ET. Please check out Ronin's posts ridiculing learning disabled people. If they don't warrant a ban I don't know what would. Thanks.
Do ya best. Son of crank exists, Son of cranker exists, and has posted. I am saving you the effort of looking dear fellow.
I've got my 750 back just now but I don't feel complacent. It'll need a decent test run before I can start using the :Smug: smiley
I think it's important to not get carried away with the whole anti-Muslim thing. I wouldn't mind spending a month in Saudi Arabia. I think it would be informative and interesting. When I went diving in Egypt, the instructors were great. I played pool with them. I suppose they were Muslims, but they didn't seem very bothered by it. I think one drank alcohol in the bar, and the other didn't. Cheap round. I didn't notice anyone getting the boat to face Mecca at certain times of the day. They were just regular Joes (or Mustaphas) - probably like most Muslims. Christians did live side by side with Muslims for ages with no real issues. This is just all coming to a head because of a few extremists and a media focus on extremism. I might not like Islam at all, but I can't say I'm wild about Catholicism (although if I had to choose...). I think the best way to deal with Islam is to make sure that nothing is conceded to the religion in a public way (no faith schools, sharia laws etc) and let those who wish to run their lives by is odd tenets to get on and do so. Just accept that they're a bit odd and try and find the common ground, of which there is surely plenty. That's pretty much the only way that disparate people can get on.
I'm pretty well informed thanks, I tend to take people as I find them and if I find myself directly threatened I'll deal with that accordingly. I have no time for extremists in any shape or form religious, political et al. I live in an area where followers of the Islamic faith are probably in the majority and everyone that I've ever met is just trying to peacefully get on with their life without having to endure the negative stereotype insults that are a common occurrence to them.
What I object to @Speed_Triple is the idea that you are somehow adding anything to the debate. You seem to think you are being clever by being the loudest, shoutiest Meerkat: "look at those horrible nasty people come to get us. By 2050 they'll be EVERYWHERE!!". I'm sure we are all aware of the threat posed by IS/ISIS and it's horrificly violent methods. That is not news... And yes, there are others around the world with similar motivations and methods. We must combat them, with force where necessary, and also with our force of argument: a vision of a world where tolerance and diversity prevail over bigotry and brutality. But to suggest that ALL MUSLIMS are the same is lazy and simplistic and just another form of bigotry. And it doesn't in any way offer a solution to the current problems. You leave that to others as you say. Well done - thanks for your input.
Absolutely right. Before I became a journalist I worked in the oil industry and used to travel to Egypt as a result. I met lots of great people there then - in the late 70s/early 80s. They were crooked to a man but great fun. The problem is that I bet many there have been cowed by the fundamentalist violence that breaks out every now and then. I wouldn't want to go there now. The last time I did - in 1993 - we had an armed guard with us all of the time as it was shortly after the massacre of all those tourists at the temple of Queen Hatshepsut (our called always called it the Temple of Queen Hot Chicken Soup!) Actually I have worked out that I've visited Egypt more times than any other country except France, which still leads it 14 to 7!
I think you know exactly what I mean and if you don't I would be surprised. You think I'm an idiot - fine but keep it to yourself - and have likened my idiocy to that of learning disabled people "licking windows" and needing to "wash their hands" after eating. You really are a piece of work ... Anyway I think you've been slapped down by the powers that be now.
Was Alan Boom Boom Minter there, then? Because you said in an earlier topic, as a junior journalist you had to interview him. He retired in 1981, when you were working in the oil industry. Just sayin', like.
Nowhere have I ever suggested that ALL Muslims are bad. As I said, I regularly have members of the Muslim community in my house. My son's Muslim friends started staying overnight when he was at primary school and I took care to ensure that they were not exposed to our Saturday morning fry-up. I did ban them for a while for making anti-semetic remarks but let them back once they'd grown up and no longer voiced such bigotry in front of me. However, I know their allegiance is to Islam and not Britain and they have attempted to convert my son - as is their right - because he's an atheist. I offer solutions by the way I behave towards others, if that's ok by you. I always speak kindly to and about people, whatever their race or creed, unless they lose the right to such kindness - as fundamentalists are wont to do I think you'll find.
And your point is? I interviewed him in 1984 or 1985 when I was working in Crawley. He lived nearby. I didn't say he was still boxing!! I left the oil industry in 1982 after having worked in it since graduating in 1978. So late 70s/early 80s. Ok? When I went in 93 it was on holiday.
I'm not entirely certain of the mechanism for how this debate is unfolding. However, as I see it, there are two contentions: 1 - Islamic values do not resemble "British values" or vice versa. Are we agreed on this or is there a counter-argument? 2 - by projecting the way that birth rates are currently behaving, it is likely that Islamic followers with form the majority of citizens in the UK. Now I'm not trying to stifle free speech here *cough* but surely this is worth discussing, in favour of talk about window-licking and other marginal activities? So, to actually push the debate forward ... In the next fifty years, will Islamic values evolve or mutate in order to better align British values, or is the reverse more likely? Will "Muslim birth rates" continue at current levels or will they gradually slow down, the way they have amongst other sections of the community, namely Christians and atheists? Food for thought - whilst we are all the same under the skin, it is what goes on under the skull the determines how well people get on. If in 2050 (taking the contention currently on the table), the majority of citizens follow Islam in a form that closely resembles what it is today, does anyone foresee any problems or is there the belief that "we all need to get along together and that is exactly what will happen". Speedos, if I had any right to ask you to hold back from commenting on this before others have done so ... I would gladly exercise that right. As things stand, I can only ask that you wait for others to put forward their views - if any. For instance, if someone says that this is a lot of talk and worry over a complete non-issue, can they demonstrate how they came to this conclusion? I for one will be relieved if I can believe it.
We atheists/humanists don't do fundamentalism. All that stuff about fighting to the death for everyone's right to hold an opinion different to ours, as bequeathed to us by a certain enlightened M. Voltaire, rather gets in the way!
i recon this generation watered down by the next and by the next wont give a monkeys if backed up with government policy and people with the good British values
Clearly you are considering them a homogeneous population and associating them with the previously-mentioned threat from Islamic fundamentalists. Your scare-mongering would be rather pointless if we were to assume that by 2050 most of Britain's Muslims will be comfortably middle-class, having the usual 1.9 kids and watching X-Factor?
