The Taliban has long personified the ignorance and intolerance found among religious extremists. Indeed, they first attracted international attention with their destruction of the famous giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. However, it is always impressive to see the degree to which its Islamic beliefs seem to produce uniformly harmful impacts on the populations under its cruel control. A report last week documented how there is a serious polio outbreak that is threatening global progress against the disease. The Taliban has denounced vaccinations as a Western plot and threatened anyone who receives one. It is a tragic irony since the disease has long been the scourge of the Middle East going back to ancient times, as this Egyptian tablet from the 18th Dynasty (1403–1365 BC) reflects. The ancient populations could only dream of a cure but, now that one is available, the Taliban again seeks to force its areas back into the dark ages.
Health officials have reported scores of crippled children as a result of the Taliban’s policy. The United States fueled the opposition to the program among extremists when it was disclosed that the CIA used a Pakistani vaccination team to gather intelligence about al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden — who was then killed by U.S. Special Forces. That success may prove to be a disaster for polio operations in reinforcing the medieval fears of groups like the Taliban. It is treated as just another part of God’s plan for an ever-suffering humanity.
Pakistan has the highest rate of polio in the world following by Nigerian and Afghanistan. THere is also an outbreak in Syria to add to the misery of that population.
Otteray,
I’m finding WordPress to be quite temperamental of late. Sometimes I can post long comments with a link–and sometimes the same types of comments will be sent into the spam filter. One of my recent short comments with no links was also sent into the spam filter.
P Smith, You called me “spineless” last night for pointing out the obvious, that being Islam has virtually no universities or hospitals in the modern world. There are MANY Christian and Jewish universities and hospitals. All religions are not the same.
I recently became aware that some of our threads have fallen back into personal insults and recriminations. As everyone on this blog knows, we adhere to a strict civility rule. There is no excuse — none — for personal attacks. Simply saying that someone baited you is not justification, particularly among our regulars. I do not want this site to be an echo-chamber for shared or popular views. Indeed, my own views are sometimes at odds with my friends on the blog, including the weekend guest bloggers. However, we remain committed to a common value of civil, non-personal discussion. If you find someone obnoxious, ignore them. Feeding trolls and imbeciles is a futile gesture. More importantly, it violates the only condition for participating on this blog. There are many many blogs that loves personal or profane commentary. This site strives to be different. We invite different views and passionate discussion without the personal nonsense that characterizes other sites. As a site committed to free speech, I do not want to block anyone. Please comply with our civility rule and avoid personal attacks or leave this site. We are truly trying to create something different here. If you do not like it or insist on name calling, kindly do somewhere else.
OS,
I find it tough to write in public sometimes on certain issues.
What is it the police always say? I was in fear for my life.
I’m sure that’s what many people are thinking when it comes to the crime against humanity now called the vaccine programs.
So I won’t be surprised by any of their actions whatever they are.
This is yet another example of why religion needs to be eradicated first, and the only cure is education. All religious types (not just the taliban) oppose enlightenment because religion can’t withstand scrutiny or fact checking.
At least western movies haven’t caught on in that region. Could you imagine what the godbotherers in Afghanistan would do if they had seen “Apocalypse Now”?
**Frank 1, October 21, 2013 at 9:16 am
Oky1, may I use your bioterrorism quote?
**
By all means Frank go ahead.
What do you think the US/UK govt did with those advanced boiterrorism programs the WW2 Japs/Germans were running?
Only a fool would think those idiot authoritarians are not releasing crap upon the public as it’s a matter of public record they are.
**
OS,
Yes, I take these vaccines programs very serious!
Yes I understand your issues regarding vaccines very clear.
I’ve seen what it looks like when they harm & kill people I know.
If people don’t not wish to research the subject themselves well that’s fine,…
To add to what Elaine said about posts “disappearing.” If a comment contains one of the for “forbidden” words, they will end up in the trash bin instead of spam filter. Sometimes, the word may be part of a legitimate longer word, and in that case we may be able to rescue it. That is sometimes true of the second and fourth word (below). Just as a reminder, the four words not to use, either in a username or text are (altered to avoid this post ending up in trash):
A**hole
B*tch
F*ck
B*st*rd
Surely, as educated as this group of commenters is, it is possible to write a comment without using scatological terms, and still make an excellent point.
I am reminded of the very devout minister who was also an avid golfer, albeit a very bad golfer. After hitting the ball into the water hazard for the umteenth time, his golfing buddy asked, “Reverend, you amaze me. You hit bad shot after bad shot, but never say a cuss word. How do you control your temper?”
The good reverend replied, “My boy, notice that after a bad shot like that, I spit on the ground. Grass will never grow on that spot again.”
Juliet, As is often the case, two extremes will agree on a stupid stance. I offer feminists and Jerry Falwell on pornography as a quick example. Since Karen lives in the Bay area, the wacky liberals[I realize there are wacks on BOTH sides] are in their own echo chamber, trying to out crazy each other. Karen is pretty liberal. Just Google left, liberals, anti vaccine and you’ll see. I don’t know, but if you were to live in a far right area[maybe you do?], then the wacky right will reign supreme w/ nothing to balance their ideology. It’s all about balance. Something our culture lost some time ago.
Nick: Oh, so both sides do it. Thank you for clarifying, because I thought you were implying only lefties were anti-vaxers.
Beware: pro-vax people;
wenn man aus dem Zug können Sie holen eine Dusche
Translated from German: when you get off the train you can go get a shower
Interesting. The people I know who don’t vaccinate are primarily right-wing libertarian types. Lefties are usually really into science and facts.
Nick, where I’m from it’s left *and* right wackos, also religious *and* secular wackos. Irrationality knows no ideological line. They only bow down to infectious irrational fear.
0john0charles0heiser0 1, October 21, 2013 at 4:51 am
I tried to write. My posts get deleted. perhaps because I can unravel the lies even accepted by the who consider themselves progressive.
*****
No one is deleting any posts. WordPress sometimes sends comments to the spam filter. It has happened to me many times. Also, if you post a comment with more than two links, it will go into moderation.
Robert Kennedy Jr. on the Vaccine Cover-Up
He points out that there is overwhelming evidence from thousands of parents about the neurological degeneration of their perfectly healthy children immediately after vaccination. Data from home-schooled children (who are not required to have mandatory vaccinations) and the Amish community (who refuse all medical intervention) also support the harm caused by the vaccination programme since there is barely any incidence of autistic spectrum disorders in either of these groups.
Mothers don’t need double-blind controlled studies – they KNOW exactly what has damaged their child.
Uh, I’ll get right on that, oky1. Not really. Did you happen to see where I wrote my dad spent a year in bed from polio? Take your fear-mongering and irrationality back to bed with ya. Nighty-night and don’t let the bed bugs bite.
Folks, get vaccinated. Don’t be the selfish paranoid that’s responsible for a couple losing their newborn to a preventable illnesses like pertussis. We’ve conquered many of these monster illnesses for the most part. Are we going to let a few irrational voices from the fringe steer us over yet another cliff?
Maybe the anti-vaxx folks are taliban sleeper-cells playing a ‘long-game’ strategy?
We have a friend who is a pediatrician in the Bay area. There are many lefty wackos who won’t vaccinate their kids. This is a quiet, easygoing, woman. But, you should hear her rant about this, particularly after a couple Corona.
Where’s P Smith?? He is a defender of Islam as a great builder of universities and hospitals..IN THE MIDDLE AGES! Who knew they would get stuck in a Middle Ages loop?
Taliban Calls Off Attacks On Polio Vaccine Workers In Afghanistan
By Hayes Brown
May 14, 2013
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/05/14/2003641/taliban-polio-workers/
In a change of tactics, the Taliban has called off its attacks against health workers in Afghanistan, providing space for polio workers to finally eradicate the deadly disease.
The former leaders of Afghanistan have gone back and forth on allowing aid workers to administer the polio vaccine to Afghan children over the years. Last year, the group decided to allow the program to go forward so long as workers “not use government resources, including vehicles and soldiers, and they should use their own resources so that they impartially execute their program.” At the time, their spokesperson also claimed that the Taliban has always supported vaccinations.
That commitment was questioned yet again this year, when in March the Taliban halted the program in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province. “For the past three years Waygal district has been under the Taliban, they are very strong there. For the last two years the vaccine process went on in the district, but this year they stopped it,” Nuristan governor Tamim Nuristani told the Guardian at the time.
It seems, however, that the Talibs have had a change of heart once more. In a statement issued from “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” — the country’s full name when under Taliban rule — the vaccination push has been given the all-clear:
“According to the latest international medicine science, the polio disease can only be cured by preventive measures ie the anti-polio drops and the vaccination of children against this disease.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan supports and lends a hand to all those programs which works for the health care of the helpless people of our country,” said a statement issued by the ‘Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’.
But it warned the World Health Organisation and Unicef to employ only “unbiased people” in a campaign “harmonised with the regional conditions, Islamic values and local cultural traditions.”
It also ordered its fighters to give polio workers “all necessary support”.
Afghanistan is one of only three countries — alongside Nigeria and Pakistan — where polio is still endemic. Last year, the country had thirty-six new cases of polio, with an estimated 160,000 to 180,000 children missing their scheduled vaccinations. In April, the Afghan government pledged to administer anti-polio and anti-measles vaccines to eight million Afghan children under the age of five this year.
And while the Taliban’s pledge to allow aid workers to complete their work is promising, it leaves questions remaining for the other two countries seeking to eradicate polio, both of which have also experienced numerous attacks on aid workers. In Nigeria, home of the most polio outbreaks in the world, the extremist group Boko Haram killed at least nine aid workers in February. Likewise, in Pakistan at least a dozen aid workers have been killed since the start of the year.
As a polio survivor, I think anyone who does not get the vaccine for themselves and their kids is an idiot. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. And as we survivors get older, we now have to contend with post-polio syndrome. Lots of fun. Not!
🙂
http://www.prisonplanet.com/americans-sign-petition-to-support-nazi-style-orwellian-police-state.html
Oky1, may I use your bioterrorism quote?
Good advice Oky1
Thanks