Why you have decided to raise US foreign policy here is beyond me, I can only assume that it is due to the weakness of the rest of your argument.:rolleyes:

No but it does show the hypocrisy of a certain government that you hold dear!

There is nothing wrong with offending a major religion or any of the beliefs that spring from it. Exactly the same applies to all other ideologies.

Absolute rubbish !

come on address the issues raised…if you dare!!!!

It was, indeed, a good win.

Shame about the rest of your posting, though.

ahh sure if we didnt have a laugh……… we would end up crying for the state of a world where diplomacy & a balanced viewpoint is a dirty word!;) 😀

No, sealordlawrence is actually quite right in this instance.

There have always been conservative Democrats, just as there are liberal Republicans. The US political landscape is nowhere near as simple and clear cut as the soundbite news and spin doctors would have you believe.

Will take it on advisement just havent seen too many liberal Republicans lately!….though the last sentance certainly rings true!

This is not up for discussion. Please show more respect for other members in the future.

Then all will be well. 🙂

GA

(EDIT: Sarky comments about another member removed by moderator)

Good win yesterday wasnt it? :diablo:

Completely incorrect. US politics is full of such contradictions. There are very few actual pure liberals or pure conservatives. Most people and politicians are a combination of the different positions based on their personal, social, economic and security beliefs. Your statement was absolutely wrong.

Then you must be at odds with your friends at Foxnews ! Anyone who they consider “liberal” seems to be a leftie ..and after they are what do they call themselves ” fair & balanced “?

DUCK..there goes the low flying pinko elephant :diablo: !

It’s the only time in my life i’ve ever agreed with the right wing Liberal twerp

bit of a contradiction in terms dont you think? Right wing & Liberal…enough to get you unelected in the States!

So according to Hurrifan we should not be allowed to criticise ideologies in case we offend the people who believe in them? The Nazis would certainly be offended by most of what is said about them today, should we stop incasewe hurt their feelings? We have every right to criticise and mock Islam, just as we do all other ideologies and many individuals. If people get up set by that they have to live with it, it is one of the responsibilities of living in a free society.

Really old boy time to take some shore leave….the sea state must have knocked something out of kilter 😀 !!!

Yet again you decide to ignore the main points …not good enough old son not nearly good enough!

There is one hell of a difference between offending a religious belief that numbers around 1 in 4 of the worlds population and having a go at the the Nazis who are the result of extremist far right beliefs !!!

The only similarity is that only small numbers of people actually support these Neo con Nazis and again only a small number actually support the extremist Muslims in either their role as Terrorists or for that matter where they hold power as a Government you cant damn all the people for the actionsof a few.

Let me think where are there some extremist Muslims in power? Where is Sharia law implimented in ? Where is democracy non existant or farcical? Saudi Arabia springs to mind as does Iran…. and who supports Saudi and why isnt something done about its laws that oppress women and gays:rolleyes: ?

Well hurrifan you state: ‘Free speech is fine but not when it is abused to offend others’ Well to be honest its a tad more complex then that, free speech will by default offend others, the offended person just has to ‘man-up’ and take it, argue against it or whatever, everyday i hear things that i personally find offensive (not exaggerating either!) but i have to accept that those people have that viewpoint that i do not and i just have to accept it but i can voice my own counter opinion also. Now the problem comes when ‘free speech’ incites violence or hatred toward others then the line – at least in modern societies has been crossed. I exercise my right of freedom of speech everyday and so be it if it offends people it really is tough. Think about this for a moment, imagine if you can that freedom of speech was not allowed – how would issues be discussed if people wern’t allowed to voice thier opinions and speak there minds?

I think you have made my point for me though i would disagree that different opinion always cause offence…we might disagree about who the best football team or F1 driver is but we dont cause offence. It is where such offence is caused with deliberate intention that i have a problem..fair enough if it was unintentional and then withdrawn asap but otherwise unacceptable.
As to the cartoon publications, well i personally look upon them as a test, not of dutch free speech laws but a test of the tolerance of a certain faith, however i don’t have much hope and i expect many of that certain faith will get all stabby about it. The Dutch people will not be forced to change there laws, there free speech standards will remain and they will not allow themselves to be threatened by zealots who get all stabby and violent, Good on them i say!

Edit: you mention Christians threats as if there somehow just as bad, well the threats are equally as bad, the main difference is that in general (there are exceptions) Christians do not use thier faith as an excuse to maim,stab,kill,behead,blow up etc etc whenever something they disagree with is printed in a paper or shown on t.v. Yes i stress again you will see exceptions and there are some real bad apples but in general when was the last time you saw christians holding up placards reading ‘behead those who say christianity is violent’ or ‘slaughter those who mock christ’ – not to often have i seen that but ive seen a hell of alot of that from another certain faith and it simply isn’t acceptable in todays modern world. Oh and lolz at norman d lands.

Bosnia & Northern Ireland are two fairly horrendous examples and you could cite examples such as the neo Nazi bombings in Italy in the 80’s & GAL’s actions in Spain which could be seen as such as well.

The mass killings in Bosnia are well known & i could list the poppy day bombing of Enniskillen, The Bombings of Monaghan & Dundalk,The murders of the Shankill Butchers & hundreds of others. And if you had been at an Orange parade in the 70’s & 80’s you would have seen a fair bit of hatred spouted for another christian faith

But agreed you dont these days see as much coverage of Christian nutcases as you do of Muslim extremists but the point has to be made that these are , as with their christian counterparts, a few extremists who are quite capable of inciting the young or uneducated rentacrowd also available to their extreme right brethren.

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