The bodies weren't even cold before the media was 'sperging out shouting "#notallmuslims" - I'm rather tired of Islam getting a free pass to spread and preach hatred. All the evidence is there; you can even pick up your very own copy and read about it! They hate gays - it is fundamentally woven into the religion. They throw them off buildings in some countries, or flog them in the streets or throw them in prison for life. But if you criticize Islam you become a "racist," which is funny because it's a religion, not a race. I wonder just how far this Political Correctness and Diversity bollocks is going to go before someone actually steps up and points out the problem here. Probably not for a few dozen more Islamist acts of terror. It's not like their holy book commands Islam to take over the world or anything. Oh... wait....

So, what's your final solution to the Muslim question?

Teach people that religion is bad and that a religion that openly advocates the subjugation of non-believers, women and the murder of gays is bad. The moment we start being honest about this we can begin undermining the influence Islam has on society in the same way Christianity was undermined by the Enlightenment.

Christianity still exists, and the Enlightenment's goals were never fully realized.

That's irrelevant as Christianity no longer has the power to influence the realm of the Secular in the West. ;) That's why Evangelicals get so upset when the courts pass laws that disagree with their morality. Islamist Nations do not have a secular realm - the religion is a religion, a culture, and a political/law structure. And they are still applying teaching from thousands of years ago to the modern day, despite all logic and reason to the contrary. The far Left likes to claim there is nothing wrong with Islam's teachings, but all you have to do is open the Quran to see the hate and violence it advocates as the will of Allah. Christianity has similar hate and violence advocated (because Islam is a plagiarism of Christianity), but again, Christianity has lost almost all of it's power to influence broader society outside of places like the Third World in Africa (where superstition and homophobia reign supreme).

Right or wrong, this dialog has been going on for about 150 years ( remember the British Empire?) and if anything, it isn't working. Islam is growing. This rather reminds me of the cocksureness of medieval Catholic apologists that "no reasonable person," when faced with the facts, would deny their way of thinking. In the end the frustration of that certainty led to bloodshed. I hate to think what will happen when, finally frustrated by their inability to convince Muslims of the necessity of Enlightenment philosophy, the West reaches a point of desperation much like the Catholic church did around the time of the Inquisition.

Also, to my recollection the "far left" is classically more concerned with reasoning away religion, vis a vis Marx's materialism. There were no Islamists in the Soviet Union; the present crisis was largely precipitated by Reagan's arming of the Mujahideen (and indeed, reactionaries of all stripes) against the Soviets.

Islam is "growing" at the same rate as Christianity - merely through procreation. What you see in every Islamist country in the world is horrible violence, all in the name of the religion (and some socio-political issues, but the religion touches every aspect of life in those societies, so, not helping). And the British Empire had very little to do with combating Islam - you're thinking of Medieval Europe and the Crusades. And it's not "cocksure" when you can actually use skepticism to argue against religion perfectly - the burden of proof is on them. Of course the penalty for apostasy, or being an atheist, in Islam is death. Spelled out very clearly in the Quran, so, feel free to consider that.

The Enlightenment was not about "philosophy" - it was about the rise of competing world views within a Christian (mostly Catholic, but the Protestants were a force) world and, most importantly of all, the challenging of those views by naturalism, humanism and the rise of SCIENCE. In many Muslim/Islamist countries science denialism is a big part of life. Or there's that old chestnut of claiming "science is perfectly compatible with the teachings of the Quran and that the Quran even predicted many things relating to science" - which is patently FALSE. Christians use the same apologetics when preaching to their own blind, idiot followers, but that argument gets destroyed when debating an actual non-believer.

The "far left" these days is all about Authoritarianism and "thought crime" via political correctness, the progressive stack (aka the oppression olympics) and shaming people who disagree with them. That's why I call it the "far" left - it's undergone a massive over correction that's about to trigger a recoil from the right, and boy is that going to be painful. You are right about their romantic obsession with that MONSTER Marx though. I will also give you props for recognizing that Reagan's attempt to use the muslim nations against the soviets was a terrible idea. ;3

Actually, the British Empire was all about exporting culture, replacing a "barbaric" other with rule by a more or less secular government. As soon as those foreign secular powers were gone, indigenous theocracies sprang up because people were never sold on Western ideology. Same thing is happening in Iraq now.

Science and philosophy are sprung from a common cultural root, and science can and does exist without rational positivism. There is no rational positivism without aristotle and Descartes. So yes, the Enlightenment was as much a philosophical revolution as a scientific one.

As far as political correctness, I have to cringe every time I hear a gay man employ that sound byte to fob off an idea they find inconvenient. Ten years ago, the idea that gay men could have normal, healthy relationships was dismissed in those exact same terms. News flash: nobody's taking you to the gulag for saying unpopular things! Getting called out is not "repression," and the people calling you out have just as much right to speak their minds. The people who use that kind of persecution complex rhetoric sound like those "God's Not Dead" types who think they're being oppressed because they can't teach creationism in schools.

Actually it's very common for people to be silenced or otherwise censored for stating something politically correct. It happens all over the internet and if you've been paying attention to what's been going on at college campuses with "safe spaces" and various protests these last couple years you'd see just how authoritarian and fascist things have gotten. : /

Let's see... First of all, most of the websites that would rather not have certain types of speech are privately owned. Traditionally, free speech has always ended at the property line! I always find it hilarious that when private websites exercise their right to freely associate with certain kinds of ideas over others- something conservatives claim to be in favor of private entities being able to do- and peope grouse about the result being "government overreach." I can think of no greater overreach than compelling a privately-owned website being compelled to give everyone a voice.

As for college campuses, have you actually been on one, or is your news second-hand? I attended Portland State University, one of the most liberal campuses in the country, and the campus conservatives were able to host both concealed carrry workshops to teach students how to get their permits, and they were able to host a screening of "Islam: Behind The Veil." Yup, very Orwellian! Also, "safe spaces" are set up primarily to keep LGBT students free from having to deal with the distraction of harassment. Generally, most of the complaints I've heard come from people who think it's their God-given right to scream at transgender students to cut their hair and start acting like a man while they're trying to study. Generally, creating a hostile environment for someone who's more or less minding their own business has always been an unwelcome act on campus. Another thing: I have seen conservative students go absolutely apeshit and claim discrimination when asked to defend their positions in class, though they weren't asked to do anything the rest of us weren't. My overall impression was that the conservatives on campus were unsatisfied unless they dominated every conversation.

As far as protests, I've definitely seen it. I've seen (firsthand, mind you, not via any media) Tea Party marches with armed protesters carrying signs basically indicating their willingness to use violence happen with little more than a few bored-looking cops lining the route, but when we had our unarmed and completely peaceful May Day march in 2012 in downtown Portland? The cops came in full riot gear, with tanks, helicopters, dogs, horses, and a media blackout.

I don't want to get into an argument with you about free speech. My point still stands - Islam has literally DOZENS of commands between the Quran and the Hadifs that condemn homosexuality and directly command that homosexuals be put to death. This is reflected by the fact that everywhere in the Islamic world homosexuality carries either a life sentence in prison or the death penalty. You still get "christian" nations that criminalize homosexuality, but there is direct resistance within the ranks of christianity to homophobia, whereas in Islam there is nothing but unity against the rights of homosexuals. That is indisputable truth. The man that killed those innocent club goers was filled with hatred against gays and believed it was acceptable for them to be murdered because his religion taught him that was the will of god. -_-

And I guess I'm the enemy too, for having Muslim friends, Muslim neighbors, and hiring a Muslim artist to illustrate one of my books. So yeah... Save me a spot on the train to the gas ovens, since I'm obviously part of the conspiracy!

You can have friends, neighbors, and an employee and not endorse their awful belief system. Tolerance is not the same thing as accepting something as being good.

I've heard through a reliable source there is at least one furry fatality

https://furaffinity.net/user/kodakoda

Apparently that guy isn't so reliable a source as others have stated that he made up that he had a friend die there.

different source actually, but yeah I don't think the root source is very reliable either.

Once I've rolled my coins for the week, I'll be throwing whatever I can into this. Thanks for sharing, Fuzz. Hope your friends and any family you still have in Florida didn't know anyone involved; and if they do, that they're able to support and reassure them. <3

I was at the club until 1:30am....

How are you doing? My heart skipped a beat when I read this.

Still coming to terms with it.

I'm glad you're able to be here. I'm doing as much as I can in my region to change the situation. Take the time to heal.

All we or anyone cares about is,, You are okay. *Warm tight hugs*