The "Sanity" Rally. Is Jon Stewart naive?

[eXcommunicate]

I think a generalized dismissive attitude toward the religious right is a good thing for the left, we just need to get over our anxiety about including the Islamic right in our disdain.

I have no such anxiety.

[Coito ergo sum]

I think a generalized dismissive attitude toward the religious right is a good thing for the left, we just need to get over our anxiety about including the Islamic right in our disdain.

For some reason, there is an element on the left, generally of the multiculturalist ilk, that are loathe to be dismissive of certain groups that they deem to be downtrodden. Therefore, if a downtrodden group is oppressive to women, well, that's just their separate and distinct culture which is of "equal dignity" to others. If If a non-downtrodden group is oppressive to women, well, they are bigots and to be dismissed.

I think one of the things that needs to get out of the collective western conscience is the idea that Muslims are an oppressed group. They fucking aren't. They are 1.3 billion strong, give or take, and they do more oppressing than they are oppressed. They are an oppressor group. And, yes, I can say that as a collective generalization just as others have said many times that whites and westerners oppressed blacks and other minorities, and that even those who didn't have anything to do with it get lumped in with the guilty because of their race.

[camoguard]

This is a case in point. I certainly disagree with the religiously related views of the religious right. However, that doesn't mean that the members of the religious right aren't people. Truly socially inclusive views would include having tolerance and understanding for the religious right as well as all other groups. That doesn't mean we have to do what they say, any more than having tolerance and understanding for blacks means we have to do what Rev. Wright says, but it does mean not dismissing them out of hand.

I don't want the religious dismissed. I want more politics framed without reference to religions. If abortion is a bad idea, it's bad for a secular reason. If church is beneficial to the point that states should provide funding, that benefit should be measurable. If our moral zeitgeist isn't as far as we thought, we can simply tabulate our own opinions without referencing old tomes.

The people have rights. The religious right just use stupid points of reference from which to make arguments. They should be discouraged by every single thoughtful citizen, in my opinion.

P.S. We shouldn't fail to critique bad arguments from either side. Our goal should be to have two parties making a lot of sense that have different priorities.

[Warren Dew]

I think a generalized dismissive attitude toward the religious right is a good thing for the left, we just need to get over our anxiety about including the Islamic right in our disdain.

Are the Jews exempted?

[sandinista]

I think a generalized dismissive attitude toward the religious right is a good thing for the left, we just need to get over our anxiety about including the Islamic right in our disdain.

I have no such anxiety.

Nor do I, nor do most people on the left. I think it gets mixed up sometime with people. The left will defend the middle east at times for political reasons, not on religious grounds. There is also a little bit of "the enemy of your enemy is your friend going on" with the left and muslim countries.

[eXcommunicate]

I think a generalized dismissive attitude toward the religious right is a good thing for the left, we just need to get over our anxiety about including the Islamic right in our disdain.

I have no such anxiety.

Nor do I, nor do most people on the left. I think it gets mixed up sometime with people. The left will defend the middle east at times for political reasons, not on religious grounds. There is also a little bit of "the enemy of your enemy is your friend going on" with the left and muslim countries.

A lot of it is a lot of obfuscation, making the Left look two-faced when we aren't being two-faced. I don't support Palestinian statehood because I think Islam is downtrodden. Likewise, I'm not against the Iraq War because I care any more about muslim deaths than anybody else's.