Affleck, Maher in heated debate about Islam

[Gunny]

(CNN) -- Ben Affleck's appearance on Bill Maher's "Real Time" on Friday turned into a somewhat heated discussion when Maher and author Sam Harris voiced their opinions on Islam.


"Gone Girl" star Affleck took umbrage at the pair's contention that Islam is, in Harris' words, a "mother lode of bad ideas" and that liberals are squeamish about criticizing Islam for stances on women and LGBT issues because people "have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where every criticism gets confused with bigotry toward Muslims as people."


Affleck said Harris -- a neuroscientist known for works criticizing religion -- and Maher were guilty of using a broad brush themselves.

"It's gross. It's racist," Affleck said. "It's like saying 'shifty Jew.' "


Affleck added, "How about more than a billion people who are not fanatical, who don't punish women, who just want to go to school, have some sandwiches. ... It's stereotyping."

Maher disagreed, questioning Affleck on his stance: "You're saying that the idea that someone should be killed if they leave the Islamic religion is just a few bad apples?"

"That's horrible," Affleck replied. "(But) the people who would actually believe in an act that you murder someone if you leave Islam is not the majority of Muslims at all."



http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/showbiz/tv/affleck-maher-islam-real-time/?cid=ob_articlesidebarall&iref=obnetwork


See Bill Maher. See Bill tapdance and toss out red herrings.

[Thunderknuckles]

Sorry Gunny but I'm on Maher's side on this one.

Harris: "liberals are squeamish about criticizing Islam for stances on women and LGBT issues because people have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where every criticism gets confused with bigotry toward Muslims as people."

Affleck: "It's gross. It's racist,"

Nicely done Affleck. Proved Harris exactly right.

And somebody needs to remind these liberal intellectuals that practitioners of Islam do not constitute a race of people.

[Gunny]

Sorry Gunny but I'm on Maher's side on this one.

Harris: "liberals are squeamish about criticizing Islam for stances on women and LGBT issues because people have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where every criticism gets confused with bigotry toward Muslims as people."

Affleck: "It's gross. It's racist,"
Nicely done Affleck. Proved Harris exactly right.

And somebody needs to remind these liberal intellectuals that practitioners of Islam do not constitute a race of people.

You think it's not Islamaphobic and/or stereotyping to lump ALL Islam into one dirty, little group for the actions of a small minority of militant radicals? The radicals represent 15-25 percent of Muslims. It's catering to the minority. Just like gay marriage, hate crimes ....

So Affleck used the wrong word? There are over a billion Muslims in the world. That's a population group.

The left doesn't criticize anyone but the right for fear of losing votes and they're doing a bang up job. The alternative is radical right-wingers that think "kill 'em all" ought to be the policy. They're no different than those wish destroyed. No different at all.

[Thunderknuckles]

Maher and Harris weren't talking about terrorists specifically. They were talking about Islamic culture in general where women are repressed and treated as men's property, cartooning/insulting/ridiculing Islam or the Prophet Muhammad will result in a death sentence, leaving Islam will result in a death sentence, non Muslims are treated as second class citizens, etc.

Maher makes a valid point, in my opinion, that the liberal ideology of multiculturalism, where all cultures are equal, is false. We can make a judgment and say that Western Democratic culture is superior to Islamic Theocratic culture and we can do it without being labeled Islamophobic.

[Gunny]

Maher and Harris weren't talking about terrorists specifically. They were talking about Islamic culture in general where women are repressed and treated as men's property, cartooning/insulting/ridiculing Islam or the Prophet Muhammad will result in a death sentence, leaving Islam will result in a death sentence, non Muslims are treated as second class citizens, etc.

Maher makes a valid point, in my opinion, that the liberal ideology of multiculturalism, where all cultures are equal, is false. We can make a judgment and say that Western Democratic culture is superior to Islamic Theocratic culture and we can do it without being labeled Islamophobic.

All cultures ARE equal. They just aren't ours. There's nothing false about that.

Cultural arrogance is not a "liberal" idea. It's inherent in every culture. The common sense and logic is why embrace a culture you don't think is the better one? But it has bred both the leftwing's idea of multiculturalism and the right's idea of kill them all because they don't think like us. I'm not letting one side off the hook when their idea is as stupid as the other's.

And yes it IS racist. You can't separate Arab/Persian from Islam. They live their religion. I'm all for wiping Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, the PLA, AQ, and any other terrorist organization off the map. They're criminals. I'm not for wiping out the other 75-85% of the Arab population because of them, nor their religion.

[Thunderknuckles]

All cultures ARE equal. They just aren't ours. There's nothing false about that.

Cultural arrogance is not a "liberal" idea. It's inherent in every culture. The common sense and logic is why embrace a culture you don't think is the better one? But it has bred both the leftwing's idea of multiculturalism and the right's idea of kill them all because they don't think like us. I'm not letting one side off the hook when their idea is as stupid as the other's.

And yes it IS racist. You can't separate Arab/Persian from Islam. They live their religion. I'm all for wiping Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, the PLA, AQ, and any other terrorist organization off the map. They're criminals. I'm not for wiping out the other 75-85% of the Arab population because of them, nor their religion.
Fair enough. But to be clear, neither I nor anyone in that interview is advocating wiping Muslims off the map.

[Gunny]

Fair enough. But to be clear, neither I nor anyone in that interview is advocating wiping Muslims off the map.

Never said you were. :)

[Gaffer]

25% of 1.5 billion is a hell of a lot of people.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

25% of 1.5 billion is a hell of a lot of people.
It is 375 million.
That's 375 million that want to kill all non-muslims and Rule the world with Sharia Law.
Even that number is low because another 25/30% at least would fully support them.
So its actually a tad over 750 million..

But appeasing cowards(their defenders) want you to think its about 2 or 3 thousand bad apples and nothing to be concerned about.. Nothing at all.... :mad:

Saying crap like, they are just like us, no different, just as tolerant, etc
Has been said here recently ,, bullshit of the highest order it is IMHO.---TYR