The beheading of the american

I agree 100%, don't think for 1 minute I'm defending an Arab for cutting off a yank's head!

Some people have reasons for spelling and grammar mistakes... its a bit harsh to jump on someone for that.

Suerly the points raised are more important than spelling and gammar of them?

SHITEBAG !!!

DOUCHEBAG ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!

i'll be the 1st to admit i don't know much about this situation cos i haven't had chance to get all the facts (damn uni work!) so instead of trying to put an ignorant uniformed oint across i'm jus gonna ask a few things...

what has the response of the arab world been to the beheading?

who gives us the right to dictate (or atleast try to) how other cultures should act/work/be run?

ryan - you seem to be overly interested in what the arab world has done regarding the global community in the last 500 years, but then dismiss the british imput to the global communnity in terms of the british empire (which was in the last 500 years) saying that people should let go of the past

so what you're saying is we should let go of the past when it suits our point, but embrace it when we think it proves our point?

also how the fuck can people say pharmecuticle companies are evil?

without them we would die younger and have a much lower quality of life! i would rather be in the current situation than have a bit more money and a considerably lower quality of life.

one last point for ryan - a considerable amount of what we know about atherscelosis(sp!) and its pathology has come from research and findings from the arab world... as has a fair bit of our current medical practices.

yes they are.

but thats all that ever seems to get discussed, and always ends up in a heated argument about racism.

Reminds me of what a sad world we live in.

uh-oh...we're in trouble now... Joe's gone all 'kelly osbourne' on us

jews will be jews

clever.... it completely passed me by that connection.

i actually meant it in the first place. honest.

Its a message board anyway... its not as if we are marked for spelling and grammar. As long as you can get the jist of what is being written it should be acceptable


Back on subject...

There is no doubt arabs have shaped the world, and that is to their credit. But it is hard to defend countries that have hypocritical and/or instable governments (maybe a bit of pot, kettle, black there), poor human rights records etc... Blaming an entire race is wrong but as I said before there are fundamental problems taht are currently preventing many (not just islamic) people from achieving what should be accessible for everyone... basic human rights. The governmnts often blame the west for the situation and in turn line their own pockets at the expense of the people who gain a mistrust and dislike of the west. This can become very dangerous when people and groups take things into their own hands.

Arabs are not to blame. But many conditions in their countries are.

The events leading up to WW2 and the subsequent genocide of 6 million Jews and 18 million Russians are nothing similar to the environment in which we find ourselves today. You're using a lame argument because of your religion and believe that gives you the right to insult anyone who dares to have an opinion other than your own.

And using speach marks and still using a derogatory term for someone from Pakistan does not make it anymore acceptable. You're being racist by using those words, with or without speach marks.

Slash, on the other hand.....

we all evolved from the same monkeys 2 millions years ago... biologically we're the same. it's the teachings and morals of our society that influence our behaviour as humans. Key in this, in my opinion, is our reliance on religion.

the eternal question "where did we come from? who was first?"

who cares. i know people do. i don't.

I follow a similar chain of thought to Osama on this (LYNCH ME!)... The governments have been corrupted by western values... They are now nothing more than puppets to corporate companies, they sold out their people for a fast buck.

However these regimes were put in place by the old colonial forces and have huge ties with the western world.... These ties remain today... The british troops have been replaced by american ones and the british rule has been transferred to america.

They have a solid arguement for hating the west, it is exploiting them as we speak.

I think they hate the west when they see how Israel is treating its neighbours and they see the west doing nothing about it.

I would agree the sanctions imposed on Israel should be enforced, as they were with Iraq.

I can't deny that... exploiting the weak has been a trait of stronger nations since the dawn of time.

The british still have considerable influence in the arab world, hence why the americans "need" our input. As a nation we are respected more that the US in the middle east, but we are not doing ourselves any favours by alligning ourselves so close to the US. Imo we need to stand back... we have made our bed in Iraq and should contribute fully to get the country back on track (how we do this is anybodies guess), however we should never be at america's beck and call... I for one am to proud to see my country follow the US, its got to the point where I would openly accept europe as I believe a united europe (LOL ) could be a perfect balance... europeans have more experience and history when it comes to warfare and diplomatic relations through centuries and centuries of command and conquer. America significantly lacks this, it proves a point... the past is relevant