In the news

any UK references/sources for this?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/25/american-student-slashed-in-london-police-eye-muslims-patrols.html

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/516700/20131024/student-francesco-hounye-attacked-asian-men-local.htm

http://london-student.net/news/10/23/us-student-london-bottle-attack-three-days-arriving/

(sensationalist headlies>>>)

Well, this fucking sucks. RIP Lou. To loosely quote someone whose name escapes me, the Beatles sold more records, but everyone who listened to a Velvet Underground record started their own band.

^ that quote (well, similar) attributed to Brian Eno when I read it elsewhere earlier.

Brian Eno! Yes, of course.

no shit, Sherlock

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/burglars-should-banned-break-in-hotspots-6246629#.Um4KlP1A9g8.twitter

Sigh!

"Burglars should be banned from break-in hotspots, says police chief."

Ban burglary while you're at it...

^ they tried that, once

http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/24/240493422/in-most-every-european-country-bikes-are-outselling-cars

All tv cunts are now wearing poppies, hurrah!

any UK references/sources for this?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/25/american-student-slashed-in-london-police-eye-muslims-patrols.html

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/516700/20131024/student-francesco-hounye-attacked-asian-men-local.htm

http://london-student.net/news/10/23/us-student-london-bottle-attack-three-days-arriving/

(sensationalist headlies>>>)

Muslim Patrols sadly somehow exist as a brunch of them go around Hackney demanding people should obey Sharia's law, basically by driving around, filming their harassment and upload it to YouTube.

Found it, it's from a gang called The Truth About Saturday Night

Muslim Patrol - The Truth About Saturday Night Out - UK News - YouTube

Muslim Patrols sadly somehow exist as a brunch of them go around Hackney demanding people should obey Sharia's law, basically by driving around, filming their harassment and upload it to YouTube.

Ed, you can't say that. Brunch frequently includes pork based products.

This is the most depressing thing about it:

shantcant 1 month ago
This comment has received too many negative votes

"There's no problem with islamification in the UK. This is what's known as an isolated incident. The knee-jerk hateful comments it inspires is quite pathetic."

The only sensible comment I could find, and it was voted down and hidden. Hate and ignorance abound.

I know everyone loves to knock the media, but in relation to the whole "issue" over Islam in the UK they deserve serious criticism. There seems to me to be way too much coverage.

Even C4's recent discussions on the burka seemed to me to be a bit OTT. Wear what you want, who really cares.

Reminds me of this story from the summer:
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/alex-massie/2013/07/abandon-all-hope-the-average-voter-thinks-one-in-four-britons-is-a-muslim/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/10316850/Reduce-working-week-to-30-hours-say-economists.html

talk about burying bad news
nice of cameron to arrange a hurricane the day his mate rebekkah wade goes to court
wonder if he can persuade the judges too

oh it's a jury trial
12 good men and true-ly gonna get bribed

Islam is shit, but roughly as shit as every other religion, Muslims believe a load of bollocks, but roughly the same amount of bollocks as every other religious person, some Muslims are cunts, but roughly the same amount of them as people who believe in other religions. At least they ain't scientologists.

whoa snotts, you sound stressed, pop by Tottenham court road later and we will pop you on the E-meter and check out your levels.

I'm cool, I'm an atheist, so obviously nothing I wrote above applies to me. Atheists never believe in bollocks or act like cunts.

The fact is, people love it when a video like that turns up. They love the justified anger, the moral simplicity, "look at those muslim bastards claiming it is a muslim area send them home". Then of course these racist comments are in turn lept on by the muslims, who portray themselves as the victim, become more agressive, and the spiral into extremist muck slinging from both sides continues.

Edit, sorry just realised you were possibly being ironical, so the following may be redundant:
In reply to snottyotter, is is easy and simplistic just to say that religion is shit. Religion is massive, a fundamental part of human nature, and it is here to stay. Atheists can be self-righteous cunts as well. Calling all religious people cunts is divisive and unhelpful, it stifles dialogue. What is lacking in the above video is any attempt at dialogue.

Islam is shit, but roughly as shit as every other religion, Muslims believe a load of bollocks, but roughly the same amount of bollocks as every other religious person, some Muslims are cunts, but roughly the same amount of them as people who believe in other religions. At least they ain't scientologists.

No, it's quite a lot more shit. Partly because it hasn't undergone the sort of revision that christianity did due to the renaissance etc., but also because it has, at its core, beliefs about the importance of islam succeeding in this world (rather than just setting you up for the next) and martyrdom.

It goes without saying that the proportion of Muslims who are cunts is no more or less than any other group of people. But islam does give you the opportunity (if you are so inclined) to act like rather more of one, compared to say Jainism.

I didn't call all religious people cunts, I was basically saying there are cunts everywhere (except atheists obviously).

^^ Hasn't it?

I really don't know enough about Islam to comment either way. But from the little I do know, there are different formal sects/viewpoints as well as practicing muslims varying in their outlook and beliefs.

If you look at say the Buddhist persecution of Muslims in Mandalay you can see that pretty much no matter how peaceful a religion is at its core it can be misused.

at least scientology has space aliens and giant starships instead of invisible magical monkeys in the sky and talking snakes, and for that reason - i'm in.

I reckon an easy way of establishing how developed a society is -regardless of religion- is to examine gender equality.

The closer to parity you get the more rational the society, I reckon.