General Chat

As an elderly person used to seeing very pleasant, gentle and loving orange dressed men in our city centres chanting for over 50 years, I am amazed to see this BBC story today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22356306

I am staggered. But there are so many flashpoints for this rigid and illiberal interpretation of Islam. In Sri Lanka and Burma, the Buddhists have begun to do something about it and 40 have been killed in clashes. In the west, animal rights activists may be upset about halal meat, but flashpoints are more likely to emerge over women's rights and the education of children of an Islamic background, I would have thought.

I watched coverage in the middle of the night (don't ask) and I thought I had misheard who was doing the attacking!

Yes that was stereotyping before anyone points it out to me :-P

The main five rules that Buddhists live by are:

Do not take the life of anything living. (Do not kill)
Do not take anything not freely given. (Do not steal)
Abstain from sexual misconduct and sensual overindulgence.
Refrain from untrue speech, (Do not lie)
Do not consume alcohol or other drugs. The main concern here is that intoxicants cloud the mind.

For them to become angry like this seems so out of character. But the Islamic world needs to undertand very clearly that any attempt to gain more Islamic territory will be resisted by all sorts of enemies they are currently making throughout the world.

And, whilst we probably all have Islamic friends and work colleagues, we need no longer feel that we are being unloving and horrible if we raise this subject of Islamic extremism. That taboo has now been lifted. It does not make us racist, it does not make us Islamophobic. Just concerned for our safety and safety of our children - whatever faith we are.

Men, basically the same the world over, all that testosterone ultimately finds expression in some kind of agression .


Now THAT'S how to stereotype and be controversial lolol.

BTW it has been exercising my thoughts lately as to whether that much advertised ( on tv) game is suitable for this day and age.... the blurb for it goes along the lines of 'invade other countries, build an empire' kind of thing. But perhaps if everyone was given it they would play it rather than do it for real?

Mrs Thatcher sank the Belgrano. Sirius, that post was very sexist and men have no excess of any ozone :-D ;-)

Don't know that computer game at all, but expect Tony Blair, George Bush, Putin and Angela Merkel play it a lot. ;-)

Think what has happened particularly since 9/11is really frightening. I can understand why Islamists are so critical of our "western" way of life - which is so much different to the way the Q'ran and their teachers teach. If I lived in a strong Islamic community in Britain, I would be worried stiff that just outside our little square mile of calm, we have liers, drinkers, prostitutes, pimps, swearers, blasphemers, women wearing make up and provocative dress, violent and drunken men.

We have imposed western values on Spain 40 years ago, and topless women displayed themselves on beaches of a very conservative and religious country. Same western values have been applied to Thailand and many other previously serene places.

I think we either join the Islamic revolution and accept inequality of sexes and their attitudes to homosexuality and circumcision - or we defend our land and our British liberal way of life. We just need to agree what Britishness is first. Over to you, dear Leader Cameron.