demagogue on 16/9/2012 at 11:41
I mean, who is going to seriously believe this is a high-budget Hollywood production by an Israeli financier whose name sounds suspiciously like imbecile? The idea of all these articles taking it as a serious "mystery" is ridiculous by itself. The guy is probably on 4chan now lolling for troll of the year, possibly troll of the decade.
Also amazing is the pitiable cast & crew duped into the troll when he told them it was for a movie about the Middle East called "Desert Warrior", nothing to do with religion at all, and he just crudely overdubs in some key phrases to make it anti-Islam. Are you shitting me? It couldn't have been a cruder troll. Now all the poor cast's lives are at risk, and this Sam Bacile guy suddenly disappears and seems to be a pseudonym all along ... yeah couldn't have seen that coming from a mile away.
The whole thing is so gobstoppingly ridiculous it's hard to know what's more amazing, that such a crude production could troll that hard, or that an entire population of 10s of millions can actually get trolled that hard by that little and not realize it was made precisely to make them hoohaw like that. FFS they've had internet for a decade now too; they should know the routine by now.
SubJeff on 16/9/2012 at 12:22
I think you vastly over-estimate the use of the internet in these countries and even then they probably have restricted access to enough things that they aren't internet troll savvy enough to get this.
demagogue on 16/9/2012 at 12:38
I could have predicted it ... except that guys from Syria & Libya are regularly on 4chan rolling their eyes at their own people as well as anyone; not that they'd ever let on to their family. But for the run-of-the-mill Abdul Jabar, yeah, no clue. That's what makes it such a cheap trollol. It's shooting fish in a barrel and they go hoohaw like clockwork.
SubJeff on 16/9/2012 at 13:08
Quote Posted by demagogue
the run-of-the-mill Abdul Jabar
You both shock and surprise me!
lol
Muzman on 16/9/2012 at 13:18
The Danish cartoons were never printed outside Denmark, as far as I'm aware. They were gotten a hold of by Islamists in Denmark who sent them to others, who printed them out (along with many other fabricated ones) which were distributed in certain mosques and markets in the Middle East and Europe.
They're plenty tech savvy.
Have we forgotten that the Egyptian government's first big move to stop the revolt was to shut down the internet and mobile phone services.
SubJeff on 16/9/2012 at 13:26
Trouble makers know how to make trouble. Those reprints and additions don't require much tech knowledge.
And governments like that will always take steps to stop communication, but thats the government. It doesn't represent the majority of the people's abilities.
demagogue on 16/9/2012 at 13:34
Abdul Jabal -- follower of the rock, same Jabal as in Jabal-al-turik, Turik's rock, aka Gibraltar. (You need something following Abdul or it sounds odd. Paula Abdul = Paula Follower of... ). No negative connotation implied really, just a not-uncommon name that sounded kind of funny there. I like reading & studying Islamic works... Sufism (Islamic mysticism) in particular is very interesting to read IMO, in the same thread as Christian mysticism & Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah), and there was a time where they liberally borrowed from one another.
In my tl;dr post I posted my dilemma. I spend time in my classes tirelessly defending the Muslim population in Burma from rampant discrimination and sub-human status they get there, despite spats of violence by a radical fringe of them, although my students are deeply alienated to them... But you just can't hold the whole population down for the insanity of a minority part. But I have to deal with events like this. Not unlike the civil rights struggle for US blacks after the 1964 riots maybe. But you have to stick to the script -- everybody deserves human rights and equal status.
Edit: A NYTimes (
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/opinion/sunday/douthat-its-not-about-the-video.html) editorial made the believable point that a lot of this may be posturing (with a semi-manufactured scandal) by Islamists to press on the government or public over the moderates in the wake (/vacuum /ambiguity) of the new government & revolutionary spirit, in a similar way that Rushdie's book was following the Iran revolution period.
Muzman on 16/9/2012 at 13:44
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Trouble makers know how to make trouble. Those reprints and additions don't require much tech knowledge.
And governments like that will always take steps to stop communication, but thats the government. It doesn't represent the majority of the people's abilities.
It probably doesn't represent the majorty of ability in the west either. The things is people are as hooked up as they can be. It's spirited young men at these baricades. Plenty of them are just looking for a reason to flock there and a few are on constant lookout for anything in the world that might give that reason. They're all connected enough.
Brian The Dog on 16/9/2012 at 22:54
Quote Posted by LarryG
So let's see if I've got this right. The candidates for explaining this seemingly irrational behavior, in no particular order, are:
* Religious fundamentalism of any sort somehow encourages this behavior. And fundamentalist Islam in particular is prone to this because it is medieval in its outlook, despite the fact that nothing in the Koran sanctions such behavior.
* The climate. Hot temperatures makes for hot tempers.
* The geography. Flat terrain leads one to making snap judgements, while rugged and forested terrain encourages thought.
* Poverty. Economically disadvantaged peoples just behave irrationally. Poverty leads to poor education which in turn leads to easily manipulated people.
* Politics. Politically oppressed peoples lash out in anger with little direct cause.
* Colonialism. British and French occupation of the Middle East and their subsequent disengagement created significant sovereignty issues, leading to all sorts of political, religious and economic problems. These in turn result in irrational behavior against anything that looks, sounds or smells of colonialism to large segments of the population.
* Oil. Though nobody mentioned this, it has to be mentioned. Maybe it belongs with poverty. Maybe with colonialism? Maybe not.
Have I missed any?
You missed my thoughts (since I haven't said them yet :) ) - the whole universe is pretty messed up. And all people :cheeky: But some people are more messed up than others. Removing any of the things listed above may help the situation, but I'm fairly sure some people would still find a way to get pissed with each other. Just because people want to.
Vasquez on 17/9/2012 at 05:08
Now the <s>riots</s> demonstrations have spread to Denmark.
The world is crazy, people are crazy. Both the "movie" and the riots are so blazingly obviously manufactured to be sold to the other side like Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler's sausages, yet they're bought and gobbled up like caviar. Someone's gonna get achy stomach later.
