Moderate Muslims Don't Like Being Lumped In with Extremists? Well, Differentiate Yourselves!!

NOTE: This is an old entry that was sitting in my drafts and I decided to upload it as it reflects the state of mind I was in at a specific time in my life. Glancing over it, I guess it must have been during the Danish cartoonist controversy. Edit: No, the South Park controversy. 

So, in this blog I am going to be frank. I find myself harboring quite the distaste for Islam as of late, and I feel as though my opinions of it are becoming biased to an unfair degree. Now, I do, 100% acknowledge that the vocal majority is actually a minority, but damn it, I'm not hearing too many voices from the moderate camp coming up to try and join the conversation. I mean, it might be tough to hear them over the explosions, but the-

See?

That's not nice.

Or isn't it? It's fucking true, is it not?

See?

This is what I mean.

Having a Relationship with God

WARNING! EXTREME

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, you have a relationship with god, do you?

How fortuitous! There's this omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, omnibenevolent, eternal being which has the power to create entire universes and all of the life within them, and this being has decided to bestow upon you, one lowly human out of around 7 billion lowly humans, the very distinctive honour of having an ongoing relationship with him/her/it.

So, having made the decision, for seemingly no reason at all, to grant you this honour, this being enters your heart, hunkers down in one of your aortic valves, and remains there until the day you die, guiding you, helping you, being your spiritual guide, your confidante, your friend. And then, upon your death, this being grants you the even bigger honour of living with him/her/it for eternity in his/her/its eternal amusement park.

And all the while, there are others, just like you, who do NOT receive such gifts. They languish on the earth in spiritual limbo, so to speak, struggling with the inability to really establish a strong faith and maintain it, and for this, they are sent to the eternal torture chamber upon their earthly demise. While you munch on greasy burgers and candied apples, they get hot oil poured down their gullet. While you ride the Tilt-A-Whirl, your hair streaming around your face as your cries of joy reverberate off of the high backed seat, their screams of anguish go unheeded as the hot pokers are jabbed into their eyeballs while their lower bodies are submerged into pools of red hot magma.

And this prompts me to ask:  

What did you do differently?

Why are you granted this special privilege? What makes you so special?

Why is it that some people's lives are saved by this being while others perish?


Why is it that some rappers careers' are helped by this being, while others are left to their own devices?


Why is it that some sports teams are helped by this being, while others are left to fend for themselves?


Why is it that some people are seemingly designed to be skeptical and incredulous when it comes to metaphysical claims, yet others are not only made to be credulous and not skeptical, but also granted that aforementioned special relationship?


What makes some people so important?

Here's a question for you: Are some people actually extra special and the deserving recipients of both a personal relationship with the creator of the entire universe and access to his/her/its eternal amusement park, or are they just people with incredible hubris, who don't even realize how incredibly narcissistic and self centered this claim really sounds? I mean, imagine, claiming that you're so special, so chosen, that the creator of the world is going to bestow upon you a relationship and eternal life. Wow.

Wow indeed.

Personally, I vote for incredible hubris. I think religion plays right into this reward schema without triggering the realization within these people that what they are claiming reeks of literally incredible hubris. Think about it: So many people die and go to hell, never knowing god.....but not you! Oh no, you get a personal relationship and eternal salvation. You have the corrrect theology, the correct god, and the relationship to seal the deal of eternal bliss, amidst a sea of torment. How fortuitous.

How fortuitous indeed.

Screens: Obsidian's South Park RPG Screenshots. Looks JUST Like the TV Show

Here are 3 screens from the new South Park Role Playing Game being developed by RPG masters Obsidian. Tell me these screenshots don't look exactly like the TV show. Ya, that's right- you can't, because they DO.

Draw Muhammad Day: A Post Hoc Analysis

Note: This is an older post that I had sitting around in draft form. Excuse the slightly belated timing.

Here's a barely literate post from a jackass I unfortunately have to deal with on occasion on an internet forum speaking about Draw Muhammad Day:

I am all for freedom of speech, whether it will insult billions of people or not, since i can tolerate it. i, along with billions others are not stupid enough to start threatening people over it or send death threats over it or even kill a few of it. because we Muslims werent TAUGHT to react like that. but the moment some of you start taking the piss out of us INNOCENT people just because of a bunch of minority dumbasses, then its clearly obvious, that whatever shit your doing, was simply not gonna work. coz like i have been saying all along: you can express freedom of speech, but insulting people is not the RIGHT and FAIR way to do it.

Now, this is the type of sentiment I have seen expressed quite a bit since all of this has come to light. People who claim to be all for free speech (before adding conditions to it; cleary they don't actually grasp the concept of 'free,' but I digress) stating that Draw Muhhamad Day is not an exercise in free speech but rather a day meant to do nothing but insult and enrage.

These people have missed the point entirely.

Granted, I do concede that for many, Draw Muhhamad Day, or DMD, as I will refer to it going forward, was an excuse to insult and enrage. But for the rest, DMD represented exactly what it was purported to: a day dedicated to free speech and the exercise thereof. Well, that, and more. Much more.

See, the people making these sort of claims with respect to DMD don't seem to grasp the other point of the day at all. The day was dedicated to the exercise of free speech, yes, but also, and perhaps just as (even more?) importantly, it was dedicated to consciousness raising, to borrow from Dawkins. The message needed to be sent and reinforced: Non Islamic people do NOT live by Islamic law. We are not bound by it, we do not recognize it, and we are not duty bound to heap upon it any reverence or respect. In fact, we're free to admonish it and heap disdain and insults upon it and its followers if we so desire. The point is, no matter how far one does (or does not) take it, the message was that YOU say drawing this man is verboten. Okay, fine. That applies to you, but you do NOT get to dictate to the rest of the world what we can and cannot do.

They do not consider themselves bound by Christian or Hindu laws, correct? What makes them think an atheist or  a Christian would be bound by the laws of their religion? The point was to drive home this very, well, point (awkward phrasing FTL). Basically, DMD was supposed to:

1. Drive home the idea that we are not bound by Islamic law. 
2. Demonstrate how silly it is to be mortally offended by a drawing. It's completely silly.
3. Exercise our free speech and show those who would like to take it away that we will not allow them to do so. 
4. Show people that free speech means free speech. Free speech is only free if it is not restricted, and so, if you must reign in or attenuate your speech in any way, then it's not free. Sure, self censorship is fine, and perhaps even ideal at times, but note the preface: Self. Being FORCED to censor oneself violates the very idea of free speech.
5. To show all religious practitioners that the days of religion getting a free pass are numbered. Any and all ideas should be up for scrutiny, and any and all religious commands are apt to be disregarded, especially by those who aren't in the religion to begin with.  

I'm not advocating that anyone go out of their way to insult a large group of people. At the same time though, sometimes the end justifies the means, and if we must offend a group of people en route to making an important point, then so be it. And, frankly (here comes the insulting part) if a bunch of adults are going to get offended at a stick figure drawing with a man's name above it, they seriously, seriously need to step back and re-evaluate things. They're nothing but irrational, emotive, reactionary morons at that point, especially if they think a death threat is warranted.

And to think the whole ban on drawings came out of the concept of idolatry (yes, just like xianity). How the hell does anyone think idolatry is relevant to someone who disbelieves in god in the first place?

Talk about irrational belief......