Remarks and culture (en) - Comments

A Short History of Nearly Everything White by Bill Bryson - The Law

The Law — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:47:45 +01:00

My mum said always question the objectivity of people who refer to themselves as 'Islamoliars'. I hardly think the Muslim scholars from the Golden Age stole all their knowledge from the Greeks, although I am happy to hear your evidence. However, I am aware that they did us a favour by preserving and re-disseminating the works of classic Greek philosophers such as Aristotle who had been branded heretics in the West and had their works destroyed.

A Short History of Nearly Everything White by Bill Bryson - Islamoliars

Islamoliars — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:24:51 +01:00

Islam stole any early scientific knowledge it has from the Greeks anyway after invading them; a part of Western Civilisation.
Islam also makes dubious claims such as about inventing Algebra. In fact only the name is Arabic but the ancient Babylonians had Algebra 1800 years earlier.

How to Win Friends and Influence People - stellaeec

stellaeec — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:13:17 +01:00

It appears that the 'PM' is in 'AM Mode'! Wake up!
Wake up! before it is too late. (just a joke...no offence pls)

GBrown has been 'in the waiting' and perhaps fully
positively rehearsed for over a decade.

Please do not say you are still learning. Neither would emphatic admittance of blame be acceptable.
You are PM. You are expected to know it all.
You are viewed as the 'infallible'...try to live upto
that expectation.

Err...if I were your advisor...there would be no need to
apologise...I would guide you make the right decisions.!!
'Take a chance on me' !!

Besides 10 p etc issues, much more has agitated everyone.

Could it be too much is delegated,....
too much authority to others?

REFORM-JUSTICE -CREATE WEALTH (reduce fuel costs
not .10p !! ) and you will be in the right direction.

A Short History of Nearly Everything White by Bill Bryson - leah

leah — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 01:18:53 +00:00

And to think I'm made to read this for science...

Lewis Hamilton, security threat to Switzerland? - Laurence

Laurence — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:55:11 +00:00

Dear Sibyelle,

Foreigners are not a race either.

I have no objections to policy makers highlighting crime statistics which show disproportionality of a variable with respect to the perpetration of criminal acts. However, given that it is widely recognised that criminal behaviour can be influenced by the social and economic experiences of the individual, one can not necessarily infer that this disproportionality is due to the criminal nature of immigrants i.e. that immigrants are more likely to act criminally because of their 'foreignness'/race/ethnicity.

My objection is to the visual communications that SVP have used to create fear by equating race/ethnicity/"foreignness" with danger.

Regards,

Laurence

Lewis Hamilton, security threat to Switzerland? - sibylle

sibylle — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:19:12 +00:00

Dear Laurence

I believe, criminals are not a race, are they?
Though I agree with you, that their relatives should not be held responsible for the actions of them. By the way, this law will never get through, it's to extreme.
But what would you say, if in your country, 60% of murders and 85% of raipings are commit by 21% of foreigners?
I bet it would make you think, too.

The hijacking of academia... - Laurence

Laurence — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:28:37 +00:00

I have read the whole report twice and have spoken to a number of colleagues about the report. Do you have any rebuttals to any of my comments?

The hijacking of academia... - Denis MacEoin

Denis MacEoin — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 20:43:47 +00:00

Not an Islamicist? Woulkd it have hurt to have read the report itself instead of jumping to conclusions. Apart from a first degree in another subject, I have a Scottish Msaters (4 years) in Perisan, Arabic, and Islamic Studies, then a PhD from Cambridge, writing on a topic in 19th-century Shi'ism (and using Persian and Arabic manuscripts), then I taught Arabic-English translkation and Islamic civilization at Mohammed V university in Fez, Morocco, then I lectured in Arabic and Islamic Studies in Newcastle university, then I was for many years Honorary Fellow in the Centre for Middle East Studies at Durham University. I have written many entries for the Encyclopedia of Islam, the Encyclopedia Iranica, and the Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam in the Modern World, and articles in numerous academic journals. Do you really think I would have been invited to submit material to these places if I were not, in some degree, an expert?

It's obvious that you, like some others, have been more interested in condemning the messenger than iln reading the materials we published. Since I have now shown that I know my way round Islamic matters, will you please have the courtesy of actually reading the report and possibly reprinting some of the offensive garbage we found in so many mosques?

Lewis Hamilton, security threat to Switzerland? - Laurence

Laurence — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:14:44 +00:00

That explains the 'the Swiss are increasing the negroes' poster...

The Swiss president said (of the "black sheep poster): “The poster is disgusting, unacceptable. It stigmatizes others and plays on the fear factor, and in that sense it’s dangerous. The campaign does not correspond to Switzerland’s multicultural openness to the world. And I am asking all Swiss who do not agree with its message to have the courage to speak out.”

The fact that you defend such propaganda highlights how far you have sunk. Doudou Diène, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Racism, concluded, in a report issued this year, that there was “a dynamic of racism and xenophobia” in Switzerland in part due to “the growing prevalence of racist and xenophobic stances in political programmes and discourse, particularly during elections and various votes”. .

The Swiss Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin has even suggested that the SVP’s worship of Christoph Blocher, the billionaire who is the party’s driving force and the current justice minister, is reminiscent of that of Italian fascists for Mussolini. (NY Times)

Human rights advocates have also warned that the SVP's crime deportation initiative is reminiscent of the Nazi practice of Sippenhaft, or kin liability, under which relatives of criminals were held responsible and punished for their crimes.

Three years ago they used a poster that has a black persons hand reaching for a Swiss passport with a similar negative comment. Perhaps "black people's hands" is a common phrase in Switzerland? "Black Sheep" is a common phrase in many countries but to use it in this manner is hugely inappropriate.

Also, if the Swiss are so secure (first para) then why do they want more security in their daily life (third para)?

Happy to hear more opinions on this though.

Lewis Hamilton, security threat to Switzerland? - Mex

Mex — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:35:07 +00:00

Lewis is very welcome in Switzerland! He will live more secure and pay less taxes then in England.

The black sheep does not correspond to black skinned people but people that do not behave correct: murderer, criminals etc. I strongly believe that Lewis is not one of them... :)

"Being a black sheep" is a very well know phrase in Switzerland - for ages! Swiss are not racist - they just want to have more security in their daily life. Thus they vote for politicians with a "law and order" program.

We have about 21% immigrants and some more % already "assimilated" foreigners. Talented people from all over the world come to our country to work for. They will flee as soon as we become racist... They do not...

You better think twice...

Mex, Switzerland