Comments on: ‘Tis the season to bash Muslims?

By: Sunny

Sunny — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:51:58 +0000

And Electro, give it a rest will you. You talk even more rubbish than Anas.

By: ZinZin

ZinZin — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:45:15 +0000

I agree with Jai.
Tis the season to bash Anas.
La la la la la

By: Electro

Electro — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:43:56 +0000

Ravik, there are COUNTLESS depictions of St Nicolas that predate by centuries the invention of coca-cola…….

Some European cultures( German, French, Slavic) refer to the guy as “Father Christmas” or “Pére Noel”.

He was very popular in Russia, both in Czarist and Soviet times ( and we KNOW just how popular Coke was under Stalin!).

Zin Zin: St-Nicolas was a 6th century Christian saint who lived in present day Turkey. We know what we know of him because he apparently was very kind , generous and was well loved by children. I,ve seen depictions of the guy, complete with red suit and white fur, that go back to at least the 16th century. He looked similar then, but the clothing styles were….um….archaic, to say the least.

I also think that Santa represents something far more fundamental to western culture. By encouraging children to believe in a fictional character are we not preparing the terrain, do we not prime the minds of children for a healthy spirit of skepticism as adults? We encourage kids to embrace a false character, knowing full well they’ll discover the truth and that that discovery will constitute the first grand deception of their lives.

Is Santa, then, an innoculation against future bullshit and bullshitters? Is he the beginning of a spirit of enquiry, an attitude of “show-me-the-proof”?

Anas: Most of the increase of Christians in Israel comes from the native population. There are some imports, of course, but most of the figure quoted represents an increase of native “Christers”.

And I agree with your view of “jmohammed’s” comments, Anas. If one could even call them “comments”….

By: TheFriendlyInfidel

TheFriendlyInfidel — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:42:54 +0000

Thats because he is a complete anas.

Did I spell that right?

Damn my dsylexia …

By: Jai

Jai — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:39:56 +0000

Anas is an unwitting victim of the continuing misgovernment of the United Kingdom vis-a-vis multiculturalism and the subsequent self-segregation of ethnic communities throughout the country, and his frequent outbursts regarding I/P on wholly unrelated topic threads are symptomatic of the historical legacy of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the re-drawing of Middle Eastern maps by heinous moustache-twitching colonialist rogues, the annexation of large swathes of the Indian subcontinent by the East India Company, and the fact that for some reason Anas cannot find the URLs for online group discussion websites frequented mostly by individuals of Middle Eastern origin (either of Muslim and/or Jewish religious affiliation), and he therefore has to raise this topic on Asian blogs such as Pickled Politics instead.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:11:16 +0000

Oh look, what a surprise. I’m off for a few days and Anas starts talking about Finkelstein, Israel and the holocaust again. Well there’s a surprise, whoever accused him of having nothing else to talk about?

By: Anas

Anas — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:01:34 +0000

Anyways whats everyone getting for Christmas?

Fuck all.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:59:16 +0000

Ravi,

re; Santa. Fair enough. Coca Cola played a part in placing a specific version at the heart of an increasingly secularised christmas.

leon,

‘Jesus doesn’t exist.’ True, but isn’t it a shade tactless to mention it just before his birthday? Poor lamb’s inconsolable now.

What’s everyone getting? Well, from my brother another bloody M&S cheese selection, same as the last six years. What am I? Ben Gunn? He being a DI who regards The Sweeney as a training video, I think a donation to Release in his name will be a thoughtful gesture.

By: sonia

sonia — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:06:17 +0000

229 – Leon – very true!!

what are we getting for xmas? good question..

By: soru

soru — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:59:29 +0000

‘Muslims have told me to my face on several occasions that “Islam needs no defense”; they feel, thus, that any injustice taking place in Darfur must necessarily be the result of “outside” interference.’

Presumably, that means that somewhere out there there are a bunch of muslims who use whatever you said as proof of what all anglos think.

By: sonia

sonia — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:58:48 +0000

194. arif – interesting points. i think we can all identify with what you’re saying. my thought on this is naturally any aspect of our identity is going to affect what we think ( and not just identity in the sense it seems to commonly mean) i think it’s not about ’suppressing’ it so much or per se – but just trying to be aware of what or how that influences us. (perhaps its a bit like in research documents – under the methodology section where one reports on possible bias etc. particularly if its qualitative ethnographic research techniques being used..) Just some thoughts…

By: Leon

Leon — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:56:40 +0000

“When a small fire burns, it’s best not to throw more fuel on it”

By: Anas

Anas — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:53:59 +0000

Oh and Jews as well, actually.

By: Anas

Anas — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:52:56 +0000

In case you hadn’t noticed Leon, the thread has already turned very nasty, see jmohammed’s comments above. Oh, yeah, it was just Muslims being slandered, which is OK.

By: Ravi Naik

Ravi Naik — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:51:25 +0000

“At the risk of sparking off another debate about I/P…”

You really don’t know much about risk management, do you Anas?

By: Leon

Leon — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:45:44 +0000

Jesus doesn’t exist. That aside if this thread turns nasty expect comments to be switched off.

By: ZinZin

ZinZin — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:45:02 +0000

I worry about you Anas if there was Peace in the Middle East your life would becoming boring, meaningless and your sex life would suffer.

Anyways whats everyone getting for Christmas?

By: Anas

Anas — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:44:01 +0000

Come on Chairwoman isn’t this an appropriate time to be discussing this? Jesus was born in a manger in the Occupied territories after all.

By: Ravi Naik

Ravi Naik — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:34:49 +0000

“The Coca-Cola/Santa thing is an urban legend;
http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp“

Don, the urban legend is that it was coca-cola who created the outfit (red-and-white suit). My point is that it was coca-cola who introduced and popularised Santa Claus as a secular christmas figure, which seems to be supported by the link you provided:

The Santa image may have been standardized before Coca-Cola adopted it for their advertisements, but Coca-Cola had a great deal to do with establishing Santa Claus as a ubiquitous Christmas figure in America at a time when the holiday was still making the transition from a religious observance to a largely secular and highly commercial celebration.

By: Chairwoman

Chairwoman — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:27:49 +0000

Anas – Just for once hold your tongue.