Puterbac News Network and Political Discussion Thread

[10ac]

Heh

[Jungle Rat]

He looks like Jaimie Lannister.

Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles...

Heh. He also looks like a guy you would see on many college campuses throughout the South.

Wrong. His collar is not pink.

[Professor Tiger]

Probably a KA. Maybe an SAE.

[GBJs]

I doubt his choice of motor oil had much to do with it...

[DooKSucks]

Probably a KA. Maybe an SAE.

Given what we know about him, he's definitely a KA.

[puterbac]

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/65674 ... ot-edition

[TheBigMook]

Heh, I one joke premise, but well executed. Kudos.

[Professor Tiger]

I'd like to see what evidence the media used to declare him a Christian fundamentalist. Did he do it for Jesus? I doubt it. He does hate Muslims and wants them to leave Europe. But that isn't Christian fundamentalism, except in the media, which thinks all forms of right wing extremism is, by definition, Christian fundamentalism.

[Dora]

It was the police, not the media who said he is a Christian fundamentalist. They made this determination based on interviews with him & his long (1500 page) manifesto. Apparently he wrote about Muslim threat to Christian Europe.

[TheBigMook]

Sure Dora, you may have the facts on your side, but Tiger has truthiness!

[TheBigMook]

Apparently he also borrowed heavily from the Unabombers manifesto as well. So you can add plagarism to his list of crimes. THROW THE BOOK AT HIM!

(RadioLab had an interesting story regarding the Unambomber's origins on its Oops episode. Highly recommend. Now that psychiatrist can be blamed for this too!)

[Hacksaw]

From what I've seen so far, the Norway kook was more of a political terrorist than a religious one. Same thing could be said of McVeigh. McVeigh was a nutjob and so is this tool.

The Muslim terrorists are also nutjobs. It's natural to not want to attach any sort of significance to their religious affiliations, because we all know that someone would have to be crazy to commit mass murder. We all know that the vast majority of Muslims and Christians are repulsed by these sorts of acts. And we all know that being a Muslim or a Christian doesn't make someone a terrorist.

Having said that, I think it's clear that Islam has a far worse PR problem than Christianity -- even if some people seem eager to glibly lump them together as comparable examples of religious fanaticism.

[sardis]

From the bomber/shooter's manifesto:

www.ibtimes.com/art​icles/186020/201107 ... e-key.​htm "If you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God then you are a religious Christian. Myself and many more like me do not necessarily have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and God. We do however believe in Christianity as a cultural, social, identity and moral platform. This makes us Christian ... I'm not going to pretend I'm a very religious person as that would be a lie. I've always been very pragmatic and influenced by my secular surroundings and environment.... Religion is a crutch for many weak people and many embrace religion for self serving reasons as a source for drawing mental strength"

Even the police can make stupid statements before investigating thoroughly...

[Professor Tiger]

Great post, Sardis. That is what I thought he'd say.

This "Christian fundamentalist" nutjob's motivation is very different from Islamic fundamentalist bomber nutjobs. You'll never hear them say in their pre-suicide bombing videotapes, "I don't really have a relationship with Muhammad or Allah. I don't really pray or read the Koran. I just want Islam to kick the infidels out of the Middle East." Instead, they piously read passages from the Koran, commit their souls to Allah, the Benificent, the Merciful, and ask him to tell his 72 virgins to put on something sexy...

[Dr. Strangelove]

I had wrongly heard that an Islamist group had taken credit for the bombing and didn't think the two events were related until I heard more details on Sunday. Mea culpa. Turns out he's your typical immigrant-hating, liberal-despising nutjob

[Owlman]

I agree, Islam has a much bigger PR problem than Christianity; in Christian dominated societies.

No surprise there.

[Professor Tiger]

Islam has no PR problem in countries where women are beheaded in soccer stadiums for learning to read.

[Owlman]

exactly

[GBJs]

Turns out he's your typical immigrant-hating, liberal-despising nutjob

I see no reason to hate true immigrants.

[innocentbystander]

When the motivation to murder (mass murder) isn't driven by Islamic extremism, the knee-jerk reaction is that the motive MUST be Christianity. It's as if it is an either-or proposition. But that is intellectually insulting. It's also lazy since that proposition means you don't need to do any homework.

Whether or not Ted Kazinski/Unabomber was Christian or not, his desire to murder was not motivated by anything that Christ said. He was motivated by his hatred of technology and creative destruction. He was motivated by desiring a world where we all had simpler lives and he was willing to kill to achieve that end.

Whether or not Tim McVeigh was was Christian or not, his desire to murder was not motivated by anything that Christ said. He was motivated by his irrational hatred of Janet Reno and the United States Federal government for the way they treated David Koresh and the Branch Dividians. He thought the government over-stepped its bounds and he was willing to kill to illustrate how wrong he thought our government was.

Whether or not Jared Laughner was was Christian or not, his desire to murder was not motivated by anything that Christ said. He was motivated by having a screw lose and living a life that none of us would ever want to live. We make fun of people who can't hold a McJob and get thrown out of Community College. Someone who lives every day in the basement of their parents house, with no hope for any kind of future outside of drugs, they are likely to murder as they have nothing to lose. Obviously, he doesn't even care about his own life.

Whether of not this Norwegian was was Christian or not, his desire to murder was not motivated by anything that Christ said. He was motivated by anger at his country for allowing the animals to run the zoo. And because he was insane, he saw nothing wrong with what he did. Basically, all this guy is, is a higher functioning Tim McVeigh without access to as much explosives.

When the mass-murderer isn't Muslim, rest assured, their motivations to murder are almost always isolated motivations brought on by their unique opinion of the world around them, NOT for serving some higher power to gain in the afterlife.