[Dingle-Dingle]

If your religion is worth killing for..........
Please start with yourself. DD

[Dingle-Dingle]

Just had an e-mail from Sky. Apparently 55 people shared the £250,000 super six prize fund today. Makes my Prediction league guesses look a bit sick. DD

[Dingle-Dingle]

Hi Beefy,
This is Bob from next door. I’m sorry buddy, but I have a confession to make to you. I’ve been riddled with guilt these past few months and have been trying to pluck up the courage to tell you to your face but I am at least now telling in text as I can’t live with myself a moment longer without you knowing.

The truth is, I have been sharing your wife, day and night when you're not around. In fact, probably more than you, particularly in the mornings after you’ve left for work.

I haven’t been getting it at home recently, but that's no excuse I know. I can no longer live with the guilt and I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies. My wife has known for some time now and I’ve promised her that it won't happen again.

Regards Bob.

On reading this:

Beefy, feeling anguished and betrayed, immediately went into his bedroom, grabbed his gun, and without a word, shot his wife twice in the head, killing her instantly.

He returned to the lounge where he poured himself a stiff drink and sat down on the sofa. He took out his phone to respond to Bob's text and saw he had another message..

Hi Beefy, This is Bob from next door again.
Sorry about the slight typo on my last text, I expect you have worked it out anyway, but as I’m sure you noticed, my predictive text changed ‘WiFi’ to ‘Wife’.

Hope you saw the funny side of that.

DD

[talkSAFT]

Freedom of Speech:

We, in UK, value it very highly (although Politically Correct people don't rate it so much). But I'm in 2 minds whether it is so righteous.....

I listened to a debate this morning on the Radio, and a Moslem claimed that he "loved his Prophet more than his wife and family", and Mohammed had said that he forbade any image of himself, because he did not want to be glorified. I think that that statement showed a side to his followers that non-Moslems don't appreciate. Christians would hate, for example, if other religious groups showed cartoons of Christ with his trousers down (or whatever), and would be seriously OFFENDED by it all. Unfortunately there only seems to be one word for "OFFENDED" (the Eskimos apparently have 100 words for "snow"!), so the word probably doesn't do justice to how deeply offended Moslems might be.
With that in mind I can't see why Charlie Hebdo NEEDED to publish, as it did recently. (Obviously the retribution was way, way, over the top, and that doesn't need debating).

Have I got this right? Over to you.......

ps I've removed "Je suis Charlie" from my 'SIGNATURE' until I make my mind up!!!

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

All human beings have the absolute, universal right to be treated with dignity, and should be judged by others as individuals rather than part of some larger homogenous mass.

However, ideas do not have rights. That goes for religions, philosophies, political ideologies, anything. Nothing is above criticism, satire or mockery. Some individuals may take honest offence at the mockery of an idea they hold dear. Indeed, they have every right to be offended if they wish, and they also have the right to respond with words of their own. But they have no right to demand that their idea be respected at all times. No one has that right.

To me, the concept of "harm" trumps "offence" every single time. If someone says something that's liable to cause actual harm to people - i.e. perpetuating false stereotypes, inciting violence, etc - then you can bet I'll oppose it with every breath in my body. But satirising religion doesn't fall into that category. Not even close.

(If you get chance, listen to Maajid Nawaz speak on this subject; always eloquent and articulate, and leading the fight against violent god-fuelled idiots).

[betterthanbaird]

We're all from an extreme muslim area though so we're biased.

The site is slightly slow for me today, weird.

[talkSAFT]

All human beings have the absolute, universal right to be treated with dignity, and should be judged by others as individuals rather than part of some larger homogenous mass.

However, ideas do not have rights. That goes for religions, philosophies, political ideologies, anything. Nothing is above criticism, satire or mockery. Some individuals may take honest offence at the mockery of an idea they hold dear. Indeed, they have every right to be offended if they wish, and they also have the right to respond with words of their own. But they have no right to demand that their idea be respected at all times. No one has that right.

To me, the concept of "harm" trumps "offence" every single time. If someone says something that's liable to cause actual harm to people - i.e. perpetuating false stereotypes, inciting violence, etc - then you can bet I'll oppose it with every breath in my body. But satirising religion doesn't fall into that category. Not even close.

(If you get chance, listen to Maajid Nawaz speak on this subject; always eloquent and articulate, and leading the fight against violent god-fuelled idiots).

You've got to respect that there are (I dunno) a billion or so Moslems on Earth, and that a very large number will be OFFENDED by being called "god-fuelled idiots". I don't know what they teach them in their mosques, but I'm assuming that not all the billion or so have been brainwashed!
If you haven't had deep religion in your life (I haven't) it's hard to grasp how it can control your life. We (infidels) can't just dismiss it, because we don't understand it.
The nearest analogy I can think of is that, back in the day, if the Sports Argus had had a cartoon of Jeff Astle baring his arse to the Dingle fans, and the same fans knocked on his door, smacked him in the gob, and pinched his England caps, then I'd join the possee and set about the aggressors.

(Sorry - that's totally disrespectful - but Charlie might have smiled.)

Not all humans are the same - and you can even differentiate by Nation (or even City). We piss ourselves laughing at British humour, but many Yanks (with the same genes) just don't get it - and vice versa. A billion or so Moslems can't all be "god-fuelled-idiots". Only a very tiny minority would even condone what's happened in Paris, but the best part of a billion of them would have been OFFENDED (by the cartoon) because they felt that it was an attempt to laugh at a very large part of their life......so why OFFEND them (in Eskimo terms 6 foot of snow) just for the sake of Free Speech (much as we all love Free Speech)?

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

To clarify, I wasn't for a minute suggesting that all Muslims or religious people in general are god-fuelled idiots; the key word in that sentence was "violent". I was specifically referring to jihadists. If you kill people in the name of your religion, then you are violent, you are an idiot, and you are fuelled by the concept of a god; there's no two ways about it.

Yes, I accept that a large number of people will have been offended by the cartoon, but the fact remains that Charlie Hebdo had the right to criticise what they, as a magazine, feel is a harmful ideology. Some reports have suggested that Ahmed, the Muslim police officer who was killed by the terrorists, was among those offended by the cartoon, and yet he gave his life in defence of their right to mock and criticise. A fine human being who deserved better.

Again, look up Maajid Nawaz and hear what he has to say on this. He's a devout Muslim and ex-Islamist who now campaigns for progressive Islamic reform; part of that is trying to change attitudes about blasphemy and censorship. He's always worth listening to.

[talkSAFT]

Fine words from Maajid Nawaz, and good luck to him and others who wish to reform Islam.
[didn't realise you could be a devout Muslim AND ex-Islamist, though(?!) I just thought that the words of Mohammed were "written in stone"]
It's a pity that Islam doesn't have a Pope! It's up to Imams across the World to do more to spread the same ideals in every mosque.
England's Christian Church were just as grotesque a few centuries ago, when non-church-goers were put in the stocks (or whatever). I wish we would hear more from people like Maajid. Amen

[Dingle-Dingle]

Its expected that Anne Kirkbride's funeral will be a huge spectacle. DD