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Another protest, this time Sydney Australia

MG1962

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MG1962
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http://www.news.com.au/national/pol...the-us-consulate/story-fndo4bst-1226474744811

I know we have had a few threads on the round of protests against the US, but this one is different. Australia is not some stone age Muslim den of barbarity, it is a modern democracy with well formed concepts of free speech and ample out lets for peaceful protests.

The location of the protest is equally interesting. The US embassy is not located in Sydney but at the Australian capital Canberra. Sydney does however have a consulate, located at the top of a skyscraper with a heavily controlled access point.

The protesters seemed to have used a flash mob tactic to concentrate their numbers and wrong foot the local authorities. I mention this because of the lack of response in other locations has troubled me, but if the protests are brewing up in a matter of minutes, cities such as Bengahzi with far less organisation are going to struggle to cope in a timely manner.
 
Most disturbing was a shocking image of a young boy in Hyde Park holding a sign declaring: "Behead all those who insult the prophet".

Raising the next generation of terrorists. Apparently the parents want to live in the west while rejecting western values.
 
WildCat said:
Most disturbing was a shocking image of a young boy in Hyde Park holding a sign declaring: "Behead all those who insult the prophet".

Raising the next generation of terrorists. Apparently the parents want to live in the west while rejecting western values.
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Yeah someone seems to have decided that putting such signs in the hands of young children is a powerful message is someway. I find it plain silly to see a child holding sign they are not old enough to read yet
 
What are those signs trying to achieve anyway?
Ridiculous.
 
The headline should read:

"Children of Mohamed acting like... Children."

When will they grow up?
 
Wasn't Sydney the place that had the Muslim wackos protesting the atheist conference earlier this year?

I have to be honest, seeing these fanatics act like this isn't making me want to respect the prophet. The opposite in fact.
 
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Tony said:
Wasn't Sydney the place that had the Muslim wackos protesting the atheist conference earlier this year?

I have to be honest, seeing these fanatics act like this isn't making me want to respect the prophet. The opposite in fact.
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I don't have an issue with these protests, everyone is entitled to their opinion, I am concerned with the seeming disposition to start as violent protests.
 
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WildCat said:
Most disturbing was a shocking image of a young boy in Hyde Park holding a sign declaring: "Behead all those who insult the prophet".

Raising the next generation of terrorists. Apparently the parents want to live in the west while rejecting western values.
Click to expand...

It occurred to me to look into Christian reactions to attacks on Jesus. In particular, I recalled Christian outrage at "Piss Christ," a 1987 photograph by Andres Serrano of a plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the photographer's urine. It did indeed provoke outrage, and I think the photo was even destroyed by protesters at a gallery in France.

Notably, however, there were no calls on the part of Christian fundamentalists for the artist to be beheaded, no Christian fatwas issued. Considering the bloody history of religious wars and persecutions in Christendom during the 1600s, I don't think this points to any inherent difference between Christianity and Islam. Rather, as I've asserted before, much of the Muslim world is theologically where Christendom was in the 1600s. I wonder what the reaction of Muslims out for someone's blood would be if one were to ask them, "Wouldn't you rather see the perpetrator enlightened and see him reform his ways?" Sadly, I suspect they'd rather he were beheaded.
 
Australia fancies itself as a multi cultural country, and a large proportion of its population has been born overseas. However so far it has only taken a generation or two for other waves of immigrants to assimilate and adopt "mainstream" cultural practices (I'm generalizing, of course). The legacy we have of European and Asian immigation are really good restaurants but not a continuation of ancient enmities. This melting pot has seemed to work reasonably well.

I'm not the only Australian who worries that the Middle Eastern and Africans immigrants are not going to follow the same path. Sure, they don't have to, but I fear a less peaceful society as a result.

Not a politically correct opinion I know. I'm getting old and crotchety.
 
lionking said:
Australia fancies itself as a multi cultural country, and a large proportion of its population has been born overseas. However so far it has only taken a generation or two for other waves of immigrants to assimilate and adopt "mainstream" cultural practices (I'm generalizing, of course). The legacy we have of European and Asian immigation are really good restaurants but not a continuation of ancient enmities. This melting pot has seemed to work reasonably well.

I'm not the only Australian who worries that the Middle Eastern and Africans immigrants are not going to follow the same path. Sure, they don't have to, but I fear a less peaceful society as a result.

Not a politically correct opinion I know. I'm getting old and crotchety.
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Thats an interesting talking point because in the 70s I grew up with an went to school with large numbers of immigrants from Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. By and large those kids were pretty typical second generation immigrant stock, adjusting well to their new home and remember their culture of origin.

So I have to wonder whats changed with this new wave of people making their home in Australia
 
MG1962 said:
Thats an interesting talking point because in the 70s I grew up with an went to school with large numbers of immigrants from Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. By and large those kids were pretty typical second generation immigrant stock, adjusting well to their new home and remember their culture of origin.

So I have to wonder whats changed with this new wave of people making their home in Australia
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My hunch is the difference is the Internet and cell phone access. Having access to a group of people who think like you do means you don't have to immerse yourself into an existing society as completely because you always have some place to turn to be "accepted."

Look at many of us here on this site. I am an atheist. When I want to communicate about subjects (this thread for instance) I turn to the Internet, I don't go out to look for people to talk to in my neighborhood about religion or politics.

I don't know if this is all, or even part, of the reason why things are different now but it is the biggest difference from when we grew up (I am a child of the 70's as well) and now.
 
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not_so_new said:
My hunch is the difference is the Internet and cell phone access. Having access to a group of people who think like you do means you don't have to immerse yourself into an existing society as completely because you always have some place to turn to be "accepted."

Look at many of us here on this site. I am an atheist. When I want to communicate about subjects (this thread for instance) I turn to the Internet, I don't go out to look for people to talk to in my neighborhood about religion or politics.

I don't know if this is all, or even part, of the reason why things are different now but it is the biggest difference from when we grew up (I am a child of the 70's as well) and now.
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Very good point.
 
I don't like those people who have different beliefs than I.

I'm going to go poke them with a stick.

Hey, they are angry at me!?

Just proves how inferior they are....
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:covereyes
 
MG1962 said:
A bit more follow up on the protests

http://www.news.com.au/top-stories/its-a-mistake-im-not-a-bad-mother/story-e6frfkp9-1226478441135
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I love this quote from the article:

Breaking her silence almost a week after she created a national stir, the 28-year-old university educated woman claimed she did not know what the word "behead" meant.
She insisted her eldest child picked up the poster from the ground and waved it above his head, so she took a photograph of him, not comprehending the sinister message portrayed on the sign.
"I did not know what beheading was," she said.

So she let her kid pick a poster up from the ground and wave it around when she didn't even know what it meant? Then she takes a picture of him doing that? And, being university educated, she can speak English well enough to insist she's "a good mum," but she doesn't know what "behead" means? Puh-lease!
 
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