Let them Burn Bibles

[Dinner]

Felch, depends on the ethnic group. Either way race is besides the point.

[Al B. Sure!]

Railing against Italians or Irish is no different than railing against Blacks. It doesn't matter if you're the same 'race' (race is a construct anyway) as the Irishman. It's still prejudiced and not meaningfully different than racism.

I can not fathom how Felch and Oerdin don't understand this.

[Dinner]

Really what you're saying is that culture or cultural norms (or even lack there of) are not a valid thing to criticise. I reject that idea completely. They're not holy or above reproach so they're a fair thing to critique.

[regexcellent]

Any country where you can go to jail for being raped deserves our scorn.

[Al B. Sure!]

Any country where you can go to jail for being raped deserves our scorn.

Look within, sir.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 (King James)

28If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;

29Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.

It is your faith that preaches the same.

[giblets]

No Christian country does that. Maybe you should stop telling Christians what they believe.

[Al B. Sure!]

No Christian country does that. Maybe you should stop telling Christians what they believe.

Which is why we're there to remedy these issues. We took out the oppressive Taliban. Why should we leave Afghanistan alone to allow more to suffer?

[The Mad Monk]

Because they don't pay our taxes.

[giblets]

Which is why we're there to remedy these issues. We took out the oppressive Taliban. Why should we leave Afghanistan alone to allow more to suffer?

How exactly has occupying Afghanistan for ten years had any positive effect on their culture so far? They still kill people every time some dumb**** burns a Quran. What do you want to do, send all of their children to re-education camps to be assimilated into western ways? That will never happen. Continuing to occupy the country won't accomplish anything.

[C0ckney]

That's what we're told on the TV anyway. That we're there to help the Afghans help themselves improve their own lives. Build roads, which they then destroy & mine, build schools, which they then blow up or burn, feed their starving people because they're unable to even feed themselves, build irrigation systems to help remedy the situation previous, and of course give them aid money because they're always asking for more of that. Hell, their elected government is begging us not to leave because they need our help but with the other hand they whip up public anger against us over the most trivial nonsense (trash getting burned or not letting them execute religious minorities simply for being religious minorities, etc...).

Yes, I'd say we've done them a whole lot of favors none of which they actually deserve.

you should stop watching television.

we invaded afghanistan as revenge for 9/11. to capture osama bin laden and to topple the taliban regime which had had sheltered him. we succeeded in one of those objectives. however the narrative then changed to an idea of nation building, the liberal interventionalist idea, we can win hearts and minds by using our troops to provide security and use our money to build a better life for the people. sounds great doesn't it? except there was no realistic plan to actually achieve these ends and a deep ignorance of the recent history of afghanistan amongst western commanders and leaders. combined with a shift of focus and resources to iraq, this was fatal to any chance of success.

afghanistan had to have a government so we set one up, with a fig leaf of democratic legitimacy. they have proved themselves both inept and corrupt. no better than the 'warlords' on the other side. worse, we backed and continue to back them with our troops and money. the people, understandably, lost patience with the lack of progress, the lack of security, the lack of real improvements to their lives and in increasing large numbers turned against the useless government and the occupying forces backing them.

meanwhile there has been an unending and intensifying war, a war which claims increasing number of civilian lives and has spread thruought the country. we have not ever seriously tried to find a diplomatic solution, instead preferring to send more troops, more guns, dropping more bombs and killing more people. this has completely failed. we've achieved nothing, in fact, probably less than nothing, at enormous cost and most of that cost has been paid in afghan blood.

[C0ckney]

Which is why we're there to remedy these issues. We took out the oppressive Taliban. Why should we leave Afghanistan alone to allow more to suffer?

[Hauldren Collider]

They're essentially the West Virginia of Central Asia. And just like West Virginia, they deserve our mockery and contempt. But that mockery and contempt should not be confused for racism.

QFT

[Al B. Sure!]

QFT

Yawn... I still want an explanation how a WASP railing against Italians is different than the same WASP railing against Blacks.

[Felch]

Which is why we're there to remedy these issues. We took out the oppressive Taliban. Why should we leave Afghanistan alone to allow more to suffer?

Afghanistan's suffering is caused by Afghanistan. We didn't liberate them from foreign occupiers. We overthrew the government that they established, and now they want to reestablish it.

[Felch]

Yawn... I still want an explanation how a WASP railing against Italians is different than the same WASP railing against Blacks.

Italians are black.