Sudan Protesters Seek U.K. Teacher's Execution (Teddy Bear Teacher)

[WillyT]

<snip>

KHARTOUM, Sudan - Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."

The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gillian Gibbons, the teacher who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation.

They massed in central Martyrs Square, outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed, although they did not attempt to stop the rally.

"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted. They called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."

<snip>

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22039372/

They really need to get her out of there now!

[AspenRose]

1. Yep...time for the Brits to sneak some military folks in and spirit her away

to safety. This is getting out of hand.

[AngryAmish]

17. Yeah, another Chinese Gordan

wait, maybe that is a bad idea...

[Ganja Ninja]

2. The religion of peace sure seems to have an awful lot of hateful

bigoted, violent lunatics for followers.

[ananda]

4. just like xtian extremists here..

and like any extremists anywhere.

The question is: what makes people radical, violent
intolerant, bigoted extremists in the first place?

What social, cultural factors and widespread memes
are operating?

Here in the USA it's the culture of the gun, AmericaFirstism,
paternal authority, corporal punishment and verbal abuse....
and poor education which fosters a religious, military and prison
mindset instead of creativity and critical thinking skills.

[cali]

5. it always cracks me up that it takes no more than 2 seconds

for people who can't bear any criticism of another culture, to jump in with their "America/Christianity is just as bad/worse" rhetoric. So predictable.

That said, this isn't really about Islam, it's about the Sudanese gov't wanting to intimidate other gov'ts who are speaking out against the actions of the Sudanese gov't. My guess is the mobs are being heavily manipulated by the gov't there.

I hope the British teacher survives this.

[dmallind]

8. Why?

Does it crack you up because you don't accept that Christians can also be idiotic bloodthirsty loons who want to make the government a theocracy?

Does it crack you up because you think we are so advanced and resilient a liberal culture that there is no chance that could ever happen here?

Does it crack you up because any parallel between one Abrahamic monotheism and another is completely absurd, and of course there is a HUGE difference between the psychology of fanatical adherents of each of them?

I mean what exactly is it that cracks you up?

[cali]

9. no, I'm fully aware that Christians can be blood thirsty idiots

who yearn for a thocracy. It cracks me up, in part, because it doesn't ever work the other way around: I've never seen comments such as the one I responded to, on a thread about Christian idiocy.

You're cracking me up too, with your pointed accusations poking out from your "questions". No, dear, I don't think we're not vulnerable to fundamentalists- but I do think it's not nearly as likely as other scenarios of our downfall. Our vulnerabilities lie much closer to ogliarchy and dictate by corporate entities.

As per your last ridiculous accusation garbed in question form, no again. Of course their are parallels between religious fundamentalists of all the Abrahamic religions. However, in the present day, it is simply a fact that fundamentalist Christians using biblical law do not control any nation. Some would argue the Israel is controlled by Jewish fundamentalists, I'd disagree with that, as well.

[dmallind]

10. Reading way too much into my post here

I've seen variations on your theme before and the answer has always been obvious to me. Chritsian lunacy is the brand of religious lunacy we know and understand, and are most in danger of. Of course we then use this analogy to understand and process any other kind of religious lunacy.

This is neither paranoia nor pointed accusation, it's simply how most peoples minds work, dear. It's the same phenomenon that means we look at Chinese pay rates and raise our hands in horror because we could not live on such a sum - we are equating their situation with the analogy most familiar to us. It's the same phenomenon that means we look at any social issues across the world and digest them as if they were happening in a rich industrialized western democracy.

If you really want to dig deeper into my motivation (and this would be reading a bit more than I intentionally put into it too, but at least it would be in the right direction) it would be I wonder why so many people can see this parochial processing when it comes to religion, but so few see it when it comes to economics or social mores, dear.

[cali]

11. LOL!!

:rofl:

You asked about the most leading questions imaginable, cupcake. now you say I'm reading too much into them? heh.

[dmallind]

13. No pussycat I asked the most throught provoking questions I could have

Sweetiepie, and you read the wrong things into them, kittykins.

LOL LOL LOL. Mature discourse! Mature discourse!

[Elspeth]

21. I agree with you that this is the kind of extremism that ANY religion is capable of showing

Someone is funding it. That's what bothers me is the people who give money and support to build this kind of radical and violent intolerance in any religion.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

15. Yep! So predictable.

Why the last time Christians buried a woman neck deep in the sand and stoned for adultery was....ummmm....well.....uh.....let me think.....hmmmm....

Well?

Maybe some of those in the Salem witch trials were adulterers.

[CJCRANE]

24. I think you're right

that there's no direct comparison to contemporary America.

But in terms of christianity, we only have to go back to the 90's and the Rwandan genocide, in which church leaders there were complicit, to see that human hysteria transcends religion and culture.

[Ganja Ninja]

6. It seems to be a common thread running through all religions.

Hateful people don't like to hate alone so they join groups and try to project their hatred as if it were God's.

[Kajsa]

12. Right!

and poor education which fosters a religious, military and prison
mindset instead of creativity and critical thinking skills.

That's just what I plan on teaching the reading classes I will sub for today.

I'm sure the classroom teacher has left those instructions on the lesson plans.

:sarcasm: :eyes:

I'll let you know for sure when I get home this afternoon.

[cali]

14. precisely

it's the kind of false comparison that poster made, that actually hinders understanding, rather than moving it forward.

[Kajsa]

30. I agree.

n/t

[CJCRANE]

20. It's just a form of mass hysteria

probably fomented by their govt.

It takes slightly different forms in different places. For instance most Americans who support the Iraq War believe that Saddam did 9/11...to me that's just another form of govt-induced mass hysteria.

But also let's be honest and say that Sudan has been a basket-case country for a long-time, anyone who goes there should be aware of what they're getting themselves into.

[Kajsa]

31. Nope, today's lesson entailed

identifying irregular verbs, conjunctions and writing rough drafts
for an essay.

No" religious, military and prison" mindset lessons today.

[Annces]

3. Steel trap minds

ready to kill.

[Cobalt Violet]

7. Barbaric woman hating morons will be barbaric woman hating morons.

:nuke:

[treestar]

16. I don't think the threats of death are really meant

It's an exaggeration that seems to be part of expression in that culture. "Death to x" seems to be a Muslim rallying cry that isn't not meant literally. The MSM is using this opportunity of trying to make all Muslims look insane. This could just be a few people. It is easy for a camera to make it look like there are hundreds. Even if there are hundreds of marchers, only one or two of them may have said such sentiments, and they may not mean it literally. This is the MSM trying once again to make all Muslims look bad and evil so we have an excuse to invade their countries and kill them.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

19. "death by firing squad" sounds rather literal to me

Besides all Muslims but the most nutty have said this whole thing has been blown out of proportion.

[Elspeth]

22. What about parents who name their kids Mohammed?

Will they also be killed?

[AspenRose]

25. To name a son Mohammed is considered a compliment and honor

To name an OBJECT or ANIMAL after the Prophet is considered an abomination (and more in the eyes of some).

There are rules for this, and of course, not all Muslims agree

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7115821.stm

[Elspeth]

28. Ah. Thank you for the information

Wasn't it the kid himself who wanted to name the bear?

[WinkyDink]

27. Yes, because there certainly have been no actions to indicate this isn't metaphorical.

*HEAVY sarcasm*

[truebrit71]

18. Self delete

.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. An omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, God that needs protection from Teddy Bears??

What a wuss.

[Norwood]

26. It all comes down to whats sociology acceptable

Here in the US the sentence that she received and the big protest that demanded her execution would never happen (at least for now) because the vast majority of us would think its ridiculous. Im not an expert on the middle east by no means but it seems to me that many of these countries are stuck in the middle ages. Both Christianity and Islam have the propensity to be extremely brutal and violent, the only reason you hear more about the violence and intolerance in Islam is because its still considered socially acceptable in many of these countries. Thats why the far right fundamentalist christian movement concerns me so much. They would like nothing more than to take us back to these dark ages and make the stoning of a liberal or a gay person commonplace. Religion can be used for both good and evil. Sadly its most often the latter.

[YoungDUer]

29. Classic effects of a failed state

nt