So far, no; the stories I’ve read about this say that he spent about three years as a regular in various gay clubs, which seems like a rather generous amount of time to spend “casing a joint”. And several people have come forward saying that they chatted with him regularly on gay dating apps. But the most anyone’s said about his involvement (besides the ‘angry drunk loner’ comments you mentioned) was that he was often present when gay men were kissing and definitely didn’t seem horrified, as his dad claims he was.
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I am perfectly aware that the flag is a symbol of the anti-nazi resistance. That is it’s origin, and what it has always meant to me. I was pretty disgusted when I found out that PEGIDA was using it.
I am not, nor am I named after, a member of the SS. I am named after a Grandfather who grew up in Lower Saxony, and fled to Holland before the war. Try doing the search in Dutch. You will discover that he does have connections to the camps, but only because he was killed in Sobibor in 1943.
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In this case, my apologies. I am happy to read that.
I should have stuck with my original impression that your opinions were only “right-wing by BB standards”.
I could suggest dropping at least one of those symbols to avoid misunderstandings, but then I would also understand why you wouldn’t want to.
No problem at all. I am stubborn, and when I made the decision to keep the flag, I assumed that the issue would occasionally come up. And I would only say “right wing by BB standards” in very specific topics. I have personal and family experiences that probably make our family very different from most others. I have mentioned in the past that I enjoy these forums because the general tone of the discussions is more civil, and frankly at a higher intellectual level than most. Also, I live in a place where there is very little outside contact, and the neighbors are all of my parent’s generation.
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My feelings are that people should be able to worship whatever they choose, or not. That they should be able to read any book, listen to any music, and love anyone that loves them. And that we should all be able to do these things without fear of someone trying to kill us or come into our homes searching for things that they want to ban.
I will try to be completely honest about my opinions, and try not to comment on subjects where I do not have the knowledge to contribute intelligently. I am not an Islamic Scholar. I don’t make such claims. I am also not totally ignorant of the practices religion. And I will admit that I have become a little more cynical over the decades. The first time I experienced the middle east, I was very enthusiastic about reading the Koran, and learning as much as I could about the Hadiths and the Reliance of the Traveler. I visited lots of Mosques and museums. Twenty five years later, my views on Islam have evolved a bit, especially after having spent time in Somalia, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Malaysia, Eritrea, Senegal, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and also worked in countries that have Islamic minority populations, but serious issues, like Israel, Kenya and Ethiopia. I do not hate anyone because of their religion. But I am pretty protective of my family and their way of life. I have enjoyed my time in the peaceful parts of Islamic world, but it is not the place to go if you enjoy bookstores. Or vocal dissent. Or bodily autonomy.
I have some strong opinions about a few subjects, but I really do not mean to be either dismissive of your views, or rude or offensive to anyone.
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Can I ask for one small accommodation, then?
In your profile, there’s a place to add something “about me”. That then is included in the banner that shows up when someone clicks on your profile pic. If you put “proud of the original meaning of this flag” or something like that in the spot, then your true take on the subject would be clear to anyone who might be wondering and hadn’t happened to read this particular post of yours.
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Mod asked that I change the pic. I have added a bio to the profile.
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I was going to rile on you for this comment but I see you have already in a way addressed it yourself… so my comment may be effectively moot.
After reading your “correction” there is still one thing I would like to add: I think it would be advisable for you to be more considerate of the fact that people can and do twist religion to their own purposes, it is in our very being to do so and we as a species have likely done so since the first remotely organized religion or belief system was created.
What you may consider to be in a way representative of Islam is more likely representative of the person practicing what they themselves have twisted Islam to allow them to do. Look what was done in the name of God during the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Russian Pogroms, and the Holocaust which you have stated yourself has affected you. Be weary not of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other religion but instead of the humanity within in them and what they may twist them into and claim to do in their name.
Also let me just add one last note, thank you for bringing this conversation back to a more welcoming place where we can listen to each other instead of just echo the same old disagreements back and forth. I hope you will continue to share your strong opinions in the future.
EDIT: I like the new profile picture! I am glad you were able to share the story that went with the old one before you changed it, though I think the new profile picture will allow for better flow in future discussions as you will no longer need to explain its history to those you are conversing with, less they misconstrue its source.
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[quote=“TailOfTruth, post:89, topic:79710”]
What you may consider to be in a way representative of Islam is more likely representative of the person practicing what they themselves have twisted Islam to allow them to do.
Or maybe more representative of the way the culture around them has framed the religion (although this may have been your point).
(TL;DR: the country you’re from and the level of your religious commitment make a big difference)
In regards to the “young boys” thing, I did refer to that as a cultural aspect, not necessarily a religious one. There are passages in the Koran about the subject, but the only place I know that this behavior is common and somewhat mainstream is in parts of Afghanistan. And I agree that religion is mostly what people make of it. I have wondered for a long time what would happen if we could find a person who had never been exposed to religion, and put them into a room with a bible, asked them to study it, and emerge with a belief system and cultural practices that conform to the teachings of the book. I wonder what their solution would look like.
Yep that was my point, though I think I butchered it with my phrasing… ah well. Also what is going on with that quote? Is it just me or did the recent BBS update create more glitches and bugs than usual?
That is a fun concept to play with, for example think of doing something like that with the Old Testament which has some very nasty smiting moments in it, to an extent it actually makes God look like a pretty vicious dude:
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Well that’s reasonable.
Without wanting to beat the issue to death, I noticed the following article was published today. It is a Yahoo article, but reprinted from Agence France Presse.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/taliban-honey-trap-boys-kill-afghan-police-034032649.html?ref=gs
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What I’ve been thinking about today is the CDC guidelines for avoiding suicide contagion. Among factors that contribute to suicide contagion is “Presenting simplistic explanations for suicide.” It strikes me that there are a lot of attempts to come up with one definitive “He did it because X”, but I wonder if that just makes the next mass shooting (how many have their been since Orlando?) more likely.
I look down that list of factors for contagion, with mass shootings we check off 6 of 7 nearly every time (I count villifying mass shootings as essentially the same as glorifying suicide - postive vs. negative attention but having the same function). Mass shootings result in the death of the mass shooter more often than swallowing a bottle of pills does. It’s hard not to think at least some of them are suicides with a “take them down with me” mentality.
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Charlie Brooker’s guidelines for how to cover mass shooters without encouraging mass shooters are never followed.
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