Wednesday, November 26, 2008

28 Marḥeshwan 5769: Birthday of Charles Schulz

Greetings.

Worthy causes of the day: “Make the Ban on Ivory Sales Permanent”, “Don't Gut the "Organic" Label for Fish!”, and “Tell EPA to protect our health and climate”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:
  1. “Nail bomber blames 'war on Islam”: As it is written:
    A failed suicide nail bomber left a note blaming the "disgusting" behaviour of Britons and the "war on Islam" for his attack, a court has heard.

    Nicky Reilly, 22, from Plymouth, last month admitted attempted murder and preparing an act of terrorism at Exeter's Giraffe restaurant in May.
    Mr. Reilly’s rationale for attempting to bomb a restaurant (thwarted by his bomb exploding while he was holding it, thank YHWH), is problematic:
    "In the name of God most gracious, most merciful: why I did it.

    "Everywhere Muslims are suffering at the hands of Britain, Israel and America. We are sick of taking all the brutality from you.

    "You torture and destroy Muslim lives by taking a father or a son or a brother, even you torture Muslim women.

    "In Britain it's OK for a girl to have sex without marriage and if she gets pregnant she can get an abortion so easily.

    "When you are getting drunk on Friday and Saturday night your behaviour is worse than animals.

    "You have sex in nightclub toilets. You urinate in shop doorways. You shout your foul and disgusting mouth off in the street.

    "It is unacceptable to Allah and the true religion Islam."
    First of all, there is the question of how much of this is actually correct. Mr. Reilly blames the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom for Muslim suffering, and it is correct that there is a lot of Muslim suffering on Earth. On the other hand, Islam is involved in and responsible for a large fraction of violent conflicts on this planet, and it is only to be expected that those who engage in war will suffer because of it. Secondly, Mr. Reilly treats every single individual of groups other than his as personally responsible for the actions of their country. This ignores that individuals frequently disagree with their own governments and seldom are able to singlehandedly influence their actions. Mr. Reilly therefore shows no regard for whether he might kill anyone sympathetic to his own cause. Thirdly, Mr. Reilly takes his group-level characterization past the Western-Islamic conflict to moral and social matters, making claims about people in the United Kingdom which are difficult to believe are the norm for most people living there. Again, he holds individuals responsible for the alleged sins of the group, ignoring that an individual cannot force everyone else to behave in a specific manner. (One should probably ask whether Mr. Reilly thinks we should hold every Muslim personally responsible for Mr. Reilly’s actions.) Fourthly, Mr. Reilly is not a government or the duly appointed officer of a government (e.g., a police officer), so he is not entitled to act as judge, jury, or executioner, no matter what crime anyone has done. The United Kingdom is also not a Muslim state, so he has no business trying to enforce shari‘a. All in all, he is a very sloppy thinker.
  2. “Child sex abuse claims divide Orthodox community”: Unfortunately, we Jews have our own scandals. I applaud those who have the moral courage to confront such abominations and try to make sure they do not recur rather than paper them over and pretend they never happen. Denying the existence of problems is merely wishful thinking, and wishful thinking does not work.
Today’s news and commentary:Recently YouTube had an event called “YouTube Live”. I did not watch it or feel particularly inclined to do so. However, today’s weird things are the rather strange “YouTube Live Promo: Charlie the Unicorn”:

and the likewise strange “YouTube Live: Charlie the Unicorn”:

If anyone understands them, please let me know.

Recap for anyone needs it:
“Charlie the Unicorn”:


“Charlie the Unicorn 2”:


Enjoy (or be puzzled or something) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

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