For the first time since 9/11, I am afraid to leave the house.
Even when the bombs started dropping on Afghanistan and Iraq, my naive 20-something self at the time was certain I’d be safe here in the U.S. Especially here, in Southern California.
People always tell me how laid back and “West Coast” my vibe is, right down to the relaxed cadence in my speech. I was confident and comfortable in the knowledge that I was from here. Those distant wars were not about me.
Today, things feel different.
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With the rise of Daesh, acts of terror are again being unleashed in the false name of my beautiful religion. A new generation of Islamophobia is now in full effect.
I will not be referring to any “Islamic” state. The idea that Islam has anything to do with Daesh is preposterous and dangerously misleading. I will not taint the name of my faith.
I will not sit back and allow Islam’s reputation to be controlled by a militant group who asserts power through acts of violence. Over a billion Muslims around the world cannot let the beauty and peace of Islam be compromised and used as fearful propaganda. Islam cannot be allowed to divide the world. We know that the practice of Islam is a practice of peace. Like most religions, Islam fosters love and compassion and unites people across all social boundaries.
Today, I am shocked by how many people I know are drinking the Kool-Aid, happily ingesting the fear and the hate. I’m frightened by how my “friends” have allowed the lines to be blurred in their minds.
Have you forgotten that you know me? That we have shared special times together? Or have you been viewing me as “the Other” this whole time?
And if you don’t view me personally as different, am I then just the exception? I am not them and they are not me, right? You’ve disassociated us and everything’s ok.
I’m starting to wonder who I can trust.
The other night, over a group text, I got into an argument with a “friend” about refugees from Syria. I started the conversation by sending a link inviting my friends to an Arab American storytelling event I am co-producing in a couple weeks. The event would also serve as a fundraiser for Syrian refugees.
Only one friend responded: “Syrian refugees…hope it’s not for them coming here.”
I responded: “That’s a very problematic thing to say”
“Well for now, yes, but the American public is against it.”
“You can’t generalize and say the American public feels any one way.”
“Ok as long as they don’t come here. It’s too dangerous.”
“I truly hope you’re joking.”
“I was born here. Totally serious. Not joking. It’s an opinion shared by a lot of people after what happened [in Paris]”
“That’s living in fear, based on ignorance.”
“You know what ,I don’t live in fear. You’re ignorant if you think so.”
The conversation descended into an all-out mud-slinging text war after that. I may have hurled the first insult by calling him ignorant. In hindsight, I probably should have kept my cool a little longer and asked questions instead of letting my emotions get the best of me.
He got me real turned up. I thought I could trust him.
Our back story: He and I dated briefly a few years ago. It didn’t work out due to “political” differences. But since we met through mutual friends, we still run into each other from time to time. And we are on a group text together.
The others on the text did not chime in during this battle. I’m sure it was very awkward for them.
I felt so deeply violated by the things he was writing:
“Those refugees may be terrorists or sympathizers. You don’t know them.”
“They don’t value anything more than killing Americans.”
“I don’t want to be blown to pieces or beheaded and shot to death.”
My skin was crawling. I had been intimate with this person. I let this person into my home, into my bed. Did he have those same views when the lights were off and I was lying on top of him?
He kept repeating how he was born here, which I gather was some sort of justification for his perspective. Except I was born here too. I guess he forgot that. Or he didn’t bother to learn. Maybe part of my allure was that I was from a “foreign land.” Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story, right?
I wanted to vomit. How many of the guys in my past who I have been intimate with have operated with this same bigotry? They tell me to my face that they want me, but when the lights are on and they’re gone, how many of them are out there buying and selling the hate?
It’s surprising how people can be intimate with each other’s bodies in the privacy of their bedrooms, but can’t see past their biases in the real world. How fucked up in the head do you have to be to disassociate a person’s identity from their physical body?
I never know how to interpret when a guy tells me that they love Arab guys but yet they don’t have any Middle Eastern friends. What is it that you love about us exactly? You don’t seem to take the time to get to know us. Is it the sense of danger we carry? Is it our fabulous hair? Our bushy eyebrows? Our furry chests? Are we just the right animal you’re looking for to add to your jungle of wild beasts?
Fuck you, War on Terror. Fuck you, Homeland Security. Fuck you, Al-Qaeda. Fuck you, Daesh.
Fuck you for turning the world into a place where I can’t tell my true friends who love me apart from the ones who are just pretending.
I want to crawl under the covers and stay in bed until the madness passes. Will it ever pass?
Ramy Eletreby is a queer Afro-Arab American artist based in Los Angeles. This essay was first published on LoveInShallah.com.
Gothrykke
There are always going to be bigots. Even in our social circle, the larger they are, the bigger the chances of being around one. Everyone feels differently about everything. Some people might not support the bigotry, but stupidly let fear control their reactions. That doesn’t mean we tolerate that. Letting fear rule is the quickest way to losing everything.
That said, ‘problematic’? Ugh! Make that word go away!
TrueWords
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0DC62VgPrI
Xzamilio
And as an atheist, I just see deception and misleading language on both sides. Islam is far from a “beautiful religion” and has a rich history of blood and violence, just like Christianity, with the exception that at least Christians have gotten that barbarism out of its system. I take issue with any religion with contradictory accounts, unscientific claims, and deceptive promises of everlasting life in some paradise in return for unwavering obedience to unproven stories and unproven deities.
Boko Haram, Hezbollah, the Taliban, ISIS, Al Shabaab… they do represent a subset of Islam, a dangerously fundamental repressive subset of Islam. Do they represent ALL of Islam? Of course they don’t… but, pretending that they do not adhere to the Koran and Hadith is simply trying to play smart people stupid, and I’m not going for it. We have no problem calling out the atrocities and follies of fundamentalist Christians, so why the hell are fundamentalist Muslims any different?
And it especially boggles the mind how any LGBT individual can allow such cognitive dissonance when reconciling their Abrahamic faith with their sexuality, because NONE of the Abrahamic faiths are pro-homosexuality, and the only defense is what ISN’T in the Torah/Bible/Koran as opposed to what IS. But, whatever. I see the majority of American Muslims as I do American Christians: cherry picking good people who adopt the good parts of their faith while denying the bad parts or trying to explain them away. Good that you do that… but that doesn’t erase them from the doctrine.
stanhope
“and I was laying on top of him….” LOL good one….how you just had to get that in. Let the world know that the [insert race here] guy wasn’t banging your culo. LOL
Xzamilio
Oh, and in anticipation of the ones defending whatever religion they have… I don’t care. I’m all studied out on Christianity and am now studying the religion of Islam, the last of the three sister Abrahamic religions. And also to anticipate the special moronic bunch who love call me some self-hating c00n, Islam ain’t a race and I will not even entertain the notion of comparing a religion to race, the latter of which you are born with and cannot change.
Ummmm Yeah
Oh boo fucking hoo. White people haven’t ever been safe in a muslim country so stop your whining.
SonOfKings
But, doesn’t your “beautiful religion” madate the deaths of homosexuals, the subjugation of women, and the killing of non-believers as well? How is that a “religion of peace?”. I don’t think it’s racism so much as relatively moderate Muslims being unable to explain or come up with believeable excuses for what their own scriptures say.
SonOfKings
Gay devout Muslims = confused (or liars, or both).
Xzamilio
@Ummmm Yeah: Oh, please with that crap… a lot of damn people aren’t “safe” in Muslim countries, not just white people, and white MUSLIMS are just fine, especially considering that the majority of the Muslim population in the world is… you guessed it: White. I see what the writer of this article means regarding his Arab heritage and people associating that with a terrorist or one of the crazy ones, just like Sikhs and Hindus being attacked because ignorant bumpkins think they are Muslims.
SonOfKings
And the writer should not be shocked to find that, for many White American gay men, Arab men are an exotic fetish, like Latinos. They are not that interested in your culture, have no use for your religion, and don’t care about your politics, unless it affects them.
Kieran
Rather than crawling under the covers, Ramy should seek to organize the growing Arab and Muslim community in the US (which has grown by hundreds of thousands under Obama) into a political pressure group that seeks to end US imperialist adventurism and interventionism in the Middle East.
Glücklich
I realize it’s not meant to be the takeaway from Ramy’s post but getting into an argument over a group text rather than taking it off-line, one-on-one, strikes me as the real terrorism here, just as evil as “Reply All”.
Bzzt: invite
Bzzt: rude reply not intended for me
Bzzt: a reply to rude reply not intended for me
Bzzt: BS not intended for me
Bzzt: BS not intended for me
Bzzt: BS not intended for me
Bzzt: BS not intended for me
Bzzt: BS not intended for me
Bzzt: BS not intended for me
Prinny
Poor muslims gays living a life of a hypocrite is so hard.
onthemark
“Especially here, in Southern California. People always tell me how laid back and “West Coast” my vibe is, right down to the relaxed cadence in my speech.”
You mean you, like, put a question mark after every other spoken statement? And you write this whole article without even mentioning that normal hardworking guy in San Bernardino? (He was born in the US too, although his wife wasn’t.)
@Xzamilio: Yes, the logical thing would be for him to become an atheist like any normal gay guy. He’s scared to do that because the Koran says anyone who leaves Islam should be killed. So if he did that, and wrote about it using his real name, especially on a gay blog, some Muslim lunatic would threaten to kill him or actually do it. Much easier to blame the guys he “sleeps” with. (Notice that apparently none of them are black… hmm… go figure.)
Xzamilio
@onthemark: I mean, he doesn’t even have to become an atheist, but at least look at his religion objectively. But ultimately, if he can be a moral person while still having some version of his religion that he feels shapes his moral worldview, I can’t say that is a problem. It’s just a bit insulting to those of us who reject religiosity because of its blatant lies and contradictions rather than because of some blind hatred for Christians, or Muslims, or Jews, or Hindus, or Sikhs, or Zoroastrians, or Wiccans, or Satanists, or Scientologists as people.
Religion had its uses in the early stages of human development and it has given us many of our literary masterpieces as well as many philosophies concerning morality and the human condition. But, we don’t need it anymore, as I constantly see religion having to reshape its views on certain things to catch up with the rest of the population.
Stache
Oh spare me. The reason I don’t want syrian refugees anywhere near me is that they don’t just leave their intolerance at home. Story after story about Gay men having to hide amongst their fellow refugees or get violently bashed.
Talk about denial. Wonder how he deals with the fact that most of his Muslim brothers would like to see him dead. They’ll come out in droves for a good old fashioned hanging or sometimes just throwing them off buildings. Better yet leave Islam. You’re much better off and so is everyone else.
onthemark
@Xzamilio: That’s a good way to look at it, thanks.
oddchild1
The worst stereotype in the gay community is not being effeminate or weak; the worst stereotype is that gays are nothing but bitter catty bitches; you people need to stop perpetuating the stereotype.
Stache
@Xzamilio:That’s the thing I try to get across to the idiots that see this as a race thing. Muslims are white, brown, yellow and everything in between. Although, I didn’t realise whites make up the majority.
He’s not being persecuted for who he is though. That’s BS. People are just become less and less tolerant of intolerance and religion as a whole.
Stache
@oddchild1: Yes but what’s that got to do with this?
Xzamilio
@Stache: Now, I don’t deny that there are aggressively ignorant individuals who just want to go out and attack or kill someone who is Muslim, but what I don’t appreciate is this “Islamophobe” blanket that seems to encompass even those that are against the religion and specificially separate their arguments from the individuals who simply live their lives and do not bother anyone else. But, yeah, I’m not about to bite my tongue about how backwards fundamentalist Islam is just like I wouldn’t about fundamentalist Christianity.
onthemark
@Stache: “Leave Islam”? – easier said than done. And as you say, some of the refugees ARE gay. Where should they go?
Ogre Magi
@Xzamilio: You bring up a very good point. One thing I have noticed as I surf the next, is that any time gays or atheists say something negative about christians, christian comentators will frequently say something like ” WELL, YOU GAYS/ATHEISTS ARE ALWAYS PICKING ON CHRISTIANS BUT YOU NEVER SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ALL THE BAD STUFF MUSLIMS DO or YOU ALWAYS MAKE EXCUSES FOR THE BAD THINGS MUSLIMS DO.
WTF are these people talking about???? Queerty and Joemygod are always reporting on the stuff muslims do to gay people and the majority of commentators are outraged about these things.At most you might see a comment along the lines of “Not all muslims are like that”
and that goes the same for atheist websites
JerseyMike
@TrueWords: Of course the asian guy gives in the white guy.. smh.. So many men of color put up with shit like that.. Never have and never will.
Stache
@onthemark: Gays should always get preferred asylum since they could very well lose their lives. The rest need to be screened better. I mean if you’re a conservative Muslim I’d think you’d be better off in a country that shares your values. Get some of those wealthy Middle Eastern countries to offer up asylum.
oddchild1
@Stache: Have you not read the comments? Nothing but stereotypical catty gays making the gay community look bad.
Stache
@oddchild1: I’ve heard some really good intelligent discussion. You have anything to share other than “catty” remarks about the other commenters?
onthemark
Somewhat to my surprise, I agree with the author that we shouldn’t reject Syrian refugees in general. For one thing, some of them are gay – as even Stache notes in his anti-refugee diatribe.
The US is good at assimilation and we should have more confidence in that.
Before anyone brings up Timothy McVeigh: he was an atheist! But nobody ever slams atheists for THAT reason. (Plenty of other reasons but not that one.) Much more often they mischaracterize McVeigh as a “Catholic” even though he hadn’t been to church in years and described himself as an atheist. Somehow it all becomes the perception of *club affiliation* rather than about any individual terrorist’s actual beliefs (or lack thereof).
onthemark
@Stache: True. Saudi Arabia and the UAE haven’t committed to taking ANY refugees.
@oddchild1: Turn in your gay card at once!
Stache
@onthemark: Timothy McVeigh was part of the Christian Identity Movement.
Stache
@onthemark: http://www.ethicsdaily.com/an-accurate-look-at-timothy-mcveighs-beliefs-cms-15532
NoCagada
@Xzamilio: ” with the exception that at least Christians have gotten that barbarism out of its system”
You REALLY believe that?
I’m more worried about what christians are trying to do to my rights than I am an attack from any muslim extremist
Kieran
@NoCagada: Did it ever occur to you that you wouldn’t have any rights at all in a Muslim country? Think about it.
Xzamilio
@NoCagada: Yeah, I’ve heard that same tired line, and since I haven’t restricted my points to America, what is the point of saying it? I’m more worried about getting my credit back to Good than what Christians are trying to do to my rights or Muslim extremists… now what? So now that you’ve quote mined me, what is the next step?
Xzamilio
@NoCagada: And YES, I REALLY believe that Christianity has gotten the bulk of its barbarism out of its system, just as Judaism has, which has the most violent tenets of the Abrahamic faiths. But if we’re talking America, a CHRISTIAN MAJORITY nation, then YES, the biggest concern is fundamentalist Christians trying to usurp the Constitution for biblical law.
Giancarlo85
You guys who blame Islam for everything are forgetting the real big problem in America.
http://news.yahoo.com/militiamen-occupy-u-national-parks-building-oregon-043511347.html
There are tens of thousands of these nutcases running around with automatic weapons.
These are Timothy McVeigh types waiting to commit acts of extreme violence and/or illegitimate affronts to the central government.
Timothy McVeigh was definitely a Christian and definitely NOT an atheist. Lets not even go there please.
I am for screening of the refugees. We can’t just keep rejecting them expecting someone else to deal with it. THis country has taken in thousands of refugees in the past, including tens of thousands of Somalis. Minneapolis anyone? Some say they are up towards 150,000 Somalis in this country who fled Somalia after the war. Most have rebuilt their lives and many run successful businesses.
Giancarlo85
By the way, many of the Syrians fleeing are well educated, much like the Somalis who left after their civil war. This was a detriment to both countries.
http://www.ethniccapital.com/uploads/1/2/2/9/12297431/economic_contributions_of_somalis_in_minnesota.pdf – Check this out.
Somalis operate anywhere from 300-600 businesses in Minnesota alone. Almost 23% of them are in higher paying management positions. Many are also doctors and nurses. Again this is a detriment to Somalia… some are starting to return as they see a state develop in their country, but most are staying here.
Al Shabaab is linked to ISIL, yet we don’t see the same sort of outrage towards those immigrants here.
onthemark
@Stache: He described himself as an atheist. Why assume otherwise? Because it fits a certain narrative.
Giancarlo85
@onthemark: An atheist doesn’t believe in the Christian god. Even an agnostic doesn’t care. McVeigh says he believes in god, ergo he is definitely NOT an atheist.
Not hard to follow.
Scribe38
I get what the author is talking about. As a black gay man, I’ve had a number of awkward encounters with white gay dudes who should know better. I dated one guy for about 6 months, who took me to a friend’s(his) house to hook up. As we are hooking up there is all this southern civil war crap (flags and a sign that said slave quarters, hats). I got pissed and left. He couldn’t understand why I had a issue with his friend’s “southern pride”. I was in another fwb relationship for a few months and got into a fight with a dude and he drops the n-word cause I wouldn’t do what he wanted. If we hadn’t been on the phone I would have hit him. Took me a while to figure out that a dude letting me bang him didn’t mean he wasn’t r@cist, just that he likes a big penis going into him.
JerseyMike
When you date across race and religion you are going to run into people like the ones he have in his life. You will always question if someone is after you r@cist reasons.
JerseyMike
@Scribe38: I don’t waste my time trying to figure that out any more. I just lay my head where I know I will not encounter that.
onthemark
@Ogre Magi: You must not read many lefty sites like Salon.com and Alternet. Lots of otherwise-rational, heterosexual lefties who always look for the silver lining in the cloud of Islam. Always blaming any problem in Muslim countries on “poverty” (!!!) and Western imperialism from a century ago. Always decrying Bill Maher as a “rac*st” and even as “hawkish” (!??) – Maher is in favor of US withdrawal from the Middle East entirely, so it’s a mystery how that’s “hawkish,” but hating Bill Maher fits a certain narrative for a certain type of virtue-signaling do-gooder.
Only on GAY sites do I ever see any rational thought about Islam from a left-leaning point of view. Practically everything we’re saying here in this thread would be blasted as “rac*st” on nearly any lefty, non-LGBT political site.
Giancarlo85
@Scribe38: From a recent interview for the Guardian:
“All of a sudden, people started talking about the Confederacy in America in a way they haven’t before. I mean, I’ve always felt the rebel flag was some American swa-stika. And well, now, all of a sudden people are talking about it, and now they’re banning it, and now it’s not OK to have it on fucking licence plates, and coffee cups, and stuff.
“And people are starting to question about stuff like statues of Bedford Forrest [the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan grand wizard] in parks. Well, it’s about damn time, if you ask me.”
—-
I normally don’t like Tarantino, but he sorta nailed it with this. America is always a bit slow dealing with this shit.
Giancarlo85
@onthemark: Neo-conservatism is making the problems a lot worse. There are groups in the middle east seriously trying to make a difference, like the Kurds… who are constantly being undercut by republicans and neo-conservatives like Maher.
And yes, poverty and a lack of employment does drive people to extremism. Colombia itself has had to deal with this problem for decades. Severe disparities in wealth led to the growth of rebellion, which later was perverted by illicit drug trafficking.
@Giancarlo85: Sorry forgot to mention that quote was from Quentin Tarantino. For some reason this site does not like it when I post an article from the Guardian lol.
Giancarlo85
*Correction: Neo-conservatives like the republicans. Maher is NOT a neo-conservative. But he is wrong on several issues like a complete withdrawal from the Middle East. That is simply not feasible at this time. Of course, I want the entire west out of there so they can deal with their mess. But that’s impractical.
Masc Pride
@Scribe38: Sounds like you’ve got loads of experience in banging “white gay dudes”; maybe those guys weren’t the only ones with some color issues….
JerseyMike
@Masc Pride: LMAO!!.. The pearls have been clutched and broken!!
Scribe38
@Masc Pride: lol. If a guy is nice and cute and funny I will date him no matter his race. I have dated blacks, Arabs, and white dudes. I find life too short to restrict it to skin tone Mr. Troll. @JerseyMike: I’m a shy guy in general. I’m married now so it doesn’t matter, but when I was out there I assumed anyone hitting on me deserved a chance and wouldn’t be hitting on me if they were r@cist.
Giancarlo85
@Masc Pride: Coming from the guy with manhood issues, that’s ironic.
Scribe38
@Giancarlo85: I wasn’t even mad that the fwb took me to his friend’s place. What annoyed me was he couldn’t understand how seeing civil war crap would make me feel uncomfortable. If he had just said sorry and walked out with me it would have been okay. I was raised in a racially mixed church and school, so when issues like this come up I am always surprised and taken back. I forget how some people think about race because it was never a issue when I was growning up.
Masc Pride
@Scribe38: Oh yes, I’m sure you “date the rainbow”. But one thing I’ve noticed about your type is that–through all your complaining about white–your rainbows still seem to be composed of mostly white. So ironic how it almost always works out that way. Save your hypocritical sob stories, buddy. Victim card DECLINED.
onthemark
Btw, for anyone who’s not aware of it: “Daesh” is a derogatory term for IS/ISIS/ISIL that’s used mostly by other Arabs. I think it’s great that the author uses it! It would probably be a good idea for Obama, Hollande, Merkel etc. and the news media to use it too, if only because it annoys Daesh.
@Giancarlo85: I agree with you about the Kurds. I like Joe Biden’s longtime idea that the US should just say fuck it and recognize independent Kurdistan. (Although the Turks would HATE that… always another problem in that puzzle box.)
My point about Bill Maher is that he’s become a symbol. People project all kinds of views onto him that he doesn’t actually have! It’s very strange. It’s almost like he doesn’t have a TV show where he says all the time what he really DOES believe. (Last time I checked, he does.) Truth becomes “truthiness” as Colbert put it.
Giancarlo85
@Masc Pride: Funny considering you always try to depict yourself as the oppressed masculine victim on this site.
@onthemark: Erdogan is the biggest obstacle for that to ever happen. Turkey needs to rid itself of that idiot.
A better armed Kurdish militia in Iraq and Syria is the only option, but that makes Turkey uneasy. I’m tired of what the Turks think anyways… they blew it big time with the shooting down of that Russian jet.
Daniel-Reader
Christian have had to get rid of corrupt religious “leaders” in order to advance. Muslims have to step up and do the same – starting with Saudi Arabia and Iran – two country’s whose leaders play off the conflict between Sunnis and Shites to stay in power, all while everyone else suffers. Get rid of the Supreme Leaders, royalty, and government offiicials in these countries and the world becomes a much better place by showing the top human rights violators in the region will not be tolerated anymore.
Scribe38
@Masc Pride: bro please put down the crack or meth pipe. I never view myself as a victim. I’ve dated all types of men, because I find men attractive. If you want to stay in your white only, masc only, no blks, no asians, no mexican box have at it. But I’m interested in more than that, when people treat me well I’m willing to date them. What is so hard to believe bout that? I have never not dated or dated someone because of their race. I was raised in a religion were where everyone was suppose to be my brother, where blks and whites often married. I pity the reality that must be your life
Transiteer
@Ummmm Yeah: Almost ALL those killed by Daesh have been Arab Muslims. Better read up on this stuff before you make your preposterous proclamations.
Masc Pride
@Scribe38: I knew you’d continue to keep swiping, victim! Please show me where I stated anything about “whites only”. Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve had great encounters with several Gaysians and Latinos. I pity your paranoid, hypersensitive and hypocritical existence. If it makes you feel any better (and less paranoid), I’ve had sex with other white guys I had zero respect for.
SonOfKings
@Daniel-Reader: No, the world does not necessarily become a better place by getting rid of the strongmen, monarchies, and military dictatorships that, for the most part, keep a lid on things and prevent a slide into anarchy and popularly supported, mob-driven religious fanaticism. We don’t want those oil fields in the hands of ISIL or Al Quaeda. That would be worse than the status quo.
Giancarlo85
You want stupidity? Check out Saudi Arabia executing a Shi’ia Cleric. Do they do this just to piss off Iran and inflame tensions? And Ben Carson yapping like an idiot on TV about how “Saudi Arabia are our key allies” blah blah blah blah… all the republicans repeat the same old shit. I wonder if some Saudi Princes are funneling money to the GOP too.
SonOfKings
@Scribe38: If you’ve enjoyed dating White men because some are hot and fit, have at it. I’m Black, and I’d snatch a White boy if his body was right. But don’t have any illusions about White people understanding our culture, and sympathizing with our politics or perspectives on history. They are in it for the entertainment value and you should be as well. No love in this game.
SonOfKings
I am not as concerned about Christian terrorists because, as bad as they are, their stated goal is not to see United States completely destroyed (multiple simultaneous nukes).
reallygoodthings
@Xzamilio: @SonOfKings: right on!
JPinNC
did it matter when you were hooking up with them? Only when they expressed opinions you had something to say? ughhh.. keep the d*ck in your mouth. You can’t come back later and criticize the people you’ve been friends with because now they don’t agree with you. (as offensive as I find their view point), you didn’t care when you’re legs were by your ears.
JPinNC
@JPinNC: That’s your not you’re
Ditamo
Very sad that many Americans would deny people who’s lives are being threatened to come to this country and live with safety and the possibility of having a future for their children. It’s not even that many people…about a thousand max per year. It’s not like we are planning to accept numbers similar to Europe in the 100,000’s per country, with some countries having over half a million refugees. Nor are we going to be like Turkey and Jordan in the Middle East which have the majority of the refugees.
Giancarlo85
@Masc Pride: You’ve never been with an Asian or Latino. Stop lying to everybody on here. Lies won’t get you far in the vain attempt to justify your ignorance.
Kangol
@Ummmm Yeah: Are you joking? You do realize that there are white Muslims, right, since white=race and Muslim=religion.
Albania is a predominantly Muslim European country, full of white people.
Kosovo is a new, predominantly Muslim European country, full of white people.
White people are quite safe in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Lebanon, Turkey, Indonesia, Morocco, etc., all of which have large Muslim populations or are predominantly Muslim.
@Giancarlo85: Thank you! The US’s dear ally just executed 47 people, including a cleric who was advocating for greater tolerance of his branch of Islam and independence for Shiites in Eastern Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism, an extremist form of Islam, has spread from Saudi Arabia all over the globe. Yet where is the criticism of Saudi Arabia? Moron Donald Trump even claimed that Iran is trying to take over Saudi Arabia! This idiot doesn’t get even the basics of what is going on in the Middle East!
Giancarlo85
@Kangol: And Ben Carson couldn’t even answer the question he was asked by reporters. All of these republicans are on big oils payroll. And the one that wins the nomination will get money from Saudi princes. Shittes are far more moderate than Sunnis and they are the ones along with the Kurds that are fighting against Daesh (who are Sunni). The republican party is full of shit. I am glad Obama is pissing off Saudi Arabia too… Republicans always criticize him.
Giancarlo85
http://m.france24.com/en/20140917-france-switches-arabic-daesh-acronym-islamic-state/
By the way, I am going to start calling them Daesh. They are not a state therefore the other terms should be immediately discarded. Obama has recently started calling them this too. Republicans haven’t caught on.
Daesh are a bunch of criminal thugs who don’t represent any sort of state and they will face further and further defeats.
o.codone
Giancarla85, the Guatemalan drag queen has again pushed herself onto the Queerty populous and hijacked still another thread. Almost 20% of the posts to this article are from the woman who just cannot STFU. We know your low self esteem keeps that yap flapping, trying to get anyone at all to pay attention to you, but seriously, at some point you have to give others a chance to say something. So stop marathoning every single thread, every single time.
The best way to stop the never-ending menstrual flow from you mouth is insert some delicious d-i-c-k in there. I know Rentboy is out of business but you can pay for a cheap hustler from the strip to shut you up, (because we all know how long it takes for you to hook up on your own. How long has it been this time?). Nothing more appealing than the sound of an impaled Giancarla85. Silence. Finally. Yay.
Realitycheck
@Xzamilio: Well said Xzamilio, I like you more and more.
Giancarlo85
@o.codone:Listen up you little pompous dipshit, I am still discussing the topics that were discussed in the original article. You cannot help yourself but attack me whenever and however you can. I know it must be tough living with dementia, but please don’t take our your shortcomings onto me or others. Your diatribes reek of ignorant stupidity. Notice no one was talking or discussing your sorry self. Stop trying to seek attention. Nobody gives a damn about what you have to say.
You talk about low self esteem? Coming from the guy with drug issues that is ironic. You have no self esteem at all. I can imagine why after living in a household where your parents abused you. You are on screwed up person. And get a grip, I am no longer concerned with your stupid inane rants. Go take your sleazy crap to someone who will listen.
You need to shut up… Preferably in a jail cell where you belong.
Giancarlo85
@Giancarlo85: *one screwed up person.
Oh and remember one thing… Don’t drop the soap.
Ogre Magi
@onthemark: Well, I haven’t seen any positivity towards islam on any atheist websites either
AxelDC
I’ve known many Muslims and even dated a few. Some of my favorite people are Turks and Persians. Most of them, however, are quite liberal with their beliefs.
I cannot condone racism, but this attempt to portray Islam as a religion of peace is just laughable. Mohammed was a violent man who aroused wrath and fear in those around him. HIs successors like Abu Bakar spread the religion forcibly through conquest, establishing the 1st Caliphate. The Turks furthered the work of conquest by sword. Very few people converted to Islam other than to save their own necks.
Unfortunately, too many modern Muslims still believe in this jihad. It was bad enough in the 800s, but in the world of nuclear weapons it is just frightening. Obviously these are a minority, but a minority out of 1.4 billion people is still a lot of people.
spanprof
Remember “Where have all the flowers gone?..gone for soldiers every one..when will they ever learn?” Yours is the latest group. In the past, there were “dagos” “micks”, “kikes”, “sambos”, “faggots” “dykes”, “krauts”, “frogs” (my grandfather was called that) “cholos”,”wetbacks”, and hundreds of other nasty words. For now, the answer to the 60’s folk song is that “they’ll never learn” and they do this out of fear for the “other” I suggest Octavio Paz and his “Labyrinth of Solitude” which puts into words this marginalization. We’re not obligated to engage them though. I believe in Karma.
Giancarlo85
@AxelDC: And historically Christians did the Crusades and Inquisition. The Moors brought tolerance to Spain and were renowned for their architecture, scientific and medical achievements.
There are examples that go both ways.
AxelDC
@Giancarlo85: First of all, two wrongs don’t make a right.
Second, the Crusades were nearly 1,000 years ago. The West has gone through the Renaissance and are not shackled by theocracy for the most part. The Moors may not have been as bad as the Inquisition, but they imposed heavy taxation on non-Muslims.
There were no Muslims in Spain before the Conquest. Your citing Spain just reiterates my point that Islam was spread by force. No nation voluntarily converted to Islam. As the Spanish Catholics reclaimed Spain, the Turks took much of the Christian Eastern Roman Empire, including Constantinople, but force. Perhaps the Moors were benevolent conquerors, but they did not convert through gentle words or persuasive logic.
Giancarlo85
@AxelDC: The Moors brought a cultural renassiance to Spain and were far more even handed than anyone. And religious tolerance was widely observed. Your point is moot. You need to hit the history book. Sorry.
Giancarlo85
By the way, if we want a recent example of a Christian butcher (well in the 1930s/40s), a certain Austrian comes to mind. He cited god in many of his speeches before he went out and exterminated millions. Stop trying to paint Christianity as “more nice” than Islam. They are both bad on equal terms.
dean3000
Ugh. In the uk it is well know that most Muslims despise the kuffir especially the ones of African origin. Karma is a byatch so suffer in dignity and stop whinging. Also if there are 1 billion of you that disagree why not put a $1 each on gofundme and build an army to defeat these pigs? Nah just complain and do nothing cause the truth is you love these guys and most of them are fags too
onthemark
@Ogre Magi: Yes. I’ve never hung out much on atheist websites (they seem like such a humorless bunch!) but that would probably be interesting.
@Giancarlo85: The Moors were great, but are there any examples of Muslim tolerance that are more recent than 500 years ago? 🙂 And again about Hitler. It fits the modern narrative that he supposedly had some kind of “Christian” motives but that’s just not true. Hitler had well-documented plans to abolish Christianity if he won the war. It was just too Jewish for him, it worships a Jew, most of its holy book is Jewish, etc. He liked the old-time religion: pagan mythology. His citing god in speeches didn’t mean anything; he was just faking out the Christians. Also as a lower-class Catholic in a majority Protestant country (where the kaisers had been Protestant) he had other ulterior motives for doing that.
Btw, Mussolini was an outspoken atheist all his life. How many people today even know that? That doesn’t fit the modern narrative either. People assume he “must” have had some crypto-Christian motive, but he didn’t.
@o.codone: As amusing as that is, Oxy, it’s out of place here since Giancarlo85 has stayed on-topic in this comment thread and has had pertinent things to say.
Stache
@onthemark: “Hitler had well-documented plans to abolish Christianity”
You care to cite some links for that since he seemed pretty supportive of Christianity by his own statements. Not to mention this would be news to the Catholic Church too who was all into the Nazi’s.
joeyty
@Giancarlo85: Who cares ? We’re not playing a game here, trying to add up points for which is the worst religion in history. We’re considering which is a direct danger to gay civilization right now, today.
joeyty
@Stache: Didn’t Hitler say Christianity was the greatest trick the Jews ever played on mankind ?
Hussain-TheCanadian
Holy shit – I go away for new years, and I come back to this insanity – I don’t even know where to start; some of you have ventured off topic to discuss Islam and Arab culture without the faintest idea of what you’re talking about.
Then again why bother to answer people who have made up their mind anyway – Islam may not be a race, however hating on someone for being Muslim is very much alive and well – look at this insane comment section – truly worthy of a conservative blog comments, and some of you are supposed to be liberals……..what a joke.
joeyty
@Hussain-TheCanadian: They’ve hated on Christianity and Judaism forever on this blog (with no criticism of that hatred from anyone). So I think there’s enough justification to hate Islam, too, these days.
onthemark
@Stache: You know he was a propagandist, so why take his propaganda at face value? What counts is what he didn’t say publicly:
“You see, it’s been our misfortune to have the wrong religion. Why didn’t we have the religion of the Japanese, who regard sacrifice for the fatherland as the highest good? The Mohammedan religion too would have been much more compatible to us than Christianity. Why did it have to be Christianity with its meekness and flabbiness?” Albert Speer quoting Hitler, “Inside the Third Reich”
Goebbels said in his diary that Hitler “hated Christianity.” Bormann also had a lot of quotes to that effect, as did contemporary historians like William Shirer, and much more recent historians like Laurence Rees. He wanted something along the lines of Norse mythology, Odin & Valhalla & all that Wagnerian kitsch (not that anyone claims he believed in it in the literal sense).
onthemark
@Stache: And since you ask about Catholicism specifically: if you assume the RCC in general approved of the Nazis from the get-go, that’s incorrect. For instance, early on there were a lot of priests who freaked out at euthanasia for “defectives” etc. (You may recall this policy began in peacetime quite early in the regime.) Hitler was enraged by this opposition and told Goebbels & Speer he regretted that, for political reasons, he had to put off getting revenge. He also told Goebbels – a nominal baptized Catholic like Hitler – that he shouldn’t leave the church because it would look bad politically.
When I made my original remark on this I was just going from vague memory, but after you asked about it I was stunned at how many examples there are! This is all a little off-topic but I remember you’ve asked about it before. Just look up “hitler” and “religion” or something like that.