That's not common courtesy, that's a recipe to waste a ton of time and energy that you can't get back. Hitchens has a well deserved reputation. A bit like that arsehole Randi, they sound great if you happen to agree with them, but they build their castles on a layer of bullshit that ensures that no matter how sound the rest of it is, it's still going to come tumbling down if you look too closely.

I think if you can't be bothered to provide a synopsis of what you think the video means, then there's very little point in viewing it as there's no way to know if it supports your argument or not.

Debate isn't really a waste of time, but viewing a video that could easily be summarized with maybe a paragraph or to of text is. I mean presumably, you've viewed the video and know what you think it says. I can always view the video afterward to see if it does say that and whether he's supported his arguments adequately.

It's completely the question. Prior to that most of the infighting was kept amongst themselves. It wasn't until relatively recently that they started to focus on people not of their religion. For most of the history of Islam they converted people via economic incentives more than anything else. The main thing that changed was Western Interference and control over their areas. Osama Bin Ladin didn't have the resources to launch a terror campaign until the Russians tried to take Afghanistan or around that point in time.
Well, no, that's how the brain functions in every person. The degree to which one responds does have something to do with the outward response and as such intelligence of the person. But, less so than the options on the table. Hamas and the like react the way they do in large part because they haven't go the resources to respond in other ways. Just like how the early Americans responded via what the Brits almost certainly would have considered to be terrorism at the time. Fighting dirty and breaking the rules that other powers mostly adhered to.

Anyways, it's beyond debate that pissing people off is a great way to get them to go to the people that are in opposition to you. Most of those terrorist groups give generously to the people in order to be on their side. There are exceptions like ISIS, but we'll see how long that lasts. I doubt very much that when the entire rest of the Arab/Islamic world gets tired of it that it's going to last very long after that.

Here let me remind you and it goes on and on and on top of that you personally attacked me for being a fake liberal and what not and you put on the swastika armbelt yourself not me. As for the reaction I gave to Licurg, that isn't a personal attack and if he wants to be the troll to be insulting he should act responsible and not hide in anonimity.

Please do reread all of your hollow phrases about freedom, which surprised me that people apparently still fall for neocon indoctrination. Please don't give me that bullshit about others fighting for my freedom, I've never asked for Islamic insulting cartoons or games, if people want to be attentionwhores and deliberately explore how to attract extremists and get killed for it in the process, they get killed for their own stupidity not for freedom, worst of all, innocent bystanders become collateral in their quest for fame and glory and mass hysteria ensues.
Freedom of speech is worth nothing if the people who abuse it have no decency or respect for anyone/thing anyway.
And no that is no death sentence.

i felt it needed the obnoxious "omph" the WHOLE definition would bring. :)

First, you're making a stupid generalization here. Those terrorists simply do not represent all muslims. In fact, most of these terrorist groups aren't even fighting to defend their "religion" or anything. Most of these groups are fighting for one thing: power, and they are using religion to achieve their goals. Through religion they seek legitimacy and inspiration to drive teenagers and young adults to join their cause.

With that out of the way, you are completely wrong if you think that extremist christians doing awful things in the name of God (like the muslims you are referring to) don't exist. There are just as many fundamentalist christians doing awful stuff and killing people out there as there are fundamentalist muslims. The thing is that the former doesn't get much cover on the press, the latter does.

The same applies to Judaism, just look at how many innocent palestinian civillians have been brutally killed by Isreal's army in recent history. The only difference is thata the jews in Israel responsible for this massacre have the government to back them up and the biggest ally one could ever have: the USA. Muslim terrorist groups don't have any of that and can't even come close to the firepower that Israel has. What Israel does is not very different from what islamic terrorists do, yet we don't call Israeli "terrorists". There are political reasons behind that. Israel has a huge army and all the developed contries to back it up. They can do whatever they want without being called out for it.

About christians, i don't know how things are where you live, but here it's becoming increasingly common for homosexuals to be killed by radical christians because of their sexual orientation "in the name of God". There are fundamentalist freaks in every religion, and with christianity it's no different. The only difference is that christians beating up homosexuals to death doesn't get as much coverage as artists getting killed by muslims.

And i think you forgot what happened in Ireland in recent history. Oh, and let's not forget about what happens in some christian-dominated african countries.

Notice that i'm not defending these terrorist groups by any means. They've been doing some horrible things and definitely need to be stopped. But "creating" a war between Christians and Muslims will not solve the issue. Actually, it will make things worse, because it will give more inspiration to drive more young people to join those groups.

Not to mention that Christianity and Islam are not very different in essence. Not only do they share historic connections, but both the Bible and the Quran have many similar passages, just with different interpretations.

Bullshit. Pretty much every religion requires everyone to conform, at least the traditional ones. That by itself is one of the biggest purposes of religions: to make people conform to a certain subset of rules, values and moral standards. Religion is one of most important forms of social control that we have.

That's precisely my biggest complaint against religions: every single one of them is trying to shovel down their faith down everyone's throats. And Christianity is no different. The thing with christianity is that it has the power of the government (in the western society, obviously) to back it up and enforce its rules.

Just look at how much conservative christians still dominate the parliament in many countries, either by having the most representatives or by lobby groups. And this domination is very visible when you look at subjects that christians do not accept, such as abortion, homosexual marriage, some scientific researches and legal use of some drugs. Basically, these christians can use the power of the law to enforce their views, which is why many countries still do not accept abortion, homosexual marriage, legal use of marijuana and other things.

*waves*

hold on there, i have some stipulations, i just don't go joining psycho cults all willy-nilly. I only join ones in which I get silly hats and vestments. Also, what methods may i use in getting said followers? *drags in iron maiden*

hmm, i like tacos. awalterj is an asshat and not a true prophet. can i have my taco punishment now, please?

oh and just a side note, elephantism may be mixed up with elephantiasis, just sayin'.
hello young lady. have you heard about the good news?

I'm sorry, was I even directing this to you?

dude what the fuck are you talking about? this is a joke between awalterj and myself.
and i'm a fucking atheist!

You of all people starting a troll thread like this...

Yes yes, I know, "not all Romanians are vampires". But all vampires are Romanians! And "even if they were, not all vampires jump to your throat at night, trying the suck the life out of you". Yadda yadda, I've heard all that before.

The media hardly ever writes about vampires because they are afraid of you and you get a special treatment from them. Every year, more people die or get turned by vampires than die in freaky unicycling accidents.

I still remember the violent protests in Cluj over Leslie Nielsen's Dracula movie...

Why does the end matter? I always swallow my eggs whole. Am I doing it wrong?

If you're cold blooded, slither along the ground, have scaly skin and have some measure of domestication, I'd say you're doing it just right :)

In some way, Licurg is a little bit our own Radu.... ^o^
http://youtu.be/NFeP2zad6ME

This is completely wrong.
Either you have absolutely no idea about non-abrahamitic religions at all or are not counting anythinh outside of christianiy, judaism and islam.

Did you read the Quran?
Did you read the Dhammapada?
Did you read the Tao-Te-King?
Did you even read the whole Bible?
etc...

I can imagine the answer to all those questions.... but it doesn't make you stop babbling about all this.

Zzzzzoundsss! I have been found out! How did zzzzat happen? And what issss thisss domessstication you ssspeak about?

Just enough domestication to boil an egg and do it without arms and legs. Sounds like it would be tough but from the sounds of things, you are one smart scaly forum member :)