We have another story of a Muslim mob murdering a person for offending Islam. A woman named Farkhunda, 32, in Kabul had reportedly burned a copy of the Koran inside a riverside shrine. She was then set upon by a huge mob that burned her alive and then threw her into the Kabul river. This was deemed the moral response to an immoral act by the crowd. [Update: It turns out that the accusations against Farkhunda may be untrue and that she was actually defending what she viewed as the degrading act of selling amulets in a mosque when she was attacked]
Four people have been arrested by the crowd watching and encouraging this despicable act was so large that they broke the railing of the shrine itself in pushing forward for a better look.
The murder occurred in the very capital of Afghanistan at the Shah-Do Shamshira mosque.
Source: La Times
@Pogo
You are not playing well with others! Mespo is convinced that you are the Wicked Witch (uh, or Warlock???) of the Right, and if he throws a bucket of water on you, you will just melt away. . .
But, then you don’t, and then he gets all desperate and starts throwing in all the other charms and talismans he can think of, and whole kitchen sinks full of silly arguments. Maybe you could humor him just a little and cry “Oh, what a world! What a world! Ohhh! Look out! Look out! I’m going! Ohhhh – Ohhhhhhhhhh!” once in a while, just so he won’t have a stroke or something???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Bettelheim did not, however, know ninjutsu.
Sounds like they need more Jeffersonian Democracy.
“Has any doctor ever asked you about self-defeating personality disorder?”
Are you trying to use all of the logical fallacies in this post, or will you be sticking to just your two favorites?
“non-sequitur argument”
Well, no.
You made an ‘appeal to authority’ in re: Harris (a logical fallacy).
“we were taught it was only a logical fallacy when”
Oh, my.
How terrible your teachers were. What a waste!
“even a legitimate authority speaking on his area of expertise may affirm a falsehood, so no testimony of any authority is guaranteed to be true.”
There’s still time to correct your learning, mespo.
In any event, I pointed to Van Gogh and Jesus to show how your example is rather silly.
A similar comparison would be Bruno Bettleheim who -very similar to Harris- nationally known author (with a book on the New York Times best seller list), a lecturer, a scientist with degrees from Vienna, who, not so surprisingly, has made scads of money. He’s been recognized as an authority on his topic by The New York Times, Time, and many other journals.
Turns out he was a complete and utter fraud.
He committed suicide (shot himself) at age 87.
Pogo:
Has any doctor ever asked you about self-defeating personality disorder?
Pogo:
“Van Gogh,..Never to reach the high heights of Sam Harris, who made scads of money.”
**********************
True enough, I suppose. The point was, however, that Sam Harris (and Van Gogh, for that matter) reached and surpassed the “heights” of you.
Another Pogo non-sequitur argument for those keeping score at home.
Pogo:
“Appeal to authority.
Didn’t they cover that where you went to school?”
*************************
They did and at my law and undergraduate schools (which I’m sure pales to yours) we were taught it was only a logical fallacy when the authority appealed to was not an authority on the topic in question but simply an authority on some other topic. Elsewise, my professors reasoned, why would anyone read any authoritative sources on the topic and cite them in the first place. Given the magnitude of your intellect, I’m sure they were in error. Please edify me.
And then there’s Jesus.
He never even heard of ninjutsu.
And look what happened to Him!
@ P HaW
“And then there’s Jesus.
He never even heard of ninjutsu.
And look what happened to Him!”
Yes, he was crucified by law-and-order authoritarians who saw Him as a grave threat to their established social and religious order.
They were right about the threat, of course.
“Sam Harris is an award-winning, nationally known author …teacher of ninjutsu, who, not so surprisingly, has made scads of money.”
Plus, the NYTimes!! Famous and rich!
Well, that proves the correctness of atheism right there!
I might mention that Van Gogh, in contrast died penniless and depressed.
He knew no martial arts and was never in the Boston Globe.
he sold very few paintings.
Poor guy.
Never to reach the high heights of Sam Harris, who made scads of money.
@ P HaW
From the English-challenged blogger you quote, P HaW: “Judge Cohen literally stood on his head to prevent from calling the Arabs liars and acquit Struck.”
So not only did the Israeli judge reprehensibly molly-coddle a Palestinian (as do so many Israeli judges and government officials), but he apparently assumed a Mukta Hasta Sirsana A yoga pose while doing so. With effete judges like that, no wonder the Settlers so often have to take matters into their own hands:
“Returning to their Bethlehem home in August, the Ghayatha family was attacked by settlers who hurled a firebomb at their taxi. Ayman Ghayatha, his wife, their three children, and the taxi driver were all severely injured. ‘The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms yesterday’s attack on a Palestinian taxi in the West Bank,’ said State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland. Subsequently, violent attacks by Jewish settlers against ‘Palestinian residents, property and places of worship’ were cited for the first time in the US State Department Country Report on Terrorism as ‘terrorist incidents.’
“While such a designation marks a significant development in how the US treats the settlement issue, it threatens to remain a label on paper rather than a term that inspires action. Crucially, the designation ‘settler terrorism’ fails to highlight that the Israeli government bears the major responsibility for this phenomenon through its own policy and the complicity of its response to this violence. Viewing this campaign simply as isolated settler terrorism is likely to limit understanding of the problem and obstruct an effective strategy for addressing it.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2012/1009/Obama-must-stand-up-to-Netanyahu-on-Israeli-settler-violence
The Settlers predisposed to firebombing people as the weapon of choice undoubtedly take their cue from the humanitarian Israeli government:
“Rain of Fire: White Phosphorous in Gaza”
http://www.hrw.org/video/2009/03/25/rain-fire-white-phosphorus-gaza
on 1, March 20, 2015 at 2:01 pmmespo727272
Pogo:
“You, Inga and mespo should collaborate in finding the magic word that will crack my Olympian indifference to your opinions.”
********************
“Your every reply to us proves the falsity of that statement.”
*********************
Precisely.
Appeal to authority.
Didn’t they cover that where you went to school?
@ P HaW
“ ‘Also imagine what the Israelis who …might do with… ‘
“Because imaginary barbarism is totes the same as real barbarism.
“No need to get on our high horse, because we might -any of us- burn people alive for, say, burning a copy of my favorite record album. Just imagine!
“So, off that high horse already.”
Self-righteousness is, of course, one of the hallmarks of the authoritarian mindset, literal-mindedness being another.
It’s actually beneficial to have commenters here who manifest so starkly the characteristics of the authoritarian mentality, because they’re what the poet William Blake described as “Consolidations of error,”, i.e., those whose behavior throws into sharp relief what is is only murkily perceptible in the many people who share their mindset to a lesser degree.
To repeat: Although I’m painfully aware of the pathology of religious fundamentalism and am sickened by such alleged manifestations of it, there are some important details in the LA Times article that are worth considering.
Here’s something else to consider that even literal-minded authoritarians may recognize as being barbaric:
“October 7, 2012
“Israeli officials ‘honor’ settler who tortured Palestinian child, leaving him naked and bound.
“Frequent and rising Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians almost always go unpunished.
“Indeed, often, Israeli soldiers stand by and watch as Israeli settlers go on the rampage. The situation is so bad that a boy like Yousef Ikhlayl, 17, can be killed and there is no investigation or accountability.
“So when an Israeli settler got sentenced to prison for torturing and abusing a Palestinian child, it was quite an event, as Haaretz reported:
” ‘Prominent rabbis, public officials and a Knesset member, on Saturday, held a send off for a criminal about to enter prison after being convicted of abusing a Palestinian youth.
‘The event was held in the West Bank Shilo settlement in honor of Zvi Struck, who was convicted of abusing a Palestinian youth in July 2007, together with another man whose identity remains unknown. The two beat the youth up, bound him, fired their guns close to him, undressed him and threw him naked at the roadside. Three months earlier the two men had beaten up the same youth and killed a day-old kid.
‘The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Struck to 18th months in prison, which the Supreme Court extended after an appeal to 30 months.’
“According to Haaretz, ‘The send off was led by Bnei Akiva yeshivas head Rabbi Haim Drukman and Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior, Binyamin Council head Avi Ro’eh, his deputy Motti Yogev and MK [Knesset member] Arye Eldad.’
“The settler website, Israel National News, posted video and a report of the party which featured live music, many children and families, and Struck himself (wearing a red shirt and a white scarf) warmly greeting people. In the video, supporters of Struck claim that ‘the judicial system believes the Arabs first.’ Itzak Shadmi, a settler leader, said that he was fundraising to support Struck’s family”
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=91644
“Your every reply to us…”
We must be using different dictionaries, mespo.
“INDIFFERENCE synonyms: unimportance, insignificance, irrelevance, inconsequentiality”
I am uninterested in your atheist and po’s Islamic propaganda.
That is, indifferent to it.
I am interested in pointing out propaganda qua propaganda, however.
Pogo:
““mespo:
I subscribe to the Sam Harris school of criticism of religion.”
That’s like subscribing to the Helen Keller School of art criticism.”
**********************
Sam Harris is an award-winning, nationally known author (with a book on the New York Times best seller list for 33 weeks), a TED lecturer, a neuroscientist with a degree from Stanford and UCLA and teacher of ninjutsu, who, not so surprisingly, has made scads of money. He’s been recognized as an authority on the topic we’re discussing by The New York Times, Time, Scientific American, Nature, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and many other journals. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere.
How’s your life going there, doc?
Squeeky:
“Well, I got my barf bag ready and read Mespo’s link.”
********************
Thanks for the click, Squeeky.
Pogo:
“You, Inga and mespo should collaborate in finding the magic word that will crack my Olympian indifference to your opinions.”
********************
Your every reply to us proves the falsity of that statement.
Busy day at the Afghan office. In video at 3:25 mark, it’s end of day shift and time for happy hour.
Look at what that Infidel made me do.