And if they don’t have the technology, can we give it to them?

Religion News Blog: Muslim plan to tackle extremists

Potential terrorists should be sent to rehabilitation centres and deradicalised by exposure to intense and substantial periods of genuine piety, Britain’s first counter-extremism thinktank said yesterday.

The recommendation came from the Quilliam Foundation, established by former activists of radical Islamist groups to challenge their ideology.

At its launch at the British Museum in London, the deputy director and author, Ed Husain, who used to be in the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir, said there was a sense of Muslim unity in the fight “to rescue our faith from those who have hijacked it”.

The foundation’s inaugural policy document suggests identifying potential terrorists, with support from family members and visitors to mosques, and exposing them - “hopefully voluntarily” - to genuine religiosity through mainstream imams.

Another tactic is to encourage students to wear clothing suitable for mainstream society and not “Pakistani ethnic attire suitable for a different climate”.

See, that’s what we need! An actual plan, featuring actual action. I hope this idea gets out of the think tank and into the real world.

Frankly, one of the reasons I don’t blog about nice religious people more often is that I have trouble finding things to say about stuff I agree with. But I tire of being called a racist bitch when really, I’m just an argumentative bitch. So, Muslims (and everyone else), go read.

Looks like Wikileaks is back up, so if there’s anyone who didn’t get to see Fitna before LiveLeak had to take it down (although it looks like Google hasn’t been bullied into removing their copy, which is good), Wikileaks has posted the Google video version, they have it available for viewing or download from their own servers, and they have a link to a torrent download from The Pirate Bay.

Forcing LiveLeak to take down their copy seems kind of silly now, doesn’t it?

Edit: And doesn’t it seem even more silly now that they’ve put it back up? Hooray for freedom of speech!

Ich habe schon jetzt von dem Spiegel gehört, dass LiveLeak den Film “Fitna” von ihren Servern entfernen musste. Zwar ist es ein trauriger Tag für die Menschenrechte im Internet.

For those who don’t speak German, here’s an article auf englisch.

During the day that the film was available, it prompted widespread condemnation. On Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon decried Fitna as hate speech.

“I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders’ offensively anti-Islamic film,” said Ban in a statement. “There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility.”

Incitement to violence, eh? Spoken like someone who hasn’t even seen the movie. Fitna calls for Europe to defeat Islamic ideology and for Muslims to excise the violent verses from the Quran. It does not call for violence against Muslims. So far the only people who have been incited to violence are the Muslims themselves (as usual). Nice “religion of peace” you’ve got there, guys.

This is the statement that the LiveLeaks staff has put up in place of the video:

Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly affect the safety of some staff members, LiveLeak has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.

This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realised LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.

Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one anothers culture.

We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high.

Fortunately, it was also available for download before LiveLeak pulled it, which means hopefully there are many brave souls on the internets who will be willing to mirror or torrent it. The terrorists will not win.

Edit: And here it is on Google Video. Looks like it’s on YouTube as well. We will not be cowed.

LiveLeak.com has finally released Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam movie “Fitna”. I caught it at Unorthodox Atheism last night.

Edit: LiveLeak has been forced to remove the Fitna video because of death threats that were made to their staff. Nice “religion of peace” you’ve got there.

Edit again: IT’S BACK!

I thought about watching it a second time so I could criticize it thoroughly… but I don’t want to. It was extremely upsetting to watch. It includes the footage of the beheading of Daniel Pearl, the burka-clad Afghan woman being shot in the head, video of the 9/11 attacks, bloodied and mangled terrorist attack victims, a 911 call from a woman in the World Trade Center who was (correctly) afraid she was going to die, a little Muslim girl who thinks Jews are “apes and pigs” because “Allah said so”… and I think the part that disturbs me most of all about all this is that there are people in this world who can watch all of this and think it is good and right and moral. There are people who have been so thoroughly brainwashed by the evil terrorist cult that is extremist Islam that they have had all of their morals and human empathy indoctrinated right out of them. They may be a minority, but they also must be eradicated. Their goal is our destruction.

Oh, and moderate Muslims? “Our” includes you. You may not count them as part of your religion, but they don’t count you as part of theirs, either. It is not in your best interest to keep coddling them and defending their actions. I whole-heartedly agree with Wilders’ statement at the end of the film: You must cut the hateful, violent verses out. They are a cancer on our society and yours. That goes for the Bible as well — it’s also caused more than its fair share of hatred and suffering. (Just in case anyone was planning on accusing me of religious favoritism.)

Well, this is interesting.

via Religion News Blog, Radio Netherlands: Dutch Muslims offer to air anti-Qur’an film

Amsterdam - The Dutch Muslim Broadcasting organisation has offered Dutch populist MP Geert Wilders to air his planned anti-Qur’an film. Mr Wilders has rejected the proposal. The network first wants to ascertain that Fitna does not violate any constitutional rights. The far-right politician says the demand is unacceptable.

How unexpectedly generous on the part of the Muslims — and, IMO, what they should have done from the beginning rather than giving Wilders more ammunition against them by threatening to do stupid shit like blow up embassies. By offering to show the film themselves, they demonstrate that they are not cowed or threatened by criticism and are willing to stand up for their beliefs — in a way that doesn’t involve murder or high explosives. Imagine that! And by turning down the offer, Wilders is acting as if he has something to hide. Very interesting.

Reuters: Afghans chant death to Danish, Dutch in protest

Protesters gathered around a mosque in the west of the Afghan capital after Friday prayers chanting “death to Denmark”, “death to the Netherlands, “death to America” and “death to Jews”.

Huh? How did the Jews get into this? Is that just the “angry Muslim” standby chant for when they run out of material?

Demonstrators burned Danish and Dutch flags and also an effigy of Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders, who is due to release a film thought to be critical of the Koran later this month. Wilders has given few details of the film, but in the past he has called Islam’s holy text a “fascist” book that “incites violence”.

One unidentified speaker addressing the angry crowd through a megaphone from the back of a truck said the Afghan government should expel Danish and Dutch troops and close their embassies within two days or “we will take action”.

*BOOM!*

Oh, don’t worry, that was just my irony meter. They haven’t blown up any embassies yet.

For your consideration:

Some of the stuff in this video smacks of “they’re comin’ to rape our white wimmins!” racist rhetoric, but when Muslim leaders refuse to condemn rape and even condone it, sane people have trouble not thinking that Muslims raise their men to be perverted, sex-crazed animals. Muslim women try to defend their culture’s sexual mores, but have they seen the way Muslim men talk about them?

Via The Information Paradox: Free Speech; Antithesis of Muslim Faith, and as much as that shouldn’t be true, Muslims seem to be absolutely eager to bend over backwards to prove that it is.

Religion News Blog: Muslim nations consider legal instrument to crack down on defamation of Islam

Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, leaders of the world’s Muslim nations are considering taking legal action against those that slight their religion or its sacred symbols. It was a key issue during a two-day summit that ended Friday in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.

The Muslim leaders are attempting to demand redress from nations such as Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad in 2006 and again last month, to the fury of the Muslim world.

The problem is, guys, that “blasphemy” is in the eye of the beholder. Muslims see blasphemy everywhere. Saying there is no god is blasphemy. Saying Jesus was the Messiah is blasphemy. Saying Hitler was an evil, genocidal monster and the Holocaust was real and must never be repeated is blasphemy. (Muslim fanatics love Hitler, and the President of Iran doesn’t believe the Holocaust happened, an opinion which seems to be popular in the Islamic media.) And when “blasphemy” against Muslims becomes illegal in Western countries, guess what happens next? Not being a Muslim becomes illegal. Which is what the Muslims have always wanted in the first place, since they can’t stand the idea of other religious groups being allowed to exist — especially the Jews — hypocrites much?

Like Pat Condell, I hope Europe can find the guts to stand up for freedom of speech and freedom of religion before they lose both.

MEMRI: Hamas Children TV Bunny Assud Urges Boycott of Danish Goods, Threatens to Kill Danes over Muhammad Cartoons

(What a mouthful! And before anyone makes with any death threats, remember my title was much nicer.)

Apparently this is old news. But I just felt like using this as an excuse to make an All Your Base reference and post pictures of pastries. Do I even need to write a rant about how I feel about this “U drew my profet! I keeel u!!” bullshit? Yeah, didn’t think so.

FORBIDDEN INFIDEL PASTRY AFTER THE CUT!

Read the rest of this entry »