Just how ridiculous can these 'protests' get?

[ludwig]

Isn't there something badly wrong when a cheap crappy video made specifically for the purpose of causing trouble can provoke such knee-jerk outrage. Shouldn't it just be dismissed as the rubbish it is? How thin skinned can these morons be?

People like this don't help ..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...-middle-east-19619646

Cynical hijacking of the issue for political purposes. It wouldn't surprise me if it was an organisation like his that made the thing in the first place.

[ludwig]

Very well put kromovaracun.

[anotheoldgit]

andy-hughes

/// Someone insulted you, and you took it on the chin. That's because you are a Western man, with commensurate behavioral attitudes, which are typical of people of the West. ///

I didn't think I would ever see you put that down in black & white Andy.

Are you actually admitting that 'Western Men' have a superior behavioural attitude to those 'Dusky' Middle Easterners?

[factor-fiction]

I don't think andy-hughes said the Western way was 'superior'

[Mike25]

Its sad that in the 2012 people still believe and will kill for something they have never seen and will never see!

[andy-hughes]

Good afternon AOG - I see you are wearing your Devil's Advocate costume today!

No, that is not what I meant at all.

It could equally be argued that Western men are too lilly-livered to actually stand and fight for what they believe - but that's not what I meant either!

The point I was making is that a national characteristic of western societies, and yes I am generalising, but I atill think the point is valid - is to accept an insult calmly and respond in a rational manner, hopefully by tgaling things through.

This is also the response of the Muslim faith, aside that is from the extremist minority who do an excellent job in tying all their fellow believers in with them as some sort of hair-trigger psychopaths with 'Who are you looking at?@ tattooed on their foreheads!

Different yes - superior, no - but an excellent try!

[joko]

i saw this on a news forum a few days ago and was horrified to note that majority of the posts - and there were hundreds - were totally and utterly blaming the film maker for the riots and murders, and calling for the film maker to be held 100% responsible, imprisoned, killed, beheaded, etc etc - very few people noted that actually the people who rioted and killed are the guilty ones.
Most seemed to be of the opnion that he knew what would happen - because thats how they always react to things - so its all his fault... even saying that they were provoked and so what they did was understandable because it was 'their way'!

I was also shocked, but not totally surprised, to note that majoriy of those were americans or muslims ...

I am glad to see trusty old answerbank is not full of people with these addled views.

[Mike25]

joko, the film maker must have known that someone would get killed over his video, therefore he should be held accountable!

[joko]

andy and aog - i would say they have a vastly superior behavioural attitude!

rioting and murder are utterly abhorrent and wrong behaviour, especially when it seems to be done so easily and willingly, with very little actual cause - and on the whole that is not as common an occurrence in the western world as it is over there...

western people tend to try to deal with problems in more civil ways, in comparison

[Mike25]

Joko- life is cheap over, the USA killed a million people in the name of war on terror and not much said about it, Bush/Blair are free man.

[joko]

but he didnt actually kill anyone.

and he cannot have 'known' that.

[Mike25]

How can he not have known that this would have happened when this kind of thing has happened in the past when other videos have been made! This was his sole purpose, to cause hurt and destruction!

[Kerosene]

Kromovaracun,

I'm not a Muslim, don't know if anyone else on here is? So to make assumptions on their beliefs and reactions is a false premise - unless you of course are well versed in islamic culture and religion? I'm certainly not.

We tend to second guess why these things happen, but none of us is really any better qualified than the next westerner - are we?

[jno]

I'm not calling for an international law to make it illegal for anyone to insult ludwig.

No, but that's basically because you're ludwig and they're not. Different people react in different ways. I don't think the fact that some people don't react the same way as you do means there's something badly wrong with the world.

Just the opposite - the reaction was entirely predictable, and was no doubt predicted (as your OP suggests), which suggests the world is proceeding precisely along its usual course.

[joko]

how can he have 'known' that they would kill some random people?

he intended to cause a stir, but i very much doubt he intended for anyone to die.

he is a naive fool... but he is not a killer

[emmie]

this is not a direct response to the OP, but not sure anyone mentioned this, which surely is about as appalling as it gets. It seems if you have any kind of opinion on Islam, according to these people you should not express it, otherwise you will end up like Salman Rushdie.

http://www.guardian.c...bounty-increased-film

[Kerosene]

em,

Funnily enough I was thinking about Salman Rushdie when I first saw this thread, but I'm also quite shocked to see in your link that the Iranians have issued another Fatwah against him?

Where will this all end? Are we on the slippery slope to WW3? God forbid!

[emmie]

not another, they have just upped the blood money to kill him. They are indeed madmen, and quite honestly i can see more riots happening in the capital, and am beginning to wonder whether we should move to somewhere safe, perhaps the far reaches of the Arctic.

[naomi24]

Andy-Hughes, //I was at considerable pains to point out that I do not for one moment think that an insult to one's faith should be met with violence - but we must remember that thes are the actions of extemeists, and not the Muslim faith as a whole.//

I think we’re all aware, without being told, that these are not the actions of the Muslim faith as a whole. However, when you say // The Muslim faith does not advocate violence and murder either.//, that is not entirely true because it depends upon its adherents’ interpretation of the Koran. Just as it’s true to say all Muslims are not extremists, it’s also true to say that Muslim extremists abide by a literal interpretation of the Koran. To those people, the infidel - you, me, and everyone else who isn't Muslim - is deemed to be an enemy of Islam - and if we are ever to attempt to resolve this problem we must get our heads out of the sand and acknowledge that.

[Duncer]

"The latest controversy over an Islamophobic film would not have occurred if Salman Rushdie had been killed"


I could argue that the "latest controversy" wouldn't have happened if so many people didn't slavishly follow the teachings of a man who may or may not have existed? But I won't!

[ludwig]

// No, but that's basically because you're ludwig and they're not. Different people react in different ways //

That's exactly right. Reasonable people react reasonably by initiating a discussion on answerbank, and stupid bigoted peasants react with rioting, murder, and ludicrous demands for protests against a whole country because of the actions of a single individual.

// I don't think the fact that some people don't react the same way as you do means there's something badly wrong with the world. //

No, neither do I, and If that had been the argument I was making there might be some point in you saying it. But it wasn't, so there isn't.

What's your point though jno, other than to be contrary.
Do you think the rioting and murder is a reasonable reaction ? Is it wrong of me to criticise it?