From: T Wake on

"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:45BBC895.4A1E1414(a)hotmail.com...
>
>
> unsettled wrote:
>
>> Eeyore wrote:
>> > unsettled wrote:
>> >>T Wake wrote:
>> >>>"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> >>>>T Wake wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>>I don't recall anyone saying fundamentalist Muslims were not insane.
>> >>>>
>> >>>>No more so though than any religious zealot.
>> >>>
>> >>>Very true.
>> >>
>> >>Your bias rears up again.
>> >>
>> >>That depends on whether destruction and killing are part of
>> >>the zealot's "thing" or not. It is very much the "thing"
>> >>for Islamic fundamentalists, but I have yet to discover
>> >>any other religion with zealots advocating those things.
>> >>
>> >>Even if there is another one, its hardly a universal case.
>> >
>> >
>> > You're quite mad. History's full of such examples.
>> >
>> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_inquisition
>>
>> You really are very very stupid.
>>
>> The Spanish Inquisition was a political tool used to try
>> to eliminate converted Jews and Moors from Spain and to
>> seize their assets.
>>
>> Read the section headed "Motives for instituting....."
>> which tells about additional political advantages to the
>> institution.
>
> Are you truly that unaware of the wars between Protestants and Catholics
> throughout Europe ?
>
> How about witch-hunts ?
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins
>
> Was Hopkins a zealot or simply a very evil man ?

The two are not mutually exclusive.

In my experience, most zealots err on the side of "inhumanity" and if you
use that a definition of evil, they are evil. (www.godhatesfags.com - are
they zealots or simply evil?)


From: Phil Carmody on
Eeyore <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> writes:
> unsettled wrote:
> > Where's the bright line distinguishing fundamentalist from sane?
>
> Islamist are not medically insane,

Have you ever played 'tick the boxes' with DSM IV?

They're insane in spades, according to that.
99% of usenet would be too, though.

Phil
--
"Home taping is killing big business profits. We left this side blank
so you can help." -- Dead Kennedys, written upon the B-side of tapes of
/In God We Trust, Inc./.
From: unsettled on
T Wake wrote:

> "unsettled" <unsettled(a)nonsense.com> wrote in message
> news:87f48$45bbc045$4fe72dd$24989(a)DIALUPUSA.NET...
>
>>T Wake wrote:
>>
>>
>>>This is why I asked what you (and BAH) thought the purpose was. It
>>>strikes me that you both feel the Convention is there to limit the
>>>options warring nations can take when they wage war and I wondered if
>>>that was the case.
>>
>>No.
>
>
> Ok. Thanks for clearing it up.
>
>
>>>If it is, do you feel it is the only reason for the conventions?
>>
>>The only reason is to criminalize conduct the convention
>>defines to be illegal.
>
>
> That can be used to describe pretty much every law as well. It also leaves
> more of the question remaining. What is the reason the signatories decided
> to agree that the conduct the convention described as illegal should be
> described as illegal?

Because everyone likes to put a nice face to unpleasantness.

>>Only losing nations and their executives ever face the
>>consequences. No nation or national executive engages
>>in war with the thought of losing.

> Very true. The lack of consequences for the victor is part of a different
> problem. Are you saying the convention should be ignored because America
> will probably win?

No, but I am saying it can safely be ignores if America wins.
I won't attempt to draw moral judgments on what amounts to
the massive immorality of wholesale killing. Nor will I
approve of war nor condemn it, because warfare is one of those
human conditions which have and will always exist.

>>How many nations have conducted significant torture since
>>becoming signatories of the convention? Several, actually.

> So what?

> Are you saying it is OK to torture because other countries do so / have done
> so?

I am saying it should not be unexpected.

>>Does Israel, a signatory, abide by the convention? It doesn't
>>seem so, because the people they're fighting against aren't
>>accorded POW status.

>>Since you say that the people at Gitmo aren't soldiers, they're
>>not subject to the convention and, as the Russians used to tell
>>the world, how we treat criminals is an internal matter.

> I agree. I have said that several times in this thread. The detainees at
> GTMO can easily be declared illegal combatants under the terms of the
> convention. I even pointed to the articles which said that.

> Now, the problem is (and the reason it was raised) is that some people
> insist the war on terror is a war. If that is so, the convention does indeed
> apply.

> I do not think it is a war, so the convention does not apply.

> Some people, and I am not sure if you are one of them, think that it is a
> war so the rule of national law should not apply. If this is the case, then
> the GC should apply.

> I suspect some people, and again I am not sure if you are one of them, want
> neither the rule of national law nor the geneva convention to apply.

The situation of Gitmo was created with the intent to avoid
laws and conventions. To the mind of those charged with the
warfare in this instance, the alternatives are to kill them
when captured or to take them to secret prisons in countries
which will gladly accommodate them for a few.

>>If it turns out they're being abused we should probably do
>>as the Turkish government did after the Armenian genocide,
>>claim it was carried out by "bad officials" who will be
>>punished once we identify them.

> That is always an option. Is that the sort of thing Americans do?

Who knows. This is the first time we're facing this sort of
problem.

From: unsettled on
T Wake wrote:

> "Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:45BBC895.4A1E1414(a)hotmail.com...
>
>>
>>unsettled wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Eeyore wrote:
>>>
>>>>unsettled wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>T Wake wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>T Wake wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I don't recall anyone saying fundamentalist Muslims were not insane.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>No more so though than any religious zealot.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Very true.
>>>>>
>>>>>Your bias rears up again.
>>>>>
>>>>>That depends on whether destruction and killing are part of
>>>>>the zealot's "thing" or not. It is very much the "thing"
>>>>>for Islamic fundamentalists, but I have yet to discover
>>>>>any other religion with zealots advocating those things.
>>>>>
>>>>>Even if there is another one, its hardly a universal case.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>You're quite mad. History's full of such examples.
>>>>
>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_inquisition
>>>
>>>You really are very very stupid.
>>>
>>>The Spanish Inquisition was a political tool used to try
>>>to eliminate converted Jews and Moors from Spain and to
>>>seize their assets.
>>>
>>>Read the section headed "Motives for instituting....."
>>>which tells about additional political advantages to the
>>>institution.
>>
>>Are you truly that unaware of the wars between Protestants and Catholics
>>throughout Europe ?
>>
>>How about witch-hunts ?
>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins
>>
>>Was Hopkins a zealot or simply a very evil man ?
>
>
> The two are not mutually exclusive.
>
> In my experience, most zealots err on the side of "inhumanity" and if you
> use that a definition of evil, they are evil. (www.godhatesfags.com - are
> they zealots or simply evil?)

Most fags are zealots of a sort.



From: T Wake on

"unsettled" <unsettled(a)nonsense.com> wrote in message
news:b3d4f$45bbcff5$4fe72dd$25434(a)DIALUPUSA.NET...
>T Wake wrote:
>
>> "Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:45BBC61A.51BF754C(a)hotmail.com...
>>
>>>
>>>Ken Smith wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>T Wake <usenet.es7at(a)gishpuppy.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I don't recall anyone saying fundamentalist Muslims were not insane.
>>>>
>>>>I did question what we mean by "insane".
>>>
>>>Both T Wake and I consider it crazy to believe in a 'God' or
>>>divine/ultimate
>>>being.
>>>
>>>Does that make all Christians, Muslims, Hindus etc insane ?
>>
>>
>> If you ask me. Yes.
>
> Since that is the default human condition, the definition
> might ought to be reversed if we accept that "insane"
> equates in some way to "abnormal" or "aberrant."

If religious beliefs are the default human condition [*] then it could be
argued that non-believers are insane.

I dont agree that religious beliefs are the default human condition though.

> This is precisely why I wanted a differentiation into
> degrees of insanity.

Not something I can provide as I tend to think of insane and not insane.
However, I have nothing against differentiating insanity into different
grades and can see the logic behind saying the insanity of someone who goes
to church every Sunday is different from the insanity of someone who
prevents their children receiving chemotherapy for cancer on religious
grounds, which again is different from the insanity of some one who kills
innocent people on the grounds of their religion.

--

[*] If "religion" is the default human condition, it fails to answer why
there are so many mutually exclusive religions and why over the spread of
human history there have been so many religions which wildly differ in their
practices and implementations. If religion provides some other function
(social, power, control etc) which is the default human condition then it is
another matter entirely, but surely then the "other function" which is the
default human condition.