to dima, if he should return

Submitted by gary (United States), Feb 15, 2006 at 05:23

dima,

excellent post. i like a little revel in peoples responses. and as for offending me, be free to. i live in a place where people are offended all the time. i guess we are used to it and thats why we dont go ballistic every time someone says something we dont agree with. people have a right to be offensive. ive often wondered why people dont analyze the cartoons from the perspective of the offender rather then the offended but thats another topic for another day. so i am saying this to you and you alone, im sorry if i was too harsh and offended you. see, i can say the prophet mohammed may peace be upon him if asked in a respectful way but i will never be told. i believe this concept is known as defiance.

well as for me not knowing about religion, i have credentials that suggest just the opposite, but im not going to debate the issue. personally i am a deist so i think all organized religions are equally worthless. and we have some christian evangelists in our country that spew forth hate garbage all the time dressed up as religion. the tone is different but the message is the same, "how can you call yourself human when you're not like me". its all the same insanity.

i dont know if you have been to the states before but i wish you could VISIT and take a look at the world from our perspective. i would like to do the same over there but im afraid my security would be compromised. you dont have to worry about that here. we arent beating up moslems in the streets. and the reason i used the word visit in caps is because until your people develop the will to keep your more militant factions in check, there really is no room for any of you to stay in the us or europe. we simply cant coexist with a culture thats going through the same period our culture went through 500 years ago. the spanish inquisition was in 1492. thats the last time that christians really went to war using jesus as an excuse. now we go to war to protect the right to make fun of jesus. and if someone is offended they sit down and talk about it or at worst sue in court for monetary redress. we traded in the sword for the almighty us dollar. its much cleaner and everyone gets out alive. we found that blowing off steam around a conference table was better then chopping off heads.

i would really love to wake up tomorrow and have everybody come to their senses but thats a pipe dream. so i have to live in the real world. the thing that really offends me is the threat im hearing come from your part of the world that my personal safety is in question and i can show you 2 holes in lower manhattan that may make you understand why. we have a saying here in america that if you stand in the middle of the street you get run over from both sides. the meaning being that you have to take a side. and in this case, while the cartoons may be a big issue to you, the violent reaction is ours. i mean the cartoons were a little tempra on a piece of paper. they never burned down buildings or killed anyone. but that is an abstract concept that may be alien to you. i dont know. i dont personally know you. so you have to take a stand for or against the violence because noone questions your right to get angry over the cartoons, just your reaction. that behavior cannot and will not be tolerated much longer. and thats not a threat, its a matter of fact. i guess im not as angry as i was at irans president anymore because i realize he probably wont make it out of this year alive.

we live in 2 diametrically opposed societies. no non moslem could ever live under the laws of the koran. they are much too rigid and far too inhumane for western society. we will not allow someone to have their hand cut off under any circumstances. in our culture we view this as cruel and inhuman punishment and a gross overreach of state power. our women will never be "forced" to wear the berka. its seen as demeaning to people who dont take directions on how to run their lives from a book. you see we believe in individual rights. when you go to get a job in the united states, you are prohibited from not hiring a person because of their race, religion, ethnicity or sexual preference. thats called equality of oppurtunity. does this same policy exist in your country for non-moslems? these are some things i hope you consider.

in conclusion, i apologize for my behavior but not my ideals. as important as your faith is to you, it is equally important to me that i never live under sharia and sharia is never forced upon the west.

thank you

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