Political discussion here. Any reasonable opinion is welcome, but due to the sensitive nature of the topic area, please be nice and respectful to others. No flaming or trolling, please. And please keep political commentary out of the other board areas and confine it to this area. Thanks!
Larycia Hawkins wrote:“I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind,” she wrote. “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book … But as I tell my students, theoretical solidarity is not solidarity at all. Thus, beginning tonight, my solidarity has become embodied solidarity.”
They start from the same place but, end up in different places. Muslms don't believe that Jesus is the son of God. They read the Bible though but, that's just part 1 of the whole story to them.
Christians think the Bible is real but, the Koran is fiction. I think they are both fiction so, I would fire them all.
I really don't know how to react to this stuff. Christians/Muslims, Democrats/Republicans, groups in competition for people's souls.
There are several of these stories lately about high school or college teachers getting in trouble for voicing various opinions. While I don't want to live in a society where people's thoughts and opinions are strictly policed, I also think it's common knowledge that teachers should mostly keep quiet about their various political and religious beliefs in the classroom. A lot of students get upset if their teacher uses the classroom as a captive audience to talk about some political or religious cause they're interested in.
Teachers are allowed to have their own views, just like anybody else, and to express them in their own private lives however they want. But I have had my university bosses get after me for things I have posted on Facebook or Twitter because they felt that my social media presence is an extension of my work life. I don't 100% agree with that, but I can see why they feel that way. My Facebook page does identify me as a teacher at my university, and people have a hard time separating the two entities.
I still think this school is dumb for what they've done to this teacher. But I'm just saying that if you want to stick up for other religions and loudly support them, you probably shouldn't work at a Christian college. That isn't going to go over well with a restricted crowd like that.
While I understand where you are coming from Mori, what prevents the students from spewing hateful rhetoric on campus or among one another? I'm guessing with this being a Christian college, there was a lot of very prejudicial and ignorant talk coming from the students after the attack in San Bernardino. This teacher was likely trying to send a message of positivity and hope some of the students would come to a level of acceptance of Muslims instead of painting a broad stroke consensus that all Muslims practice and preach hate.
I'm guessing the message came from a good place and what better environment than that of possibly young, ignorant students that have been raised to see things one way because they have been blinded by their upbringing in strong faith.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
(CNN)After a teacher at a Virginia school handed out a standard homework assignment on Islam, such an angry backlash flooded in that it prompted officials to close every single school in the county as a safety precaution.
I feel like we're going back in time as time goes on.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
Soon we'll be segregating all of the Muslims from the whites in school.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
I posted this today on Facebook but had to share as this situation is just getting ridiculous in our country.
Interesting. 12,000+ gun related deaths in the country this year.
14 people were killed in San Bernardino, which was absolutely tragic and I don't want to take anything away from the tragedy that was...
But let's ban all Muslims from coming into the country. Fear mongering works well, as evidence by the alarming number of Americans that stand behind Donald Trump. It's scary.
As someone that works closely with many Muslim Americans, I can say wholeheartedly that they are some of the kindest people I've met with huge hearts. By preventing their family and friends, equally great people, from entering the country, I'm not sure what we're looking to achieve other than enraging those that already hate us and creating new generations of young people abroad and outside of this country that hate us.
Imagine if another country flew over our cities and bombed our neighborhoods to get rid of bad seeds that live around us, killing our families and closest friends to take out some targets. It's easy to say "well, they should just move away from the bad guys so they aren't collateral damage". Right. Because an area controlled by terrorism and living in poverty has easily accessible information to know that they live in an air strike targeted area (and have the financial means to just up and leave). I'd probably hate a foreign entity that killed my family, friends and destroyed where I live with no plans to rebuild the infrastructure surrounding me too.
But hey, it's easy for us all living here with no fear of such things ever happening while we zone out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and bust out selfies and enjoy the perks of being Americans.
Just had to share something that I think about when we hear our politicians in debate talking about carpet bombing the hell out of nations and regions day and night to solve problems. We just create more animosity and problems down the road. The answer isn't in killing with indiscretion. The answer is in working against ingrained ideologies and utilizing technology to intercept communications, especially those that are encrypted, as is the case with the majority of communication among ISIS and other groups.
This convo is all over the place but the point is that change will only occur with true critical thinking on how to intercept information to prevent what may occur and figuring out what is causing this extremism in the first place at the source vs. simply dropping bombs or banning an entire population of people, the majority of which have nothing but love, hope and dreams like all of the rest of us.
I don't even involve myself in politics these days because it's a sad state of affairs driven by dollars and those in the highest levels of power. It's a popularity contest with a bunch of faces that are all really just puppets driven by dollars and ulterior motives.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
I want to be tolerant of all ideas and points of view. But when I find out that somebody is anti-gay or anti-Muslim (or anti-any-demographic-group, really) I immediately know they are an idiot.
Mori Chu wrote:I want to be tolerant of all ideas and points of view. But when I find out that somebody is anti-gay or anti-Muslim (or anti-any-demographic-group, really) I immediately know they are an idiot.
That is still being tolerant. You waited until they proved they were an idiot before making your judgment.
Stopping what ISIS is trying to do requires winning over hearts and minds. Not just them but, us as well. Obviously FOX has done a great job of making their viewers believe that all Muslims are terrorists and have them all scared to death. Many thousands of Americans killed by Americans every year is nothing to worry about. 14 deaths every decade by terrorists and we mobilize the military and spend trillions finding those responsible even though those responsible are already dead.
ISIS is a problem but, not as much for us as it is over there. Several factors I believe have brought about their rise. The Arab Spring has left several countries without stable governments and allows ISIS to grow. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have also added to that instability and added to the Muslim anger at the West. Only a small percentage have become violent but, they have been able to recruit young people from all over including the US to fight for their cause, which is the end of the world.
You can't bomb an idea. You have to have a better idea. The world will have to come together, especially Muslims and Christians and denounce ISIS together to convince young impressionable minds that joining ISIS is just stupid. Bombing ISIS will slow their advance and kill some of them but, to win the war they are going to have to win hearts and minds. Right now FOX is giving ISIS everything they want. Angry Americans wanting Muslim blood. The opposite of winning hearts and minds. Those people have been making their voices heard loudly. If you disagree with their approach you will have to make your voice heard as well the do any good.
Mori Chu wrote:I want to be tolerant of all ideas and points of view. But when I find out that somebody is anti-gay or anti-Muslim (or anti-any-demographic-group, really) I immediately know they are an idiot.
That is still being tolerant. You waited until they proved they were an idiot before making your judgment.
Maybe so. But I want to judge the behavior/idea and not the person. But when I hear that they hate gays or Muslims, I just decide that they are irredeemable as a person. I feel a little bad about having such a strong reaction.
Mori Chu wrote:I want to be tolerant of all ideas and points of view. But when I find out that somebody is anti-gay or anti-Muslim (or anti-any-demographic-group, really) I immediately know they are an idiot.
That is still being tolerant. You waited until they proved they were an idiot before making your judgment.
Maybe so. But I want to judge the behavior/idea and not the person. But when I hear that they hate gays or Muslims, I just decide that they are irredeemable as a person. I feel a little bad about having such a strong reaction.
Maybe it makes me a bad person, but I do the same. I can't separate people's ideas from their makeup. I don't think they are separate.
So if you are a grown adult and have hate towards anyone because of their beliefs (or their actions that don't infringe on inalienable rights), you are not worth being part of a civilized world.
Mori Chu wrote:I want to be tolerant of all ideas and points of view. But when I find out that somebody is anti-gay or anti-Muslim (or anti-any-demographic-group, really) I immediately know they are an idiot.
That is still being tolerant. You waited until they proved they were an idiot before making your judgment.
Maybe so. But I want to judge the behavior/idea and not the person. But when I hear that they hate gays or Muslims, I just decide that they are irredeemable as a person. I feel a little bad about having such a strong reaction.
Maybe it makes me a bad person, but I do the same. I can't separate people's ideas from their makeup. I don't think they are separate.
So if you are a grown adult and have hate towards anyone because of their beliefs (or their actions that don't infringe on inalienable rights), you are not worth being part of a civilized world.
Round of applause to both of you. It's sad to see a growing part of the world that feels the opposite.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
Larycia Hawkins wrote:“I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind,” she wrote. “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book … But as I tell my students, theoretical solidarity is not solidarity at all. Thus, beginning tonight, my solidarity has become embodied solidarity.”
It should be noted that this occurred at an evangelical school, and the terms of employment include faithfully representing their particular brand of nuttery.
Larycia Hawkins wrote:“I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind,” she wrote. “I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book … But as I tell my students, theoretical solidarity is not solidarity at all. Thus, beginning tonight, my solidarity has become embodied solidarity.”
It should be noted that this occurred at an evangelical school, and the terms of employment include faithfully representing their particular brand of nuttery.
Yeah I get that. But denying that the three main religions based on the Old Testament are actually based on the Old Testament is crazy.
