coach, I thought that was the case but it was to good to pass up. Freudian slip maybe :)

I do believe though that the approach taken by yourself and others decreases the likelyhood of peace. You might check your version of the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5:9 in the New Testament), my copy says "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God". I think that is a fairly generally accepted translation. Sometimes peacemaking requires fighting but we are a long way from that yet on this forum.

As for Islam being a special case I remember times when spiritualism was the big threat and another period when it was New Age teaching. Older heads remember times when it was Catholics or Protestants (depending on which you were). If you do have a special case with Islam it is hidden by those who have gone before you crying wolf and by your own contributions to the conflict. Time for a different approach, at the moment only those who already agree with you are likely to pay attention to your warnings.

R0bert

do you guys HAVE to convert every OLO discussion into yet another nauseating discussion about Islam? We’ve read it all this dribble from you before…please! I can truly understand if Allah strikes you down for simply being boring old incontinent old farts.

Dear Ranier,
I challenged you to re-think the issues .... all you do is whine about some anti Islam crusade... the topic is.....

RACISM...

So, can you not waste posts on peripherals... if u don't say anything maybe the crusade will go away by itself ?

I'm advocating assimilation currently, you might have some thoughts in response to my last post ? After all, it was directed towards you.

cheers

Yoo Hoo, Rainier. You picked a fight with me and now you have gone walkabout. I take it that I have landed a few punches that have rocked you?

Damn, your a slippery character.

I fing it funny that you challenged me to a formal OLO debate on another related topic, but you only lasted two rounds with me on this one.

I've got you, haven't I? You are beginning to understand that your position is a contradiction. You can't pretend to be anti racist while overtly promoting the interests of one race and defending racial discrimination that benefits that race.

I learned a long time ago, Rainier, that when people use high moral ideals to base their arguments upon, it is usually a cover for their own self interest. My advice to you is to drop this whole "anti racism" approach. Since you are probably more racist than I am, you probably wish that Hassan Gage would jump on the next plane home, and that David Boaz and I would accompany him.

Your arguments might impress high school level debaters like RObert, SneakyPeter and Coach, or they might work with university students who ability to think straight has been corroded by the debilitating effects of studying for an Artz degree, but they don't work on people who have not lived cloistered lives.

Redneck,

I have looked up and pasted in definitions of "prejudice" and "stereotype" on the oxford english dictionary. If you check the exact meanings you may want to reconsider your affirmation that we "think" by stereotyping and prejudging, unless you also mean to say we necessarely think by oversimplification, preconception and without reference to reason or experience...

I mean, I am sure you are right we often do do that, after all we are only human, but hopefully we may want to try and do a bit better especially when considering things as important as how to relate to other human beings. I tend yo think we owe it to them.

We think through "concepts", mate, not prejudice and stereotypes, although I admit they may be useful shortcuts when we need to make quick judgemnts without much infortmation, but surely when you are judging your fellow humans, especially when you judge them negatively as you do blacks in your post, you owe it to them to apply considered and informed judgement not lazy thinking such as prejudice and stereotype.

prejudice

• noun 1 preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or experience. 2 unjust behaviour formed on such a basis. 3 chiefly Law harm that may result from some action or judgement.

stereotype

• noun 1 a preconceived and over-simplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person or thing

Redneck boasted of " landed a few punches that have rocked you"

wow redneck, you’re most definitely OLO's 45 kilogram self professed heavy weight champion of the world of racism. You’re so fast I didn't even see you move in those punches! - (perhaps its because you actually didn't move a millimetre)Keep shadow boxing your own xenophobic fears mate, one day you'll score a big knockout - on yourself.

By the way Champ, my Arts students (all 100+ of them) have all read your posts (I put them in a powerpoint show) and [besides rolling around on the lecture room floor laughing at your ridiculous ideas] all agreed that you were your own worst enemy. The big message they have for you is simple but poignant “Grow up and learn to love yourself and others".

Boaz D, As arduous as it is for me, you'll be happy to know that I am putting together a response to your last post. Conducting deprogramming psychotherapy online for ex-missionaries still looking for a lost tribe to save in the name Jesus is not my thang but I’ll give it a shot.