______ has become the single largest private corporate underwriter of ______. According to sources in the _______ ________ _________, _____ has received more than $1 million from _______ and its lobbyists in Washington to create grassroots support for the _______ __________ legislation [ ___ _________ ]. Some of that money has gone to an online petition drive and a letter-writing campaign, but the majority of that money is being used to fund their activities against __________ out in the states.

Now check this {7th paragraph}.

How fucking stupid are you people? Really. How fucking dumb? I’d have to say pretty goddamn fucking stupid. How on earth do you go from a recognition of the facts of genital mutilation to a defense of Islam?

And tell me Mike, how many African studies classes have you ever taken? How many African studies books have you ever read? In Jay Tea we just saw an example of how a conservative takes the garbage he’s fed by another conservative idiot, accepts it at face value and promulgates it about the web for other idiots to consume, never once taking even five minutes to try to verify the orginal bullshit. All Jay needed to know before he believed was that the information he heard corresponded to his worldview.

Here’s a syllabus for an African Studies class at Columbia: http://www.columbia.edu/~ljb34/w4496/course_syllabus.html

Dig the REQUIRED readings for the final week:

Human Rights in Africa: Panel of African Human Rights Advocates

* Human Rights Watch. World Report 1999.
* S. James. 1998. “Shades of Othering: Reflections on Female Circumcision/Genital Mutilation,” Signs. 23 (4).
* USAID. 1999. “Female Genital Cutting: The Facts and the Myths,” at http://www.measurecommunication.org/topics/fgc_symposium/

Recommended Reading:
* I. Gunning. 1992. “Arrogant Perception, World Travelling and Multicultural Feminism: The Case of Female Genital Surgeries,” Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
* C. Robertson. 1996. “Grassroots in Kenya: Women, Genital Mutilation, and Collective Action, 1920-1990. Signs.

Mike you are a Grade A Idiot Moron.

This really piqued my interest: “Genital mutilation is practiced in 28 countries in central Africa, ranging from Somalia in the east coast and stretching westward to Senegal on the Atlantic. The rite is believed to have originated more than two thousand years ago in Egypt or the Horn of Africa (what is now Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia).”

Hmmm … so it’s a practice exclusive to Africa, not Islam. I doubt that little tidbit will ever make it into any major university’s African studies program, or be added to the ever-growing list of African cultural achievements taught to grade school children.

Maybe it’s appropriate that this thread started over the subject of censorship.

While I would decry censorship of either political side, I think it is worth pointing out… is not Google a private company, providing a free service, and therefore able to run its system however it likes? If “censorship” (not that I believe anything of the kind is really happening here) were going on the other way, and left-wing views were being blocked, wouldn’t many righties claim the all-encompassing power of the free market and say “Hey whiny lefties, Google is a private company, they have the right to show whatever info they want! If you don’t like it, start up your own search engine company and let the market decide! Considering that you pay exactly $0 to go to Google and search for something, why are they obligated to present the search result you find most acceptable?”

Let me ask you Jay, how much research have YOU done on subject? I just did a google search and came up with pretty clear evidence that this is not the case. In fact, it appears that those people who actually give a shit about stopping FGM recognize that it is a practice which crosses ethnic and religious lines. By contrast, those who only want to use FGM to foment hatred and spread their own pathologies are most likely to deny the facts and isolate a single group as the only group who practices it. I’d call that hate speech too.

But let’s back to you, Jay. The facts were easy to find and yet your knowledge of the issue proved, yet again, utterly inadequate. Why is that Jay? How quickly did you swallowed hook line and sinker the idea that ONLY muslims practiced FGM and why?

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/320/7242/1153

Hey fuckwit, where does the original statement contain ‘exclusively”? It doesn’t, you had to magically add it to make whatever point you were making. The original item said “muslims do genital mutilation”. You said that was accurate, but apparently only after you make shit up.

The problem with the allegation is that it tars all muslims as mutilators. Just as with the great examples used by other respondents regarding christianity and judaism. If you want to change the subject, we’re not interested.

And how about this as a perfect example of hate-speech, if only because it is so blindly hypocritical (as the bible is a ‘killing book’ also) and by being so, selectively tars one religion ‘exclusively’ while ignoring others whose texts advocate murder. FUCKWIT!

I can point to one that wants to outlaw birth control, sex education, premarital sex and oh, this creepy ass shit:

http://generationsoflight.myicontrol.com/generationsoflight/index.cfm?ID=C7D9C98F-F39B-4721-82312665A131C364

Why? Just because some Muslims practice genital mutilation does not mean that it’s common or supported practive among all muslims, as others have pointed out. It is possible, you know, to oppose genital mutilation without labeling billions of people who don’t practice “savages.” Unless of course you have another agenda. Then, of course, there’s also the facts:

“Is female genital cutting an Islamic practice?

Even though FGC is practiced in mostly Islamic
countries, it is not an Islamic practice. FGC is a
cross-cultural and cross-religious ritual. In Africa
and the Middle East, it is performed by
Muslims, Coptic Christians, members of various
indigenous groups, Protestants, and Catholics,
to name a few.”

http://www.nocirc.org/publish/9pam.pdf

Fuckwit,
Who gives a shit about ‘exclusivly’? You made that up to claim that the original statement was accurate. The original statement is not true, because the original statement implies that ALL muslims do it, or it is an inherently muslim thing to do. Neither are true, even if it being practiced solely by muslims now. It is not in the Koran, and Islam existed at the times when other cultures/religions practiced it. Was it a muslim thing then? If not, why is it now? Your argument is only matched in its emptiness by its arrogant condescention.

And how about this as a perfect example of hate-speech?:
“They are a cult based upon a killing book the Koran.”
So deliciously hypocritcal in the way it explicitly cherrypicks one book from one religion as a ‘killing book’, whereas the Bible is loaded with explicit calls to murder blasphemers. Isn’t this the definition of hate-speech? If not, what is a better definition?

I’m sure you’ll be apologizing for this shortly, Jay (posts awaiting moderation). Idiot.

“Egypt:

Clitoridectomy, excision, and infibulation
FGM is practised by both Muslims and Coptic Christians, infibulation being particularly prevalent in the southern part of the country.

http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm9.htm

“Genital mutilation is practiced in 28 countries in central Africa, ranging from Somalia in the east coast and stretching westward to Senegal on the Atlantic. The rite is believed to have originated more than two thousand years ago in Egypt or the Horn of Africa (what is now Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia). The World Health Organization estimates that more than 130 million women have undergone the procedure. Although it is most often associated with Islam, it is also practiced by Christians, adherents to traditional African religions, and one Jewish sect.”

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001524.html

* Current status: A 1995/96 national demographic and health survey indicates an overall prevalence of 94%. FGM is reportedly practised throughout Mali, except for the regions of Gao and Timbuktu. Circumcision and excision are predominant: 52% and 47% respectively; infibulation respresents less than 1%. There are no significant differences in prevalence between women from rural areas and those from urban areas, or between women with no education or primary education (94%) and those with secondary education (90%). FGM is practised by all ethnic groups, ranging from 85% among Christians to 94% among Muslims, and across all ethnic groups. The two groups with lower prevalence are the Tamacheck (16%) and the Sonrai (48%), both of which reside mainly in the region of Gao and Timbuktu. However, the IPU has no first-hand official statistics or other details on this subject.

http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/fgm-prov-m.htm

When you give any religious fundamentalist person/group supreme power, the results are indistinguishable. We can only count ourselves blessed that secularism, science and rational thinking became dominant in Western culture. Although, that is being challenged by the current group in power, isn’t it?

Cite examples of genital mutilation in cultures besides those who profess themselves Muslim, please. And I mean clear-cut (if you’ll pardon the expression) examples; Jewish circumcision does NOT qualify. Find me another group of people so afraid of women’s sexuality that they need to cut off their clitorises to preserve their own fragile egos.

J.

And the knee – slapper:

Saying things like  __________ _____ _____ is hateful because it inaccurately smears all _________ for the evil acts of some other _________, then there is just no helping these idiots.”

Care to substitute “Jews”, “Catholics”, “Christians”, “Republicans”, “conservatives”, “southern white men”, anyone?

Conservatives are ignorant of other cultures. Phew. At least I didn’t say “all.”