Biting the hand that feeds them?

[sandyRoe]

http://uk.news.yahoo....d-dead-115243701.html

[cupid04]

I only intended it to be a light hearted comment, maryanna34. I see you are
new on here. I hope you enjoy the debates. If I offended anyone, I apologise.
That was not my intention.

[naomi24]

Cupid, you didn’t drop Sandy in it – he dropped himself in it. Nothing wrong in asking about an avatar. It was Sandy’s thoughtlessness that I objected to. The poor sod, the subject of this thread, has been trying to help people and has been barbarically beheaded for his trouble - and Sandy, on the same thread, jokes about a notorious religious nutter giving atheists short shrift. How crass!

[Anngel123]

Well said Gromit. Although I do think that some money doesn't end up where it should....

[emmie]

Gromit, sorry not sure i agree, the more money we pour in, the worse the situation has become. Are people any better off now, than say 5 years ago

[FredPuli43]

Er...what was the question again ?

Oh, yes Pakistan and aid. That Pakistan has some murderous extremists within its borders doesn't justify us not giving humanitarian aid to benefit many or all of the rest of its citizens. What's more concerning is that some general, past, aid has ended up, in significant amounts , in the pockets of those families who form the elite, governing, class of people in that country and has not benefitted, to the full, the mass for whom it was intended .

[jno]

keep fighting the good fight, sandyRoe... Torquemada remained true to his beliefs, as do so many others on AB, and was not in the least out of step with his age, so we all have much to learn from his example.

[bazwillrun]

"The best way to make sure the Taliban succeeds in Pakistan is to cut aid."

Now thats a level of naivety thats going to be hard to surpass

[DTCwordfan]

Oh but the joys of the Taliban with a nuke missile.

Watch out those of you in Newham, your missile support won't be of much use when the metal is all melted - and all the rest.

[naomi24]

jno, //keep fighting the good fight, sandyRoe... Torquemada remained true to his beliefs, as do so many others on AB, and was not in the least out of step with his age, so we all have much to learn from his example.//

Tell you what, jno. Why don’t we really make this fun learning? Let’s swap Torquemada’s name to Hitler, and the word ‘Atheists’ to ‘Jews’ or ‘gypsies’, or ‘blacks’. Just like your new found hero, Hitler remained true to his beliefs too. Or how about we swap Torquemada for Anders Breivik and ‘Atheists’ to ‘Muslims’? See where this is going? Good idea, no? Thought not.

[jno]

Torquemada is estimated to have had 2,000 people killed. Hitler is estimated to have had 6 million killed, and that's just the Jews, never mind the millions more dead in the war It was to stop hyperbolic frothing-at-the-mouth comparisons like that that Godwin's law was invented - but you're only too happy to invoke it when it suits your own argument.

Work on your sense of proportion.

[naomi24]

jno, your mentality continues to astonish me. If Sandy had said, //It's Adolph Hitler. Now, he was a chap who would give all the Jews here in AB short shrift//, or //it’s Radovan Karadžić. Now, he was a chap who would give all the Muslims here in AB short shrift// your well-used itchy finger would have reached for the report button in the blink of an eye, as would those of many others here. However, where atheists are concerned, it’s clear that those who worship at the altar of the God of Spite have very different standards. If this is an example of the way in which religion skews the mind, then all I can say is thank Zeus I’m an atheist. Sickening.

[sandyRoe]

is there then no place for irony here in the AB debates?

[naomi24]

I don't see any irony, Sandy. I've never seen an atheist here make light of any group of people being tortured or murdered, and I've never seen an atheist here find humour in the thought of anyone else suffering at the hands of a maniac.

[sandyRoe]

Are some subjects, and people, too serious for humour or irony?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oppHeMlaLVM

[ludwig]

For irony to work it has to be clear that you're being ironic sandy - otherwise it just looks like you're saying something really stupid, as in jno's case above.

[sandyRoe]

of course, it might just be above some peoples heads