"The Innocence of Muslims"

Well, after watching events unfold, I figured I'd weigh in on the situation with the American ambassador in Libya being killed. Romney wasted no time in taking advantage of the situation for political gain, something that even some of his fellow Republicans have tried to distance themselves from. Of course, Islamophobes see themselves as the big winners in this, despite the fact that most Muslims, while being very offended by the video in question, were quick to condemn the attack.

The video in question is titled "the Innocence of Muslims," and as I understand, YouTube is taking it down. I watched what I believe to be the video myself - it's about fourteen minutes, and has all the grace and reliability of a badly-made Nazi propaganda film against Jews. It basically goes over the old anti-Islam propaganda, then makes it more offensive with crappy acting telling a crappier story.

Here's the video for those curious. Watch it now, as I don't know how much longer it will remain on YouTube:

The importance of watching it is easily explained: much like the deniers of the holocaust, it seems some are already suggesting that this video never happened... like our old "friend," Rush Limbaugh.

I am not saying the attack was entirely because of the video. That may not even be the main reason behind it. But, if I were to make a similar anti-Christian video (and believe me, there is plenty of material in the Bible to be used for such a video), there'd be many calling for my death. And, it wouldn't be anything new to me. Not on this blog, but I have had death threats over religion on a number of occasions. For my insistence on keeping church and state separate. For my defending people of all faiths as a whole, and pointing out similarities between certain religions that they'd rather not think about. It's always, "but we're right and they're wrong!" Horse shit! Anyone who truly has faith in their own religion doesn't feel a need to make everyone else believe it. To need everyone else believe as you do implies one (or both) of two things: 1) you're insecure in your faith and need everyone else to do it, too, or 2) you're twisting a religion to your own beliefs to gain control and dominion. This goes for atheists or anti-theists, too.

Others are saying that we are blaming the victim in this. After all, we do respect freedom of speech, yes? And this video is only an exercise of such, yes? Well, that depends. I've often pointed out the double standards many hold when exercising freedom of speech. Consider that it's been determined that the Ku Klux Klan is protected by free speech. But what about the Black Panthers? The two really aren't any different. And of course we're well familiar with extremist Christians who say that anyone else asserting rights to their own beliefs are violating the Christians' rights. 

But, if you announce you're going to go kill someone, the police will certainly have a talk with you about that. If you slander someone or print lies about them, you can be sued, to say the least. I think it would be interested if some of the minority religions actually did start suing Christian organizations and authors for libel. So basically, freedom of speech ends where you start infringing on the rights of others... whether it be threats or character assassination by lies. As such, yes, I believe that those who lie to incite violence (whether intended or not) do have some blood on their hands.

Personally, I say that the videos should be left up, simply because of the deniers already coming out. It's a reminder of the ignorance the Muslims are working against. Remember what I said about 9/11 being a wake-up call? Same with this - wake up!

All the bullshit aside, this is the work of extremists. If their motive was purely that video, well, that's about as pitiful as a constipated chihuahua. I doubt that's the case, though. Many people in the Middle East do like us to some extent - I hear the ambassador was actually well-liked in Libya. However, others see our presence as a violation of their sovereignty, and still others are merely desperate and easily fired up.

Re: Zombie Muhammad

I think on my first post on this blog, I said I don't claim to be a news breaker. This may be an exception. I'm sure you recently have heard the news about the Muslim who supposedly attacked the atheist "Zombie Muhammad," and the Muslim was let go. If not, here you go.

You can see how easy this is to sensationalize upon without getting the full story. Figure, there's the video... there's a recording of the proceedings. All that good stuff. That's the big reason I didn't figure this was really worth blogging about before now. I knew there was something more than was being reported, but without any kind of inside information, why bother? It inevitably degenerates into a screaming match with little to prove my point.

Well, an anonymous source did come to me. I'll leave it up to the source as to whether or not they want to self-identify, but I'll have no part in that. While one may question the reliability of an anonymous source (I often do), this source did fill in gaps. I hadn't even paid attention to this case all that much until now, more out of frustration toward this kind of mentality than anything. I don't believe that there is a hidden agenda to turn this country over to Sharia. Not one of any scale to worry about, anyway. I find myself more concerned over the Christian extremists - while I fully respect an individual's right to beliefs, extremists of any kind are dangerous, and I cannot support any religion being forced on others.

So, let's take a look at this case now. If there is video of an incident, people generally will agree with the accuser without bothering to watch the video. The site that I linked to above does have the video in question.

I've watched this video. I don't see an attack. I hear "Zombie Muhammad" dramatically screaming that he's being attacked. But, my source says that Zombie Muhammad carried a Styrofoam sign. Now, I think we all know that Styrofoam is generally pretty fragile. It'll snap easier than a twig with any rough treatment. Zombie Muhammad's sign was undamaged. Not only that, but he had no injuries. Whether the guy was attacked or not, "attack" without injuries seldom gets any punishment, especially for someone who was being deliberately provoked and has an otherwise clean record. Seriously, go sit in at your local court sometime. My understanding is that it's all public, anyway.

Next, we have the recording of the proceedings. The atheist claims he had the judge's permission to record the hearing. According to my source, he did not. Thus, he recorded it illegally. With this, he also altered the tape, which brings us to my next point:

My source tells me that the judge is not a Muslim, as claimed by the atheist and a bunch of conspiracy theorists. While Constitutionally speaking (Article VI, Paragraph 3) this shouldn't matter, to say the least, I'm going to give the conspiracy theorists the benefit of the doubt in that this could mean a certain bias. Especially if it seems the judge announced his religion as being Islam. But the point is however that this judge is decidedly not a Muslim, and if I trust nothing else my source told me, I would still trust this as being fact.

Here's the thing, as I see it: there are atheists, and there are anti-theists. An atheist doesn't believe. An anti-theist isn't content with not believing - they tend to have a special kind of insecurity. The same kind of insecurity we see from the most rabid evangelicals. The anti-theists are about hatred for religion, and those who follow a religion. Zombie Muhammad guy is an anti-theist, and not above orchestrating a character assassination to get his way. Because of that, he put both the judge and the Muslim at high risk. I don't doubt that they are both receiving a lot of threats.

So, truly... when you hear an outrageous conspiracy theory, there is honestly a good chance it's a load of crap. In this case, I believe it is. There are gaps in the evidence wide enough to drive a truck through, and those gaps were filled in nicely by what my source told me. For Christians, would you not be tempted to "attack" or at least push away a "Zombie Jesus" that was belligerent toward you and deliberately trying to provoke you? Yes, we have freedom of speech and of religion, but keep in mind that all freedoms go both ways. Muslims have a right to their religion, so long as their practices don't involve harming others, or forcing it on others. Yes, I'm aware of Muslim doctrine involving this, but so does the doctrine of every mainstream religion. It's a matter of what people choose to act on.

Stay tuned, my minions...

I recently came upon what will soon be breaking news from an anonymous inside source. While I hadn't planned on this happening when I first imagined having this blog, I am finding it to be an exciting experience. I suppose that sometimes, we aren't aware of the connections we have, or of the ones quietly following our work.

Seems there is a situation that's made the news, and has set all kinds of commentators and bloggers afire... but it is apparently not at all what it seems. I won't tell you more about this just yet, as it is late and unlike some other hacks commentators, I'm actually trying to work for a living.

Here's what you've probably already heard or read:

Pennsylvania judge dismisses charges against Muslim who attacked atheist.

Needless to say, there is more to the story... and trusting my source, the facts being reported are more than a little skewed. So, my tender lumplings... stay tuned - my next post, most likely within twenty-four hours, will have details.

Middle Eastern Stability

American officials are shocked, SHOCKED that our efforts to create stability in the middle east keep failing, and can't seem to figure out why. For my own part, I'm not sure I really want to believe our officials are that dumb.

It's easy to blame Islam, but regardless of what many in America may want to believe, religion as a whole is man made. In itself, it doesn't make people do a damned thing. It is people however that make it good or evil. People are pretty much the same around the world, and in terms of doctrine, Christianity isn't all that different from Islam. Both involve forcing themselves on others, at sword point if necessary. For those who care to dispute the link, also remember the witch trials, the inquisitions... and even how protestants were dealt with in the early days... and how protestants dealt with non-believers. Hell, one only needs to look at Westboro Baptist Church to be reminded of the true evils that exist in Christian dogma. While they preach evil, it is more or less in line with what the bible says. They even frequently cite the passages for reference. Still not convinced? Well, you can check out chick.com too, if you'd like. Still more passages cited to justify hate by the Bible. Were America not a Christian majority, it would be easy to paint Christianity as an evil religion the same as some do with Islam, citing references in the bible to back up such assertions, as some do with the Qur'an.

Again though, I don't consider Christians as a whole to be evil, the same as I don't consider Muslims as a whole to be evil. As I said, religion is man-made, and as such can adapt, despite a bible being involved, if the adherents allow it to do so.

Would you like to know what the real difference is between us and them is? It's quite simple, really - we have more to lose. "But... but... they make their women wear veils and head coverings!" Strictly speaking, Christianity makes the same assertion. But, our society has thankfully become more relaxed and comfortable since the days of the pilgrims.

Again though, it really comes down to us having more to lose than most in the middle east, although I do see some trying to push us back to the same kind of archaic society where persecution over the "wrong beliefs" is the norm. They don't value their lives all that much, because life there really is hard. So of course, if brute force is all that is used, we'll create even more terrorists than we kill. You notice how the rich ones there tend to stay alive while recruiting suicide terrorists, speaking of rewards in heaven? Yeah... that kind of illustrates what I'm talking about. Of course, we kind of see the same thing happening in America to a lesser extent. One famous example.