• Tolerance and Hope

    From Rich80105@3:770/3 to All on Saturday, July 02, 2016 21:25:52
    A thoughtful article by Robert Fisk: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/isis-middle-east-robert-fisk-savagery-division-hope-in-history-of-islam-a7110781.html

    We are thankfully still a fairly tolerant society, but there are
    warnings for us:

    "The Islamic curriculum is bleak, he claimed, “because the humanities
    in general are currently under siege in most universities of the
    world…history, philosophy, literature: these are disciplines and
    departments struggling desperately to survive in the Noah’s flood of career-oriented disciplines such as business or medicine or
    engineering or computer sciences…we must recognise that the humanities
    are crucial for the formation of a critical and sceptical
    intellect…when we demote and impoverish the humanities, we can
    confidently expect fanaticism to prosper.” "

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  • From Allistar@3:770/3 to All on Monday, July 04, 2016 10:17:13
    Rich80105 wrote:

    A thoughtful article by Robert Fisk: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/isis-middle-east-robert-fisk-savagery-division-hope-in-history-of-islam-a7110781.html

    We are thankfully still a fairly tolerant society, but there are
    warnings for us:

    "The Islamic curriculum is bleak, he claimed, “because the humanities
    in general are currently under siege in most universities of the worldÂ…history, philosophy, literature: these are disciplines and
    departments struggling desperately to survive in the NoahÂ’s flood of career-oriented disciplines such as business or medicine or
    engineering or computer sciencesÂ…we must recognise that the humanities
    are crucial for the formation of a critical and sceptical
    intellectÂ…when we demote and impoverish the humanities, we can
    confidently expect fanaticism to prosper.” "

    Fanaticism of this kind is entirely religious in nature. People need to stop giving respect to ridiculous ideas. When someone tells me they are religious
    my gut reaction is one of pity. Pity that they're been conned by the biggest con there is, and that it makes them look foolish.

    It's science, reason, rationality and secularity that best combats stone
    aged mythology.
    --
    "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."
    creates the incentive to minimize your abilities and maximize your needs.

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