Britain - The Official Thread

[TheCracker]

So depicting Muhammad in a picture is wrong yet stoning a women to death for adultery is ok?

 

[dhandeh]

This certainly is the Official Britain thread. You can't even make a joke without someone getting on their high horse. We will have to have hi-vis vests and do a risk assessment next time we come in here.

 

[Sphinx]

Sorry, just have to post it. I simply can't help myself.

 

[TyrrellRacing]

This certainly is the Official Britain thread. You can't even make a joke without someone getting on their high horse. We will have to have hi-vis vests and do a risk assessment next time we come in here.

Insensitive post which may cause offence to those working in Health and Safety departments. The tone could be interpreted as sarcastic.

Reported.

 

[dhandeh]

He's said it again.

 

[ExigeEvan]

So depicting Muhammad in a picture is wrong yet stoning a women to death for adultery is ok?

Which brings me onto Frankie Boyle.

It's quite an apt social observation that somehow a nation that competes in the paralympics can still use the enforcement of mutilation and disability as part of it's law.

 

[DustDriver]

If any of ya'll know any muslims and he/she happen to have any spare time. Ask them whether this is offensive or not.

I don't know many Muslims, but they would probably laugh at the joke.
But lets turn it around. Do you know any Christians that would get offended if you make a similar joke about Jesus or some other important figure?
Except for some of the extremists, most make those kind of jokes themselves.

 

[Tornado]

Hold up, a penis joke was made, about my prophet. And you're saying im overreacting??

I'd say that is a pretty good summation thus far, yes.

Its because of stupid people like you and the makers of that danish cartoon that give islam a bad name. You know nothing about islam. You dont even know what the word 'Islam' even means.

> Make cartoon.
> Receive death threats on an international level from outraged Muslims.
> Cartoon maker is at fault.

Thanks for enlightening us all on the true meaning of Islam, and how people who "offend" a faith (no matter the circumstances) are the ones who need to be dealt with. Now I know to blame the black people when Klansmen go around lynching them, and to blame the abortion clinics when pro-lifers blow them up.

 

[kk20]

> Receive death threats on an international level from outraged Muslims.
> Cartoon maker is at fault.

Thanks for enlightening us all on the true meaning of Islam, and how people who "offend" a faith (no matter the circumstances) are the ones who need to be dealt with. Now I know to blame the black people when Klansmen go around lynching them, and to blame the abortion clinics when pro-lifers blow them up.

Hold up. All your preconceptions about islam, get them all out of your head. None of that is true. Islam does not condone nor allow any of the things you have mentioned above.

Also, you'll be surprised to know the islamic view towards abortion. Whenever you're free just google it. All these preconceptions are just influencing your opinion about islam.

Another common misconception is jihad. Can anyone tell me here what jihad means without googling it?

Clue: Its not what you are currently thinking of.

 

[homeforsummer]

But lets turn it around. Do you know any Christians that would get offended if you make a similar joke about Jesus or some other important figure?

I did a poo that looked a bit like the Virgin Mary this morning, does that count?

 

[Joel]

Clue: you're competely misinterpreting his post.

 

[Zenith]

Hold up. You conveniently forget about 8 posts against you. Why not respond to those first?

Ignoring something doesn't make you any less wrong... Okay maybe it does, but only because it saves you the opportunity to write something even more ludicrous.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Im not conding their acts at all but if there are no cartoons then is there any need for these extremists to march?

So you can't exercise your right of free speech because it might offend someone? That's like saying that women shouldn't go outside if they don't want to be raped.

If any of ya'll know any muslims and he/she happen to have any spare time. Ask them whether this is offensive or not.

I actually did show it to some of my (muslim) coworkers just now. They laughed. At your responses mostly. They also showed my some funny jokes about Jesus or western leaders. We laughed, together.

Then again, they're not extremists.

 

[kk20]

Hold up. You conveniently forget about 8 posts against you. Why not respond to those first?

Ignoring something doesn't make you any less wrong... Okay maybe it does, but only because it saves you the opportunity to write something even more ludicrous.

It dont matter any more. Why talk when people arent understanding my point of view. And to those of you that think I didnt get the joke, I sure did. Deeply offensive still. I've said what I need to say, you've done what you think you need to do. Draw a line under there and finish it. We are going slightly off-topic now. Some of the comments here are just mind boggling. Didnt think its physically possible. Learn a new thing every day I guess...

 

[Famine]

Now you're telling me what position I am in and arent?

Yep. I'll clue you in:

Let me tell you something, I am a muslim, and you saying our prophet looks like a prince's knob is offensive.

Good job I didn't say that then, really.

You're not in a position to be offended, because you aren't Prince Harry or a British newspaper editor. But you've worked yourself into one anyway by assuming I've said the exact opposite of what I said.

You saying 'your offence is your problem, not mine' is probably the dumbest thing I've read on GTP. If I was to say a comment about your wife, gilfriend, partner etc and you obviously will be offended, and I was to say 'your offence is your problem and not mine' I would most definetely be banned.

There's a gulf between being offensive and taking offence. The former is the problem of the person being offensive, the latter is no-one's problem but the person taking offence.

It is no-one's responsibility to avoid causing offence - people can take offence at all sorts of things for all sorts of imaginary reasons. Like now.

Who the hell you think you are?

Is this an existentialist question?

I dont care if this is a joke. I suggest you apologise.

I'm not apologising for what you think I've said.

Its because of stupid people like you and the makers of that danish cartoon that give islam a bad name.

Not really. Islam's bad name is given to it by bad Muslims. People who turn a book of poetry and peace into a reason to be offended at everything and to attack others.

You know nothing about islam. You dont even know what the word 'Islam' even means.

Uh-huh. Tell me more about what I don't know based on your ability to read one thing but extract the exact opposite from it.

Hold up, a penis joke was made, about my prophet.

Nope. A censorship joke was made about our press, in the form of a prophet joke made about our prince's penis.

And you're saying im overreacting?

Yup.

What has the world come to.

Exactly the point of the joke in the first place.

I did a poo that looked a bit like the Virgin Mary this morning, does that count?

Hey look, he said the Virgin Mary looks like a poo! Get him!

Oh wait, no, he said the exact opposite.

 

[DustDriver]

The poo takes offence for being called a virgin!

 

[Zenith]

It dont matter any more. Why talk when people arent understanding my point of view. And to those of you that think I didnt get the joke, I sure did. Deeply offensive still. I've said what I need to say, you've done what you think you need to do. Draw a line under there and finish it.

You don't seem to understand what a discussion is... You've demonstrated this is multiple threads now.

Some of the comments here are just mind boggling. Didnt think its physically possible. Learn a new thing every day I guess...

Do you actively seek out and contrive ways to take offense or does it happen naturally? Because I can't decide which one is more worrisome...

 

[kk20]

You don't seem to understand what a discussion is... You've demonstrated this is multiple threads now.

When and where? Enlighten me.

 

[Omnis]

Do you know any Christians that would get offended if you make a similar joke about Jesus or some other important figure?
Except for some of the extremists, most make those kind of jokes themselves.

It's ok as long as it's in good faith.

 

[Nessy]

It's ok as long as it's in good faith.

(Completely off topic, sorry mods).

Omnis, where did you get that "I'll get my coat" emoticon? Love it 👍

*Wonder whether there's a 'James Brown' version, where emoticon throws coat to the floor*

 

[Tornado]

When and where? Enlighten me.

I'll field this for him:

Hold up. All your preconceptions about islam, get them all out of your head. None of that is true. Islam does not condone nor allow any of the things you have mentioned above.

My "preconceptions about Islam" are in direct response to what you said was acceptable:

Its because of stupid people like you and the makers of that danish cartoon that give islam a bad name.

You are saying in black and white that it is the people who offend who give Islam a bad name. Because of what Famine said, while it was you who completely missed the point, you are offended and demand an apology because it is his fault. Because of what that Danish newspaper did a few years ago, thousands of Muslim people around the world were offended and demanded an apology/retraction/murder, because it was the newspaper's fault.

And here's the thing: You're justifying your outrage and actions thus far by claiming you were offended. Which, fair enough. You have no reason to be offended because you clearly didn't get the joke in the first place, but whatever. It's your right to be offended about something.
But when you made this thing with Famine into a like-for-like comparison to the Danish cartoon mess, you transferred your justification to the people who were calling for the heads (literally) of the people responsible for the newspaper, because it was the newspaper's fault for making them act that way. You've basically made the argument that what was happening in that situation is A-OK because they were offended just like you are over basically the same issue. All I did was take that premise and transfer it to popular Christian hate groups who do the same thing under similar pretexts.


No. I don't know that much about Islam. Don't know that much about Judaism, or Hindu either. I went to bible school for half a decade and I don't even really know that much about Christianity. Call it a side effect of not being even remotely religious. But it's not my problem that I'm getting a skewed view of the Islamic faith when you are the one feeding it to me.

 

[dhandeh]

Well said.👍

 

[MatskiMonk]

"is this the right room for an argument?"

 

[axletramp]

Whoa! How upset am I that didn't go online yesterday and missed all this - and, it appears, I was in some way party to the insult. In fact you could say I was the one at fault not Famine as I was one asking if Mohammad was ginger... which is worse really!

I'm actually quite upset, née offended, that no-one lol'd at my joke which is deeply, deeply insulting to me and everyone should apologise. Thankfully I didn't 'crack' the joke about Buddha looking like the Prince's arse...

 

[dhandeh]

 

[aadil717]

Umm...what?

I wasn't offended by the joke, but I could say to an extent that it was distasteful IMO - but I understood what Famine meant by it.

And now I'm just bringing this even more off topic; sorry guys.

Hopefully bringing this back on topic and putting everything behind us:

How has the Olympics really benefited Britain?

I was just reading an article saying that the Olympics hurt UK retail sales, so I was wondering what good and bad has it left us - bearing in mind that the Paraolympics are still going on so the conclusion isn't exactly a conclusion...yet.

 

[homeforsummer]

Paraphrased from Gladiator:

"I think he knows what London is. London is the mob. Conjure magic for them and they'll be distracted"

The benefit of the Olympics is essentially psychological. It distracts from peoples' real issues and lets the government sweep dodgy stuff under the carpet for a while, while everyone is basking in "national pride".

I'd certainly be interested to see a breakdown of the figures, to see whether tourism etc has offset the costs of the games.

 

[axletramp]

Unlikely. Balancing books is not any government's strong point... apart from the Swiss perhaps... but that's with other peoples' money!

And there was me thinking the Olympics was just about running and jumping and punting around in boats. A bit like a school sports day but with fewer egos, no sciving and less letching at the netball team (didn't do beach volleyball at my school ).

 

[homeforsummer]

I don't actually mind the Olympics really, and I'll admit it's neat having it in your home country. But the fact that people miraculously ditch their complete apathy to track and field events if it lands in their back yard puts the concept of national pride into question. Once the Olympics is back out of peoples memories again, nobody will really give a toss how "our heroes" do during other games for the next few years.

I wonder how many F1 fans ignore the entire season, save for the race in their own country? Or how many football fans go to every home game, but don't really care what happens at away games?...

 

[TheCracker]

I'd certainly be interested to see a breakdown of the figures, to see whether tourism etc has offset the costs of the games.

I remember reading/hearing during the second week of the games, one of the credit card companies, American Express i think, was reporting a 4% increase that week in foreign credit card usage in London over what it had seen in the year previous.

You can extrapolate from that that the Olympics increased foreign tourism revenue by about only 4%. I don't know what figures are batted about for annual tourism revenue, but i doubt an increase of 4% would cover the £9bn it reportedly cost us.

There is of course always a residual effect of hosting the games, and some of that £9bn will have been spent on new infrastructure that will no doubt be of some benefit, but i'd imagine that overall hosting the Olympics, especially in time of recession, is a money loser.