| | 1. The people demanding execution and announcing their own willingness to die were a mob, not the government.
2. The complaint was brought under law by an employee of the school.
3. Sudan is a hardline Muslim state. It is where Darfur is. So, the teacher could not have been "an innocent abroad" unless she was a blithering idiot abroad. There is a black market in pork in Riyadh (or so I have been told). When in Rome...
4. The government of Sudan seems willing to get rid of her. They arrested her for her own good lest the mob get to her.
5. The good Christian folk of North Carolina are not enlightened and liberal. They merely lack any more political power than to deprive atheists of the privilege of holding office. (In other states non-believers cannot testify in court.) We know for a rock solid fact that given more political power, any religion will use it.
6. It is nice to have the Muslims to kick around, but as I remember Objectivism, back in the good old days, we rejected religion and socialism both, even though, admittedly perhaps, our own Christian neighbors were nicer people than the KGB. (As if the KGB were a standard of some kind.) Objectivism does not compromise.
7. If it is mere "moral relativism" to point out the implicit danger in all faith, then, what is your hierarchy of rights? According to my understanding of Objectivism, the right to property is the right to life. "Property rights" (so-called) are in fact human rights. Anyone who would violate your right -- or is it a privilege? -- to vote will not stop there. If they would, then we did not need the last 100 pages of Atlas Shrugged from the moment Mr. Thompson told John Galt that as a liberal -- not thug like Cuffy Meigs -- he was open to a deal.
8. How many here actually work with Muslims on a daily basis? People are people. They believe what they do to justify choices they have already made, here on RoR, as much as anyplace else. I have classmates and professional peers who happen to be Muslims. I have never been threatened by one. (Maybe I am just lucky ... or maybe I am just not in Iraq ... or the Sudan.)
9a. How often are you threatened Christians? Ever been harassed by a Christian missionary? (How many Muslims come to your home wanting to talk about Allah?) Ever meet a Jehovah's Witness. Oh, the Jehovahs are all nice enough, to be sure: no sword waving dancing in the street yelling for blood from them. So, next time one rings your doorbell, invite them (plural: they travel in packs) in for tea and chat about The Law of Identity.
9b. Next time you read in your local paper about some Christian decency group wanting to ban Harry Potter in the schools, show up to the school board meeting and announce yourself to be an atheist, a radical for egoistic capitalism, an advocate of the virtue of selfishness who finds Harry Potter's non-spirtual, mechanistic kind of magic more or less entertaining, and you really like it when he zaps his fat, stupid, ignorant, narrow-minded muggles. (Think you'll make it home safe?)
10. Finally, go back and read my initial post. There was nothing in it that justified the original outrage. In fact, I pointed out that the ambassador is named Mohammed. (In my culture, we did not name people Jesus, though we were told in advance that other cultures do this, so don't laugh when you meet a Puerto Rican named Jesus.) As I said, I think the kids just named him "Joe" and it got out of control based on ignorance. Then Laure said... and John could not refrain... and Bob got in on the act... and Ted jumped on the the pile... and next thing you know, I am being chased through the streets of RoR by an angry mob... (cue the banjos...)
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