Like most of humanity, I have been stunned by the sheer savagery and cruelty of the Islamic State. Yet, thousands have flocked to the ISIS forces from the West. For me, it has been a particularly shocking phenomenon. The images that repel us, attract them. Religion is clearly a release for these people. A release from the obligations of decency and humanity. Images show Islamic State fighters laughing and enjoying the torture and murder of captives. Muslim clerics with ISIS assure them that they can treat non-Muslims as lower than animals and commit rape as an Islamically pure act. It has been an incredibly depressing time for those of us who believe that humans can aspire to true greatest of spirit and caring. This Christmas, however, my daughter showed me the YouTube clip below of a man named Matt Harding who goes around the world getting people to dance with him. After watching him, my faith in humanity was restored.
What is so striking about the Islamic State and other extreme Muslim groups is that they most hate joyous expressions from dancing to singing. They throw acid on little girls trying to become educated and destroy the houses of worship of other groups.
Nothing could be a greater antithesis to the hate of these extremists than Matt Harding and people like him:
What is even more reassuring is that he is not alone. Around the world, people are spontaneously singing and dancing. These are a few clips shared by our readers this year. Watching them restores some of the faith in the future that these extremists really cannot extinguish the joy in the world.
I would appreciate some data proving that, say Maimonides or St Augustine, two of the most brilliant minds in the history of the world, were in fact mentally ill.
Heck, I’d even accept proof that the author of the WSJ article was mentally ill.
Let me know.
And believing in government is just as insane as religion, Pogo.
From the Wall Street Journal today:
“Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God
The odds of life existing on another planet grow ever longer. Intelligent design, anyone?”
Whenever an atheist starts his argument ‘Religion is a form of mental illness…”, one is assured that a bad faith discussion lies ahead, and there is no reason to be cordial or reply in good faith.
“Religion is a form of mental illness…”
Whereas the mental illness known as atheism resulted in the state murder of 200 million of its own citizens in the 20th century alone.
Cue the ‘no true Scotsman’ atheist defense.
Religion is a form of mental illness, and Islam is much worse than all others. Those who are in ISIS are clearly insane, as anyone who hates and kills people like they do could never be considered to be thinking and acting rationally. Their motivations may be government invasions and atrocities, but that is not relevant, since governments all over the globe are performing these criminal acts every day. Whether someone believes an invisible-man-in-the-sky looks after them or their government will protect them, it’s just crazy. The violence carried out in the name of either of these artificial entities will continue until the mass of mankind realizes that forming groups and using force to inflict pain and require compliance to group standards is not the ultimate solution. When individuals universally hold the idea that voluntary cooperation and acting by agreement with each other without the use of group force, then the insanity of humanity may be considered cured. Unfortunately, that probably won’t happen before the species completely overpopulates the Earth and dies a slow, horrible death. But the concept is worth pursuing in the meantime.
On another point, I don’t think Professor Turley’s article was meant to suggest that dancing and singing around the world would defeat ISIS in any way. I took it as something that could bring some of his readers a feeling of happiness in the middle of all the anger and fear everyone is subjected to each day. I know it certainly did for me.
Well Pogo one could do the same with Judeo/Christianity. Some pretty crazy stuff in the Bible too.
Meanwhile, here’s a high school Saudi textbook:
There over 20 Saudi schools throughout the world, each chaired by the local ambassador from Saudi Arabia:
Bonn, Berlin, Washington, Algiers, Ankara, Beijing, Djibouti, Islamabad, Istanbul, Jakarta, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Rabat, Rome, Tunis.
Olly, I agree with you, I understood that was what you meant.
Pogo, I’ll respond when I return, going to a beach cleanup.
Inga, it doesn’t fail, does it?
Bashing a religion with its own words and scripture.
Oh quelle surprise, this thread turned into a Islam bashing thread. Let’s just forget the millions of Muslims who live peacefully and don’t wish to wage war on anyone, despite what their ancient religious texts say.
It’s right out there, po.
Not hard to find.
“Dr. Sami Alrabaa, an ex-Muslim, is a sociology professor and an Arab/Muslim culture specialist. Before moving to Germany he taught at Kuwait University, King Saud University, and Michigan State University.
I went through school textbooks taught in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Here is an English translation of some passages from these books.”
But surely you already know this, po.
Po,
Legal reasoning; isn’t this simply the way our government rationalizes its behavior? If they sprinkle in enough moral imperatives then everything appears “just”.
I should have been clearer in my comment regarding ISIL. Of course this specific entity is a product of recent events in the region but my point was to reflect the multi-generational attitude towards the hegemony of the West; primarily as it related to Great Britain, France, United States and Russia. We have been as righteous in our foreign policy in the region as we have been in our domestic policy. Sovereignty is of no concern for a government that believes IT to be the center of all this wise and wonderful.
I truly believe over the last 100 years, we have seesawed between the foreign policy of the progressive wing of the Republican Party and the domestic policy of the progressive wing of the Democrat Party. Sovereignty of nations and our states have suffered under each and it’s all been accomplished under the mirage of “stupid greed and false philanthropy.” Bastiat.
“The Koran says the following about the Jews, Christians, and other “unbelievers:”
“
Moreover, the sentence “After watching him, my faith in humanity was restore.” fails to acknowledge that ISIS’s evil behavior is also very much part of our humanity.
This article is great for many reasons, but directly because it features 3 of the main topics we are discussing here: Islam, extremism, music.
The casual (lazy) reader will say: see, Islam is a religion of hate…these poor women…
The attentive reader will note that there are 2 different versions/interpretation of Islam featured…
And the more inquiring mind might say: oh, this an islamic society known for its tolerance and its beautiful music and singing, invaded by jihadists who took over and started enforcing extremist rules, and wonder: where did these jihadists come from?
And the answer would be, well these jihadists are an echo of ISL stepping into the vacuum of the western destruction of Iraq, they too stepped into the vacuum of the western destruction of Libya.
You see, friends, bad things happen when we invade or destroy countries claiming to bring democracy and freedom. Well, Mali was free, a beautiful place, until the consequences of imperialism strike and they are left to pay the price of freed evil.
But, ultimately, I agree with some of you, they hate us for our freedom…our freedom to destroy anything and everything we chose.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/25/women-timbuktu-shape-city-future-mali
Pogo:
Islam is a political ideology disguised as a religion.
It is an ideology of nihilism and hate.
Its very tenets demand death to nonbelievers.
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Shoot, you got me, Pogo.
Guys, let’s all pull out, they are onto us. They now know we are looking to invade the western world with SHARIAH LAW… then establish our political ideology… the one we are still working on…shia, sunni, wahabism, salafi, and the other ones to come…
then make every non-believer walk the plank at the point of a pirate sword…
BUAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHA! (evil laugh…)
Pogo, I would have asked you to support your arguments but I know you’ll source them from Islamophobes-r-us.
The phrase “Religion is clearly a release for these people.” was poorly chosen, much as it easily permits (or suggests) that might be true for other faiths, and recalls similar swipes at believers that they just aren’t very bright, easily misled into evil.
Islam is a political ideology disguised as a religion.
It is an ideology of nihilism and hate.
Its very tenets demand death to nonbelievers.
Dancing and singing are not going to defeat them, but they do identify refusal to submit. Heartening evidence in sober times.
Bruce
We didn’t choose to be the world police, but someone has to be, who better than the U.S.
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Russia/ China did not choose to be the world police., but someone has to be, who better than Russia/China.