Unbiased Media? Christian Fundy Right Wing Zealot Calls for Jihad

So my mom sends me this email right, its from this guy in Panama City, Florida. It's a quaint little, albeit disturbing call to war. Christian Jihad anyone?

I'm not the most eloquent of debate warriors, but I thought I should at least send my rebuttle to mommy and school her on my version of the truth (in bold):

Phil Lucas, the paper's Executive Editor, wrote this article
published in The News Herald, Panama City, Florida, Sunday, April 4,
2004. His email address is [email protected]. The News Herald web site isfound at :
www.newsherald.com...

Up Against Fanaticism

By Phil Lucas, Executive Editor, Panama City New Herald

If straight talk of savagery offends you, if you believe in ethnic
and gender diversity but not diversity of thought or if you think
there is an acceptable gray area between good and evil, then turn to the funny pages,and take the children, too. This piece is not for you.

We published pictures Thursday of burnt American corpses hanging from an Iraqi bridge behind a mob of grinning Muslims. Some readers didn't like it.

Mothers said it frightened their children. A woman who works with Muslim physicians thought it might offend or endanger them.Well, we sure don't want to frighten, offend or endanger anybody,do we? That's just too much diversity to handle. I mean, somebody might get hurt.

We could fill the newspaper every morning with mobs of fanatical Muslims.They can't get along with their neighbors on much of the planet: France, Chechnya, Bosnia, Indonesia, Spain, Morocco, India, Tunisia, Somalia, etc. etc. etc. Can anybody name three ongoing world conflicts in which Muslims are not involved? Today, where there is war, there are fanatical Muslims.We might quibble about who started what conflicts, but look at the sheer number of them.

� Columbian Cocalero Wars
� Zimbabwe Ethnic Cleansing
� NK/US Cold War?


One thing is sure. Muslim killers started the one we are in now
when they slaughtered more that 3,000 people, including fellow
Muslims, in New York City.

Too bad Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11th atrocities. We invaded a sovereign nation, one year later there is more oppression due to US invasive forces than there was under Saddam Hussein. No wonder smiling Iraqi�s maim and kill. Would you not do the same if someone decided they wanted to invade the US?

Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state and feckless
appeaser who helped get us into this mess, said last week Muslims
still resent the Crusades. Well, Madam Albright, if Westerners were not such a forgiving people, we might resent them too.

Forgiving? This explains why you use the deaths of 3000 people on September 11th as justification for murdering thousands more in Afghanistan and Iraq. Clinton is still the closest any American President has come to assassinating Bin Laden. Sure, America is SO much safer from terrorist threats now that Bush is instigating a religious war by taking out Arab countries one by one. The world is a much safer place now I�m sure. Tell that to the hundreds killed in Madrid.

Let's recap the Crusades. Muslims invaded Europe, and when they
reached sufficient numbers, they imposed their intolerant religion upon Westerners by force.Christian monarchs drove them back and took the battle to their homeland. The fight lasted a couple of centuries, and we bottled them up for 1,000 years.

There�s something to be proud of: Bottling up an entire race of people who imposed their �intolerant� religion. Instead we impose our �tolerant� religion upon them, give them freedom, and start yet another war over religion. If there is one thing we can learn from the crusades it�s that religious wars are a disgusting and hypocritical justification for murdering millions. But, we�re do it right now. We impose western beliefs on those who don�t want them in the name of freedom. The hypocritical world view held by the US government and its religious right wing zealots is destined to bring nothing but terror and tyranny the world over.

Now, a millennium later, Muslims have expanded forth again. Ask
France.Ask England. Ask Manhattan. Two-and-a-half years ago fanatical Muslims laid siege to us. We woke up to the obvious. Our president announced it would be a very long war, then took the battle to the Islamic homeland.

Sound Familiar?

No differentiation between fanatical Muslims and the entire religion? This is a Holy War. But as Americans who supposedly pride themselves on the civilized culture we take for granted, our tolerance for diversity has flown out the door. In it�s wake a President has laid siege on an entire race of people (who outnumber Christians, by the way), many of which have absolutely nothing to do with the terrorist actions of a few. Afghanistan, where the terrorist group Al Quaida once resided has been long since forgotten and today we wage a war on a nation of innocent people.

Let's consider the concept of a "long war.! " Last time it was
200 years, give or take. Anybody catch Lord of the Rings? You know,
the good part, the part that wasn't fiction, the part that drew us to
the books and movies because it was the truest part: the titanic struggle between good and evil, between freedom and enslavement, between the individual and the state, between the celebration of life and the worshipping of death.

Yes, all Muslims are evil because they do not believe in your Lord Jesus Christ. Last time I checked tolerance was a virtue of the Christian faith. It has obviously been forgotten. Nowadays, Christians take it into their own hands to attempt to justify revenge. Revenge on anyone unlike them, regardless of whether or not those they are killing had anything to do with the actions of the instigating forces. As many Iraqi�s will attest, just read something unbiased for a change, you will find that there is no such thing as freedom in Iraq, regardless of who is in control. Newspapers are shut down, Mosque�s and schools turned into weapons store houses for Coalition forces.

That's the fight we are in, and it never ends. It just has peaks
and valleys.

There may be a silent majority of peaceful Muslims - some live
here - but that did not save 3,000 people in the World Trade Center, the million gassed and butchered in the Middle East, the tens of thousands slain in Easter Europe and Asia, the hundreds blown to bits in the West Bank and Spain, or the four Americans shot, burned and hung like sausage over the Euphrates as a fanatical minority of Muslims did the joyful dance of death.

Instead, America has a loud minority of Christian fundamentalists who set out writing racist emails such as this to sway other Christians into joining and supporting the Jihad (Holy War). Since September 11th, thousands more have died. Instead of taking out those responsible we feel it is necessary to convert the whole Muslim faith.
Thousands slain in Eastern Europe - no US military ramifications
The atrocities of the Bush backed Indonesian government and Myanmar � no US military ramifications
The Million gassed and butchered in the Middle East � who attempted to overthrow Saddam�s government by force and were severely beat down. I often wonder how the United States would act if it was faced with rebellion from within? Uranium tipped artillery? Tomahawk cruise missiles? MOAB incendiary devices? Land mines? In a nation of 300 million people, I would expect similar casualties.
Hundreds killed in Gaza and West bank � a result of an invasion 58 years ago by the US and England in an attempt to establish the nation of Israel. Israel, by the way is home to it�s own nuclear arsenal, thousands of Palestinians have died in the conflict to retain their stolen land.
Invading soldiers in Iraq killed � Killed because they are invading a sovereign nation. Oppressing it�s people worse than under Saddam Hussein and with no plausible justification other than making sure OPEC does not switch the standard oil currency from the US Dollar to the Euro.


Maybe we are so tolerant, we are so bent on "diversity," we are so
nonjudgmental, we are so wrapped up in our six-packs and ballgames that our brains have drained to our bulbous behinds. Maybe we're so addled on Ritalin we wouldn't know which end of a gun to hold. Maybe we need a new drug advertised on TV every three minutes, one that would help us grow a backbone.

If that isn�t the biggest contradiction I have ever seen, I don�t know what is. So �tolerant� you must grow a backbone and blow the brains out of any religion that doesn�t worship Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ! This whole email oozes with hypocrisy and rampant contradictory justification for warfare.

It doesn't take a Darwin to figure out that in this world the
smartest, the fastest, the strongest, and the most committed always
win. No exceptions.

Win the Holy War? I don�t want to win the Holy War. I don�t want there to be a Holy War, and there wouldn�t even be one if the President didn�t have to answer to his very own fundamentalist Christian constituents.

Look at your spouse and children. Look at yourself in the mirror.

Then look at the pictures from the paper last Thursday. You
better look at them. Those are the people out to kill you.

Why are the out to kill me? Because of the history of injustice the United States government has afflicted upon the Arab race. If you honestly believe that we are safer now then we were before this war against Islam started, you are in for a big surprise. Not only has a small faction of Muslims been energized by the injustice of the past, but a hemisphere of western hatred has been stirred in a cauldron of war in the present. We are in far worse condition in terms of terrorist threat than we have ever been in our nations past. By waging a Holy War, you do not put down radical forces, but energize pacifists into a rage of discontent.

Who do you think will win? You? Or them? Think you can take
your ball and go home and they will leave you alone? Read a little
history. Start with last week, last month, last year, and every other
year back for half a century. Then go back a thousand years. Nobody hides from this fight.

Like it or not, that's the way it was and that's the way it is.

But many Americans don't get it.

That's why we published those pictures.

If they jarred you off the sofa, if they offended you, if they
scared your children and sent you into a rage at mass murderers or
heartless editors, then I say, it's a start.

No one will win. Everyone will lose, we lose soldiers, and they lose women and children. We lose our safety exponentially, they have already lost it. Nobody runs from the fight, especially if there is no fight to run from. Publish the pictures all you want, they do nothing but stir up Western hatred to fill the void left by intelligent people who can understand that this is a war built on lies and Christian fundamentalist goals. It is the way it is because of people like you, who don�t understand the value of world peace and cultural diversity refuse to bow to the Christian morals you supposedly hold and become nothing more and a fundamentalist yourself. You publish those pictures as a propaganda aid for a personal vendetta. I refuse to listen to your racism, your outright bigotry and right wing conspiratorial fantasist garbage. If anyone, in my family or otherwise, is jarred into support for an attempt at empirical control over a sovereign nations assets, taken by force; if they are jarred into supporting a war for Christian values; if they are jarred into a war to destroy the fantasists; I would ask them to take one look in the mirror. Read a book. Don�t follow blindly into the unknown like a flock of sheep for your hypocrisy and racism are a destruction of not only American credibility, but your own faith.

Regards,
Edward L. Williams
Eagle Group International
404 464-8395

So you can imagine I had a feild day ripping this thing to pieces; well, at least I tried to. I was even debating sending it to the original recipients. Of course I won't though, mommy's reputation as a good little sheep in the community is at stake! I'll post my replies later, just thought ya'll should check out what's going on on the right side of wrong.


[Edited on 4-27-2004 by insite]

so your saying that the guy that wrote that article went beyond his bounds?
arent we allowed to go beyond such bounds (its called the 1st amendment)
nice signature to go with your bashing of perfectly good journalism.
i guess youre the kind of person that would rather ignore the wrongs of this world and quip about news articles than actually do something to fight back.
so answer me one question.
are you in any way related to Bill "back down" Clinton?

No. No relation to Clinton. I was just surprised by the fact that this guys is calling for Christians to rise up and fight against the Muslims and my mom was buying into it. Isn't one of the golden rules of Christianity to be tolerant of others and not force your hegemonistic worldview? I suppose it looks much better on paper than in practice.

*EDIT: Show me where I said this guy was not entitled to his opinion?


[Edited on 4-27-2004 by insite]

The news will always be biased no matter what they say. They forget too many things. There are websites like reuters that are not biased. Media will always be biased

yes we are told to hate the sin but love the sinner.
that i will concede.
but the US is not a Christian state, it is a conglomerate of many religions.
do you see Muslims being persecuted in New York or Colorado?
When terrorists attack us, the only way to stop more attacks is to fight back.
Clinton didnt get that, Bush does.
and Hegemonistic worldview?
why dont you start being more tolerant of Christians.
maybe as tolerant of Christians as you apparently are of Muslims.

Originally posted by Zuzubar
The news will always be biased no matter what they say. They forget too many things. There are websites like reuters that are not biased. Media will always be biased

seems to me this article from Reuters is not unbiased zuzubar.This one

Originally posted by aldsar
why dont you start being more tolerant of Christians.
maybe as tolerant of Christians as you apparently are of Muslims.

I am tolerant of Christians, I am tolerant of Muslims. It's the fanatical ones who go to war in the name of their God and trample all over their own "supposed" beliefs in the process. I don't like them.

The Christians in the US make up the majority of any organised religion here, thus they have the loudest voice, thus to get votes one must cater to their needs. And yes I do see Muslims persecuted in America, all the time my friend. The US isn't immune to racism by any means.

Originally posted by aldsar
When terrorists attack us, the only way to stop more attacks is to fight back.

Not in this way. The way to start more violence is through warring and destroying nations of pacifist Muslims. Those who didn't consider themselves warriors soon will. If not in the name of Allah than in the name of their sovereign nation that has been invaded. This war turned from punishment of actual terrorists to the energizing of hatred among moderate Muslims in countries that had nothing to do with anything. Pakistani's are pissed, Syrians are pissed and lord knows the Palestinians are pissed. Let alone the Iraqi's.

Originally posted by insite
Let's recap the Crusades. Muslims invaded Europe, and when they
reached sufficient numbers, they imposed their intolerant religion upon Westerners by force.Christian monarchs drove them back and took the battle to their homeland. The fight lasted a couple of centuries, and we bottled them up for 1,000 years.

We are not so pure as we like to think, and never have been.
After all, one of the people 'protecting' the West from the Muslims was this charming character ...



Vlad the Impaler

What is going on now has been going on for hundreds of years and will continue to do so for as long as we have fanatics, be they Christian or Muslim.

Mosque�s and schools turned into weapons store houses for Coalition forces?

can you back this up with any type of citation from any reputable source?

i know the islamist fanatics use mosques to hold weapons, but coalition forces?

if you can back that up i will concede, but right now i think you fell out of the leftist propaganda tree and hit every branch.

What is going on now has been going on for hundreds of years and will continue to do so for as long as we have fanatics, be they Christian or Muslim.

I think this is true, the only hope we might have is to get rid of BOTH groups or let them wipe each other out.

I hardly see what an Email from some right wing Christian nut has to do with Media Bias.

I only believe in Tolerance when its mutual. If someone is intolerant of me, i shall not tolerate them. Pure and simple, fighting fire with fire.

Since niether Muslims or Christians are tolerant, I say Christians declaring a Jihad is perfect. let them destroy one another. World be better off without them.

Pisky, Vlad the Impaler was actually not so bad.

Remeber, the Muslims were just as, if not more, brutal and vicious than the Christians. The Ottoman Turks were known to behad slaves with knewly forged swords to test out the sharpness and sturdieness of the blade. Since the Muslims were the first to invade and militantly push thier religion in Europe, the crusades were simply a case of "you reap what you sow". People often discuss the Crusades yet never mention the taking of Spain and the very close total conquest the Moors almost had.

Ill put it to you this way: I will gladly accept someone like Dracula as a defender, because of ruthless men like him, is the reason Europe advanced onto the Rennisance and the age of enlightenment when we began to shed the silly superstitions of the Church and embrace science, philosphy, humanism, and art. Such things would have never happened had we been conquered by Muslims, who to this day still live in socieities heavily domiated by thier backwards superstitions. In Europe, the power of the Church was broken. In the Muslim world, the power of the clerics still holds immense sway.

Ill simplify it: If it wasnt for men like Vlad the Impaler and the Spanish Inquisition, European women would be wearing burka's instead of miniskirts and thong panties.

Do you understand now why I simply cant think of Vlad and his buddies in anything but a light of admiration?

I speak as a female. Thank you Vlad for paving the way to godlessness and scanty clothing. Burka's just dont suit me.

Originally posted by insite


This war turned from punishment of actual terrorists to the energizing of hatred among moderate Muslims in countries that had nothing to do with anything. Pakistani's are pissed, Syrians are pissed and lord knows the Palestinians are pissed. Let alone the Iraqi's.

__
OH NO! You mean those peace-loving, benevolent, neutral, would-never-have-anything-to-do-with-terrorism Syrians are pissed? What have we done?

You're kidding, right?

lol, I like the way they use this lord of the rings analogy:

Anybody catch Lord of the Rings? You know,
the good part, the part that wasn't fiction, the part that drew us to
the books and movies because it was the truest part: the titanic struggle between good and evil

When at the start they said this:

if you think there is an acceptable gray area between good and evil then turn to the funny pages,and take the children, too. This piece is not for you.

Lord Of The Rings is all about the gray area between good and evil, mainly represented through the relationship between Gandalf and Saramon. (They're basically the same person).
I've read the books but haven't seen all the films btw.

Sorry, that was a little off topic but I just found it a good representation of the 'everything is black or white' mindset, which I despise. Think about it, Conservatives are always saying to aim for any 'idealistic' future of humanity is naive because of the inherit evils (greed, selfishness etc) in everybody, and yet they go about spouting ideas that good and evil are separate and easily identifiable. It's one of the biggest and most widely held contradictions I've come across, and the root of a lot of ignorance and intolerance.



[Edited on 27-4-2004 by kegs]

The Inquisition (Let's begin)
The Inquisition (Look out sin)
We have a mission to convert the Jews (Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew)
We're gonna teach them wrong from right.
We're gonna help them see the light
and make an offer that they can't refuse. (That those Jews just can't refuse)
Confess, don't be boring.
Say yes, don't be dull.
A fact you're ignoring:
It's better to lose your skull cap than your skull (or your govalt!)
The Inquisition (what a show)
The Inquistion (here we go)
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away.
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to stay!

"I was sitting in a temple. I was minding my own business.
I was listening to a lovely Hebrew mass.
Then these Papus persons plungered and they throw me in a dungeon and they shove a red hot poker up my ass.
Is that considerate? Is that polite?
And not a tube of Preperation H in sight!"

"I'm sittin' flickin' chickens and I'm lookin' throught the pickins' and suddenly thes goyim pull down valls.
I didn't even know them and they grabbed my by the stoghum and started playing ping pong with my balls!
Ooh, the agony! Ooh, the shame!
To make my privates public for a game?"

The Inquisition (what a show)
The Inquisition (here we go)
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away.
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to-
"Hey Toquemada, walk this way."
"I just got back from the Auto-de-fe."
"Auto-de-fe? What's an Auto-de-fe?"
"It's what you oughtn't to do but you do anyway."
Will you convert? "No, no, no, no."
Will you confess? "No, no, no, no."
Will you revert? "No, no, no, no."
Will you say yes? "No, no, no, no!"
Now I asked in a nice way, I said, "Pretty please."
I bent their ears, now I'll work on their knees!
"Hey Toquemada, walk this way. We got a little game that you might wanna play, so pull that handle, try you're luck."
"Who knows, Toq, you might win a buck!"

"How we doin', any converts today?"
"Not a one, nay, nay, nay."
"We flattened their fingers, we branded their buns!
Nothing is working! Send in the nuns!"

The Inquisition, what a show.
The Inquisition, here we go.
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away!
So all you Muslims and you Jews
We got big news for all of yous:
You'd better change your point of views TODAY!
'Cause the Inquisition's here and it's here to stay!

Download the song HERE.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
I hardly see what an Email from some right wing Christian nut has to do with Media Bias.

He's the editor of a well respected (at least in Panama City, Florida) newspaper.

Thanks for everyone's contributions to the thread. I wish I could respond thoughtfully and competently but I'm drunk.