosecuted for the war crimes he's admitted to committing. You can't blame them for wanting to light a match after laying that turd.

You'd be better off reading about other nations in the Middle East past and present in which democratic reforms, the creation of strong secular institutions and building capacities amongst moderate and left elements in those societies have both moderated the power of radical organizations and undermined their appeal. The containment through autocracy/occupation model has done the opposite.

Resting Under Satan's Hand