Originally posted by Dowding
Mjolnir - I was assuming that, unlike Maniac, Hortlund was making a non-infantile argument. I'd safely assumed Maniac was trolling, but Hortlund was not - evidenced by the fact that he's expressed these same views repeatedly in the past.
The argument I outlined (in quotes), which you quoted and which maniac began his thread with is that of a bigot. I'm sorry if that word, and it's correct application, offends you.
Haven't really found anything yet that offended me (except possibly for Teddy Baby). It's just that the term 'bigot' gets thrown around this forum so often I think most people have no idea what it really means anymore. You can't honestly say that you hold no biases whatsoever, because everybody has some. Some are just more apparent than others, and some people choose to be more vocal about them.
Now Hortlund's declaration that "Islam = pure evil" is indeed a highly biased opinion. Perhaps you were right is using the term bigot. Islam, by and large, is a peaceful religion, as anyone who has studied it knows. Like I said, not all muslims stone women to death in public. Different countries interpret the Quoran in different ways. A classic example is the way females dress. Some countries still go by the "nothing exposed" rule (Saudi Arabia), some countries have taken a more western approach and don't care if their women wear jeans and t-shirts (Jordan and Egypt come to mind).
Nonetheless, if you boil his replies down to the "some arabs do this so they're all bad" arguement like you did, then it becomes just as trivial as maniac's "some americans do this so they're all bad in the eyes of arabs" that started this thread, and we're back at square one. Everywhere you go in the world, there are weirdos. It's a fact of life. The other 98% of the world sits back and watches them and thinks "Gee I'm glad more people aren't like that."
