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Fripp
SFN Regular
USA
727 Posts |
 Posted - 01/22/2007 : 09:11:04
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In the name of equal time, I will post this week's Philly Inquirer article which is, supposedly, a "response" to last week's article (detailed here http://www.skepticfriends.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7483) that was very critical of "believers".
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/special_packages/sunday_review/16507550.htm
I casually skimmed the article with an admittedly pre-conceived bias against the author, Dinesh D'Souza (sp?).
Perhaps others can spot more problems than I did, or correct me, but I noticed the following:
absolutely no support for claims that radical Muslim leaders are "at war" with Atheism/Secularism, not Christianity. D'Souza would claim that people such as Bin Laden has stated this, yet D-Souza doesn't provide a quote. Frequently, he quotes other "unknown" Muslim scholars to provide support or to "interpret" what radical Muslims have stated.
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"What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a small thermal exhaust port that's only 2-meters wide! That thing wasn't even fully paid off yet! You have any idea what this is going to do to my credit?!?!"
"What? Oh, oh, 'just rebuild it'? Oh, real [bleep]ing original. And who's gonna give me a loan, jackhole? You? You got an ATM on that torso LiteBrite?" |
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GeeMack
SFN Regular
USA
1093 Posts |
Posted - 01/22/2007 : 16:13:56 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Fripp...
absolutely no support for claims that radical Muslim leaders are "at war" with Atheism/Secularism, not Christianity. D'Souza would claim that people such as Bin Laden has stated this, yet D-Souza doesn't provide a quote.
At least one available quote (or, well, pretty much an entire interview with Osama bin Laden) would suggest that D'Souza is wrong in his assessment. On the PBS web site there is a transcript of an interview with bin Laden from May, 1998. Within that interview we find the following exchange...Q: What is the meaning of your call for Muslims to take arms against America in particular, and what is the message that you wish to send to the West in general?
Osama bin Laden: The call to wage war against America was made because America has spear-headed the crusade against the Islamic nation, sending tens of thousands of its troops to the land of the two Holy Mosques over and above its meddling in its affairs and its politics, and its support of the oppressive, corrupt and tyrannical regime that is in control. These are the reasons behind the singling out of America as a target. And not exempt of responsibility are those Western regimes whose presence in the region offers support to the American troops there. We know at least one reason behind the symbolic participation of the Western forces and that is to support the Jewish and Zionist plans for expansion of what is called the Great Israel. Surely, their presence is not out of concern over their interests in the region. ... Their presence has no meaning save one and that is to offer support to the Jews in Palestine who are in need of their Christian brothers to achieve full control over the Arab Peninsula which they intend to make an important part of the so called Greater Israel. Of course it's no surprise that those of Dinesh D'Souza's ilk would, shall we say, omit necessary evidence to back their claims. Lying and willful ignorance are standard tools of the trade for those who would blame terrorism (the Iraq War, international discord, etc.) on "the left", atheists/ism, Democrats, or anything except the pursuit of their own narrow minded, bigoted, selfish agenda.
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Fripp
SFN Regular
USA
727 Posts |
Posted - 01/23/2007 : 07:34:36 [Permalink]
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Thanks, Gee. Like I said, I saw the author of the article and I let that taint my reading of it. But I had no interest and even less time to do any research to debunk this crap. What really chaps my hide is that 99.999% of the paper's readers will assume, because the article was printed, thus it must be true.
I merely posted it because I posted the previous week's article that was highly critical of Christian leaders in America. Never let it be said that I am like god-boy GK Paul, ignoring everything that disagrees with my worldview.
Another thought occurred to me as I was writing this. Just "what if" D'Souza's assertion was true? Why would having Muslim Radical Fundamentalists agree with Christian Fundamentalists make the position "Atheism=Evil" tenable? Obviously it doesn't. In fact, such medieval thinking enforces quite the opposite, philosophically. |
"What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a small thermal exhaust port that's only 2-meters wide! That thing wasn't even fully paid off yet! You have any idea what this is going to do to my credit?!?!"
"What? Oh, oh, 'just rebuild it'? Oh, real [bleep]ing original. And who's gonna give me a loan, jackhole? You? You got an ATM on that torso LiteBrite?" |
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