iHate
Online terror and hate is on the rise, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is a Jewish human rights organization.
….the Wiesenthal Center flagged around 8,000 “problematic” sites on the Web pertaining to terrorism and hate, a 30% increase from last year. In addition to religious terror groups, the sites identified also pertain to anti-Semitic, racist, xenophobic, and various anti-religion and anti-government sentiments. And social media is a particular concern, with games, Facebook groups, and Second Life
“Every aspect of the Internet is being used by extremists of every ilk to repackage old hatred, demean the ‘Enemy,’ to raise funds, and since 9/11, recruit and train Jihadist terrorists,” the report detailed.
With the exciting technology of Web 2.0 comes those who use it for ill, rather than for good. You can report hate sites, videos and groups to ireport@wiesenthal.com.
Well, we can’t stifle free speech but we can certainly work together to watch these groups to help prevent any violent action on their part. And keep spreading love and understanding to all those we come in contact with.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:57 am
To think we had so much good will around the world after 9/11.
So much potential wasted.
So much money squandered.
So many lives lost.
Sometimes I forget in the fervor of political discourse just how sad this world is becoming.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Will people report my upcoming anti American Idol page? Dear me, I’d think that was heroic, or something like that.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Interesting question, just when does the stiffling, harrassment of others’ views begin?
May 21st, 2008 at 3:22 pm
It begins with the advocation of violence against specific groups. Ex: “I hate muslims”
Bashing TV shows and even things said by talk show hosts is not harrassment, unlesss you want to talk about doing harm on someone of course.
The first comment here is the only point to be made on this issue. We, the sane public, will always be able to discern what is hate motivated and what is simply political discourse. Don’t go to those sites, ever. Every hit is a vote of approval for their ill-begotten message.
May 21st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Well the plus side I guess is these sites make it easier for governments to know who the problem cases are, and where they live.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:51 pm
How about the stifling and harassment of other’s views’ starts when you support a group that collapsed the Twin Towers, crashed a plane in PA, and took a wall of the Pentagon out. How about it begins when you advocate taking the entire world’s freedoms and trampling on them to promote your archaic religion. How about it continues when years later you are still calling for the death of all infidels….and just so we are clear unless you are Muslim that includes you. So how do you feel knowing these people want to kill you?
May 21st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
From the Wiesenthal report: “All of the ideological underpinnings of the jihadist movement online are geared to the idea that a state of war exists between the jihadists and their opponents.”
But more than only the jihadists are using this handy tool as their ideological underpinnings. You see the tool on display at each presidential news conference. The religious right of all flavors are regular users. And today’s hardly the first time this tool has ever seen the light of day.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:15 pm
And … you see the tool displayed right here, posted above at 6:01pm.
I see it anyway. I wonder why no one else seems to.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
In response to Karma’s post:
The problem is, Islam is the only intolerant religion on earth, and we’re witnessing the caving in on our side through apologetics and even more tolerance for Muslim demands than they give to us.
There is no way that I am going to allow a migrant outsider come into my country and make demands….sorry, it’s just not in the cards. Radical Islam, and the hate it brings with it, MUST be stopped.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
There it is again, at 6:21pm. Steve and Osama are using the same playbook.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Anonymouse: What are you on about?
May 21st, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Cherylcarroll:
“And keep spreading love and understanding to all those we come in contact with.”
I’m all for that….however, you cannot spread love and understanding toward those who want us killed. That might be a foolish thing to do, and I am sure for once you would agree.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Osama said, “There is no way that I am going to allow a migrant [American] outsider come into [Saudi Arabia] and make demands….sorry, it’s just not in the cards. Radical [Christianity], and the hate it brings with it, MUST be stopped.”
See? Steve is Osama, Osama is Steve.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:59 pm
No, Mouse, Steve is God. Didn’t you see the comments under the thread for Ted?
God~ I’m not a pacifist, but I’m not a trigger-happy wannabe cowboy war-monger either.
Amen.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Steve isn’t God. Steve is Osama. Steve is a Freeper. “Steve Harkonnen” is iHate.
Run the google on him and you’ll see some of it.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Excellent analogy Anonymouse.
It can work the same way on both sides.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:46 pm
You may think that I am a tool however at least I am not blind. I have more proof then you could ever imagine for their unwavering hatred of infidels. Instead of being a mouth piece why don’t you try doing some research of your own? Have you even read the Quran? I didn’t think so. People who do not research and simply spout a point of view with no facts are the reason that this country is in such a dire position. A democracy cannot exist with uneducated people trying to run it.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Karma~ I’ve read parts of it, and am rereading it in full. I have also read MOHAMMED: A PROPHET FOR OUR TIME by Karen Armstrong.
Mouse~ After googling God’s earthly alias, and glancing through his blog, I’m still left to conclude that Steve is in fact God… I mean, if he’s not God then why would he be spending so much time judging people, and telling them what’s right and what’s wrong? Wait a sec… maybe you’re right and I’m wrong, Mouse. Steve just has a god-complex. My bad, girl.
Epiphany~ glad to see you back. I stopped commenting on the Ted thread after I’d stated my position. The last few weeks have just drained me, I’m done repeating myself, and I’m done defending Obama especially since I’m not even an Obama supporter! (I’ll leave that to our resident Obama boys from now on, lol)
May 21st, 2008 at 8:36 pm
I took a vaca from talk radio today, and played the hell out of my favorite songs while I went about my business. :-D I’ll be listening to Alan tonight, though.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Cheryl and others, maybe his is not trying to play God or judge other people. Maybe he is just giving his honest opinion about people and events. I have not been on the blogs long enough to know his background but could it be a possibly be that he angers enough people that people have resorted to mocking him?
May 21st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
There is both good and bad in both holy books. I have read parts of the Quran and the Bible.
I have a really long list of the “bad” in the bible such as this:
Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God
Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. “The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)
Kill Women Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night
But if this charge is true (that she wasn’t a virgin on her wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against Israel by her unchasteness in her father’s house. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)
May 21st, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Thanks Cheryl. :)
May 21st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
You do understand that the the Old Testament “rules” no longer hold up because Christ rose again and came back right?
May 21st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Again, all of that as well as much more, is in the Bible. The “word of God”.
And if what you say is true, then why do so many Christians quote from the old testament? They do.
So I guess the part of the Bible which condemn a man laying with another man, also quoted quite often by many hardcore conservative Christians is no longer valid as well?
May 21st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Epiphany, where do you (or where as we as a society should) derive your morals from and explain *why* there is any solid basis for those said morals? If not the Bible, I would hope it would be from some sort of immutable, perfect source. Otherwise the only logical choice is nihilism. A big ongoing orgy of moral relativism and atheistic existential bliss!
May 21st, 2008 at 10:43 pm
When I was a little girl I saw another little girl being bullied and pushed around by a bunch of kids. They were hurting her and I got upset. I ran over and defended her by hitting them back very hard. They ran away. I felt really good after I did that.
In other words I instinctively knew that something wrong was going on and that I should do something about it. I was quite unaware at that time of anything called God or the bible.
Most of my “morals” come from my parents. They were not religious and did not keep a bible in the house. The same with their parents.
I do like what Jesus said, do unto others as you would have others do unto you. But I already knew that even at the age of 5.
I have known and still know many athiests and agnostics and they are some of the most moral people I’ve ever met in my life.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
E~ You’re a woman after my own heart.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I thought you said you were finished blogging for the night. LIAR!
lol! :D
May 21st, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Well, the caller who called Obama Barack Saddam Hussein Obama got in my craw, so I’m calling know.
I’m just really tired of the bullshit… on all sides, dem and repub.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 am
just heard you on the radio Cheryl
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:31 am
Epiphany~ I unfortunately got caught by the break, and I was too upset to coherently verbalize my comment anyway.
Last week when this guy called dude at the gas station a “fucking Arab”, I put my son in the car and drove up to DC. I started that journey at like 10:30pm. Coming into DC from 95-South takes you right by the Pentagon. The road curves upwards, and you can’t see anything until you get to the top, but right at the top all of a sudden you see the Pentagon and the 9/11 memorial to the left. It’s awesome. Then when you get off at the exit to go straight to the monuments, the first building on your left is the Treasury, the second is the Holocaust Museum. They put a sign on the outside of the building that says “THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAW”. Those words are in big letters, and beneath THINK it says “The next time you see injustice”; beneath ABOUT it says “the next time you witness hatred”; beneath WHAT it says “The next time you hear about genocide”; and then beneath YOU SAW it says “At the Holocaust Museum”.
It was a beautiful night, clear sky and all. I parked near the Jefferson Memorial, got my sleeping baby out of the car, and carried him up to the Jefferson Memorial.
It was very refreshing to visit something that stands as a testament to not just Jefferson’s accomplishments, but the accomplishments of Americans who were there with him, and who came before and after him. That and the sign on the Holocaust Museum really stand out to me.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:39 am
I’m pissed that there’s not enough understanding between blacks and whites. Whites think blacks bitch about nothing, we’re all on welfare, we think we’re owed something, there’s no more racism so what are we so upset about… Blacks think whites are prejudiced, that they’re all the same as the generations of whites that came before them,… It’s so FRUSTRATING. (I’m generalizing in the above statements, not trying to speak for all of either side, just a good portion.) I think people just don’t WANT to understand each other.
Repubs say there is no global warming, Dems say that there is. WTF?! How do you argue about global warming. It either is or isn’t.
This oil business… I spent over $30 in gas to get to DC the other night, money I should’ve been spending elsewhere. Dems don’t want ANWR to be drilled b/c it’ll harm the environment (Not true), the environment is apparently more important than people. (Yeah, yeah, we need the environment to survive, but the areas of ANWR that would be drilled and when they could be drilled wouldn’t hurt the damned habitat.) Congress is making the oil execs come in and answer questions, instead of fixing the value of our dollar! That has A LOT to do with the cost of oil. If not for inflation, that $133 barrell of oil would be less than $100.
All this partisan crap and no working together.
THEN conservatives come on the site bitching about Ted being a murderer, his tumor is karmic retribution… all of a sudden they know the mind of God. And they laugh at who we think Ted is, how he’s one of our heroes, as if they don’t have their own heroes.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:48 am
As if conservatives don’t have their own political family that they’ve elevated to “royal” status. Hellooo? George Bush I and George Bush II and good ol’ Jeb down south, hookin’ up the 2000 election for his big bro.
W was never in a drunk driving accident that WE KNOW OF. Let’s not forget that his ass was convicted of DUI in 1976, when he was 30. And for the record, the dangers of drunk driving were not as well known then as they are today. The campaign to educate the public in drunk driving didn’t start until the EIGHTIES.
Too many people are wasting time being mean to each other instead of working together to fix things.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 am
Epiphany…atheists and agnostics moral? Based on what? YOUR opinion of morality? :) Society’s opinion of morality? Who decides? Maybe I think slavery should be reinstituted. Who’s to say I am wrong? I’m sure your parents were nice people, but why in the hell do I care what sort of morals they had, or you had, without an immutable basis?
I know you know this, but it has to come from somewhere like the Bible. Easy to knock the Bible and point out supposed inconsistencies, but without accepting some sort of unchangeable moral law or code we’re ships being guided by random rudders. Or, as Christopher Hitchens says, we should be moral on the basis of “human solidarity.” Makes me laugh.
Cheryl…I am really starting to respect your opinion. You seem just about as well-reasoned and non-partisan as can be. I mean, I am very well-reasoned (if I do say so myself) but also partisan. :D
I will say this about global warming…I don’t think it’s a 1 or a 0. It’s a complicated issue. It is clear that it exists, but to use a pompous word is it anthropogenic? Does man cause it? I read or heard that we produce like 2% of the CO2 in the atmosphere. I have a hard time believing that we can have such a huge effect on the EARTH, but maybe we do. I certainly do think developing alternative sources of fuel helps everyone. Hydrogen, electric, etc. We should be drilling like crazy for oil until we’ve completely made the switch. Then we can tell Saudi Arabia to go jump off a bridge. AND…I think more nuclear power would help us. The trouble is, from my understanding, it was environmentalists who blocked new nuclear power plants from being built in the U.S. We gotta get our damn energy from somewhere, and nuclear is a very safe, generally environmentally-friendly way to do it.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:15 am
Also, Cheryl, to your frustration…parties are there for a reason. In some cases, vastly different ideas. It’s hard to work together when you don’t necessarily accept the basic premise of the other side’s idea, whatever the issue. You know? I think both parties can come together on SOME things, and I want them to, but it’s like yin and yang on other issues…the chasm is too vast.
If I believe that abortion is murder, and Epiphany does not, how can we meet in the middle on that? It’s almost impossible since we don’t accept the basic tenets of the other person’s argument. We can parse each other’s words and try to get to the kernel of the issue but it’s rough.
But frustrating, I agree…sometimes politicians should opt for pragmatism above all else and just get stuff done.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:24 am
Nuclear power might be safe, but only until they do the cost-benefit analysis on safety systems, and then we get Three Mile Island.
And of course no one in Utah wants anything stored at Yuma Mountain. Certainly not for the next 10,000 years.
Drilling Alaska for oil only delays the inevitable, and the longer we delay the more painful the transition to alternative energy sources is going to be. And maybe in the long run we’re better off with gas heading for $10 a gallon. People might even take the problem seriously.
Before we’re forced to ration gas. Before you leave your SUV in the driveway and walk to work.
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:12 am
Flapper said:
“Epiphany…atheists and agnostics moral? Based on what? YOUR opinion of morality? :) Society’s opinion of morality? Who decides?”
Yes Flap, atheists and agnostics can be moral too. The “ruling stick” that we often used to judge morality, whether we realize it or not, is how close their actions are to what a Christian would do. You can be a moral person and not believe in Jesus, you just can’t be “saved” (according to the salvation rule of Christianity).
Flap said:
“Cheryl…I am really starting to respect your opinion. You seem just about as well-reasoned and non-partisan as can be. I mean, I am very well-reasoned (if I do say so myself) but also partisan. :D” Also “parties are there for a reason. In some cases, vastly different ideas. ”
Screw this 2 party system and their damned bickering that gets us nowhere.
RC said:
“Drilling Alaska for oil only delays the inevitable, and the longer we delay the more painful the transition to alternative energy sources is going to be. And maybe in the long run we’re better off with gas heading for $10 a gallon. People might even take the problem seriously.”
Delaying the inevitable offers a transition that allows people to maintain a reasonable standard of living for their family. Not every American is an over-consuming self-consumed person. I’m quite happy with delaying the inevitable, while it gives those jackasses time to stop fighting and basing decisions on party lines.
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
I like dividedwefail.org
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:51 am
“Epiphany…atheists and agnostics moral? Based on what?”
Are you really that short sighted and blind? Based on what? Based on their being good caring people. Based on observing their behavior and actions, in doing good things and treating other people with love and kindness. Based on their overwhelming compassion and generosity. These are people I have known and still know.
I really don’t understand what your problem is. People can be good and moral whether they believe in God or not. People can be ugly hateful people, who are immoral whether they believe in God or not. It’s all up to the individual, not what their religion is, or if they have one in the first place.
Hitler was a Christian. He was Catholic. So what? Doesn’t mean all Christians and Catholics are evil. But it does mean that a belief in any religion doesn’t necessarily preclude that you’re a good person. It is the responsibility of each individual to do the right thing and to be a good person if they can. If they want to.
You mean to say Flap, that if you weren’t a Christian and a believer in God that you would go around killing and raping people and that there would no longer be any reason for you to try and be a good, moral person? That’s pretty sad.
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:23 pm
For everybody who says that Ted Kennedy is evil because of the Chappaquiddick incedent, I’ll remind you that Laura Bush ran a stop sign and killed a classmate in 1963. But then, it’s only us liberals who have double standards.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/laura.asp
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
“Delaying the inevitable offers a transition that allows people to maintain a reasonable standard of living for their family. Not every American is an over-consuming self-consumed person. I’m quite happy with delaying the inevitable, while it gives those jackasses time to stop fighting and basing decisions on party lines.”
—————
But when it comes to the environment, we don’t have TIME to delay! We’ve been delaying for decades and now it’s catching up to us. Drilling in Alaska would not only cause environmental damage at ANWR, which is supposed to be one of the few protected regions of the country that we have left, but it will take pressure off of the automakers and the government to work harder at getting our cars running on something like ethanol, hydrogen, or electricity as soon as is humanly possible.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I look at drilling in ANWR in almost the same way I look at this “gas tax holiday” proposal. It’s just a gimmick so that the folks in Washington can pat themselves on the back and say they did something and keep delaying a real solution.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Epiphany, what is good, what is love (Haddaway…), and what is caring without moral absolutes? Me being “sad” or having “problems” has no relevance.
You’re using terms like moral, immoral, good, bad, that really have no relevance without a moral absolute. What is good and moral without basis on something unchanging? Atheists may do “good” according to what? A Biblical standard? I’m not saying someone has to accept Jesus Christ or Yahweh or Allah or Shiva or Confucius or Buddha in order to be moral, I am saying to define morality as meaning anything, it HAS to be based on something unchanging. Otherwise people like Hitler really didn’t do anything wrong because who is to say murder and torture is wrong? Hitler was not really a traditional Christian…he had some wacky mystical beliefs mixed in there. But it doesn’t matter because Christians have done a lot of evil in the past…just like everyone else!
Epiphany, no, I think people tend to want to act in a positive way, and I of course would try to be an upstanding person whether I believed in God or not, but who is to actually say WHAT is upstanding without some sort of unchanging standard?? Morality has no basis otherwise.
And Cheryl, I completely agree with you…often many of us use the ruling stick of Judeo-Christian morality to decide what is moral. I guess that is what I was trying to say and you naturally said it much better.
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I think liberals and conservatives alike agree that we need alternative power…and very quickly. I am for drilling in ANWR but only tepidly. I think Michael may be right about it being gimmicky.
We need more NUCULAR POWER, DUBYA!
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
I can’t participate in anymore debates for a while b/c I’m about to go insane. But I’m more than happy to drop in here and make random comments.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:26 pm