Horrific Violence once again NOT associated with Religion.

[Warren Stupidity]

Maiduguri (Nigeria) (AFP) - More than 45 people were killed when two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowded market in northeast Nigeria on Tuesday, the latest in a wave of such attacks blamed on Boko Haram.

The explosions in the Borno state capital targeted the same Monday Market area where at least 15 people died on July 1 in a blast also thought to have been carried out by the Islamist militants.

Tuesday's attacks came after the militants seized control of another town in Nigeria's restive northeast, adding to their increasing haul of territory captured in recent months.

http://www.modernghana.com/GhanaHome/image_preview.asp?which=1&menu_id=67&id=NTgyOTk2

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Was the 'not' sarcastic?

Since the body of the text refers to them as 'Islamist militants'? (And what's the difference between 'Islamic militants' and 'Islamist militants'?)

[Warren Stupidity]

2. I'm testing Poe's Law.

[JDDavis]

3. What gets into believers' minds and enables them to act this way?

Could it be "religion"?

[Warren Stupidity]

4. No. And anyone who says different is a hateful bigot.

Or so I've been told right here.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. We're probably delusional for thinking religion has anything to do with it.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Well you can't prove we are not delusional.

Plus guns.

[bvf]

9. Be careful. n/t.

[JDDavis]

6. Oh OK, I am sorry I asked such a hateful question.

Thank you for setting me right about this. I will never question the authority of religious true believers again.

They must always have a right to be right on any issue. No questions asked.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Oh you could easily qualify for a boat pass. That's the right attitude.

[JDDavis]

10. So you're from NH?

I think you just avoided a crisis, didn't let Scott Brown get back in power,

He's back to Faux Snooze, where he will analyse why he lost....becuase NH voters like you were stupid.

Isn't Brown an Irish Catholic? Did his religion have anything to do with his stances on birth control and abortions?

Does he think he deserves to make lots of money because his body looked so good when he was 20 something?

Fox will tell you, he's a wonderful American, and those stupid liberals in NH defeated a true American icon.

[malokvale77]

11. What does this even mean?

"becuase (sp) NH voters like you were stupid."

[JDDavis]

14. Sorry, should have put in the Sarcasm symbol

Yeah, I make mistakes spelling on the internet, too!


NH voters are as smart as most DU members.

We DO make mistakes spelling, here and there.

[malokvale77]

16. It's OK

I have RA, and often post gibberish.

If I knew your posts better, I might have seen the sarcasm.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. Poe's law is validated again.

[Igel]

12. I'm going to play devil's advocate and forget a decade or so.

Because this has been going on for a long time, and the progressive response a decade back was the obvious: It's not religious. This was argued long and hard on DU by many, with those saying it was an "Islamic thing" derided and alerted on if they pushed the point too hard. Of course, it's when Bush II was ranting about Islamists and even though "Islamist" is a good translation of a neologism first found in Arabic writings about political Islam some DUers at the time took offense and said, "Sorry, not a word, can't be a word, it's racist against Muslims."

Instead the problem in Nigeria was obviously urban/rural, merchant and manufacturing versus pastoralist. It matched what Marx said.

It wasn't religious, it was ethnic, since the Fula in this area (Hausa in others) have been spreading south for the last few centuries and running into other tribes or ethnic groups. Which matched the racial and ethnic politics of the US.

This was the way to make it not religious. And, in fact, there's another facet that wasn't brought out much then, "indigenous" and "endocentric" versus "Westernizing". Which corresponds nicely to the ideal of indigenous vs. colonizer, sort of a marginal kind of trendiness in political thought these days, but not lacking a certain cachet.

(Back then I believed it was mostly religious, but it really is hard to separate out the cultural and ethnic from the religious and IMHO you're stuck going with how the practioners of the violence portray it--all the aspects are present, but which is most salient in the minds of those doing the killing, maiming, 'sploding. Note also that the Fula have said at various times in the last three hundred years as they fought against tribes in the south and expanded their range that they were, indeed, waging jihad. Though again it's hard to distinguish between seeking justification for ethnic and cultural warfare in religion and having religion be the primary reason, esp. when religion is often so closely wedded to culture and ethnicity. Look at European history for that--reasoning that leads to wide condemnation of the European Church but somehow exculpates Muslims. Veddy strange.)

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Oh I agree that it is complicated and that religion is a major factor, not the only factor.

The division in Nigeria between the Islamic Hausa in the north and west and the Christian and animist tribes in the south and east has a very long and bloody history, including for example the Biafra War. Ignoring the religious element of the current violence is shameful. Painting anyone who even brings it up as a bigot is repulsive. And then Nigeria is just one of many examples. Tunisia is struggling to keep its tentative hold on secular democracy and the main threat to that comes, of course, from Islamic extremists acting both within and outside of the political process. The horror shows continue in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere and only the deliberately blind can assert that religion is not a major factor.

[rug]

15. Don't kill their snark buzz with actual facts.

They're on a roll.

[bvf]

17. Small steps.

"Though again it's hard to distinguish between seeking justification for ethnic and cultural warfare in religion and having religion be the primary reason, esp. when religion is often so closely wedded to culture and ethnicity."

The answer seems to be to try to divorce religion from culture and ethnicity then. As a Caucasian raised Roman Catholic before reason kicked in, I can state with pride that I've done my part in raising a sensible, atheist child.

A small contribution, I know, but a step in the right direction.