perfidy

It's even better, J: The Pope (a/k/a "the guy with a post hole digger for a hat") didn't even claim Catholicism as the one true, etc. etc.

He was talking about how religion, divorced from rational thought, leads to violence and discord. And, I don't think he was talking specifically about Islam, though I think he should have been. He was allegedly talking about "western elites" who've ceased to be rationally critical of religious extremism, Islam and other.

Or so I interpreted it. NPR had a bit on it on today's Morning Edition that was helpful in getting some context.

"Bearded Turds"

That phrase gave me a warm glow that lasted for hours.

As to the more serious aspect of the whole thing, it seems to be that there is very little that one can say - so long as the sentence includes the word "Islam" - that will not cause rioting in the Damascus, Cairo, or Berkely. Unless that sentence is, "I think Islam is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I think I'll convert right now."

The defensiveness of, apparently, a large fraction of the Islamic faith is, maybe, significant. When we see an individual who reacts violently to any slight, real or imagined, what do we think? What does that say about Islam? I don't know, but if it does say something, it's probably not nice.

I'm so very sorry you people are stupid violent animals. I did not mean to provoke these assholes into a mindless frenzy. Given the trash-strewn, third world shit-hole dictatorships you people live in; I can understand your anger and envy.

We good now?

Reading your comment, Bram, my new preferred reality is that the Vatican's subscribed to our RSS feed for comments. If we had one.

Wow... so the Pope said what popes all say, about Catholicism being the One True Faith and all the others being dogshit on the bottom of his Ferragamo loafers, especially w/r/t Islam who (sez he, but quoting someone else) are barbaric violence addicts in addition to the hellbound thing. Right?

And then the usual proportion of Muslims prone to flying off the handle any time an accusation of this kind is leveled, do fly off the handle and commit acts of violence both petty and hideous in the name of clearing Islam's name as a violent faith. Right?

Dog bites man.

I think the West should make a resolution to stop worrying about offending Islam. Fuck 'em. I'm not saying make every effort to go out of our way to offend them, just not worry.

When I was a kid, I couldn't take teasing. My family teased me about this. One thing I learned is that once you get a reputation for not being able to take teasing, there's no defense. If you complain about anything, people ignore whatever legitimate grievance you might have, and say, "Shut up, you never could take teasing."

It strikes me that Islam has the same problem. I got over it, so should they.

The one that killed me was one Islamic spokeswoman who declared something along the lines of "comparisons of Islam with intolerance are invitations to violence".

Yeah, we know the dog is rabid and bites everything that goes near it. Nope, can't put a chain on it -- didn't you hear me? It bites everything that goes near it. No, you can't put a chain on it -- it's our dog, not yours. No, I don't want to borrow your leather gloves and sleeves. The dog might not like me if I put the chain on it.