Terrorists, funsters and all the other nice people

[kladner]

The only good I see in this despicable incident is that the bigot wasn't armed. I just saw this dated post because I came to the thread to post a story about another self-entitled jerk.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8652581.html

Police in India have admitted it may not be possible to retrieve the body of Christian missionary John Allen Chau, a US citizen who travelled to a remote island and was killed by its tribespeople.
The 27-year-old is believed to have died on 17 November after repeatedly trying to make contact with hunter-gatherers living in isolation on the island of North Sentinel, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands chain.

The people of the island are under strict protection. Exposing them to outside pathogens could be catastrophic. Missionary Chau believed that he had a "higher calling" to convert the inhabitants to Xtianity. I guess a tribe potentially wiped out would be OK, so long as your "god" is on your side.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

<snip>The people of the island are under strict protection. Exposing them to outside pathogens could be catastrophic. Missionary Chau believed that he had a "higher calling" to convert the inhabitants to Xtianity. I guess a tribe potentially wiped out would be OK, so long as your "god" is on your side.

Especially if they're hard to convert

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Especially if they're hard to convert

Ay yi yi! That is horrific.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

Ay yi yi! That is horrific.

Of course, that movie was only a fanciful rendition of history, courtesy of Werner Herzog. Something I'd heard from actual history was niggling at my mind.

I had a vague recollection of hearing a story about a man about to be burned at the stake by the the Spanish saying he didn't want to go to heaven because there were only Christians there. Thank Heaven for the Information Age! A little creative Googling turned up what is almost certainly the incident I remember hearing about. Either the telling I heard had the details wrong, or I misremembered -- I didn't have what he said right, and I also thought it was during one of Columbus's voyages, but it took place in 1512, after Columbus had died. What the man actually said is even more telling that what I'd dimly remembered hearing.

From the The Wikipedia page on Hatuey:

Before he was burned, a priest asked Hatuey if he would accept Jesus and go to heaven. Las Casas recalled the reaction of the chief:

[Hatuey], thinking a little, asked the religious man if Spaniards went to heaven. The religious man answered yes... The chief then said without further thought that he did not want to go there but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people. This is the name and honor that God and our faith have earned.

[Dr Sardonicus]

On March 31, 2017, the anti-immigration group VDARE booked a conference for April 2018 in a resort in Colorado Springs. In August 2017, around the time "many fine people" had their little rally in Charlottesville, the booking became public knowledge. One of VDARE's speechwriters had helped organize that Tiki-torch party. Reaction was swift, and unfavorable. The host venue cancelled the booking. Now, a bogus lawsuit, claiming the city and its mayor "violated our rights, waah waah, waah."

Anti-immigration group VDARE sues Mayor John Suthers

My take: It's a publicity stunt. The resort would have had to cancel the booking, irrespective of the city's or mayor's stance. Because the booking was already public knowledge, the venue was already facing the prospect of protests and boycotts in the eight months before the scheduled conference.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

.....

From the The Wikipedia page on Hatuey:
Quote:
Before he was burned, a priest asked Hatuey if he would accept Jesus and go to heaven. Las Casas recalled the reaction of the chief:

[Hatuey], thinking a little, asked the religious man if Spaniards went to heaven. The religious man answered yes... The chief then said without further thought that he did not want to go there but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people. This is the name and honor that God and our faith have earned.

From the first chapter of Huckleberry Finn:

Then she told me all about the bad place,
and I said I wished I was there. She got mad then,
but I didn't mean no harm. All I wanted was to go
somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn't
particular. She said it was wicked to say what I said;
said she wouldn't say it for the whole world; she was
going to live so as to go to the good place. Well, I
couldn't see no advantage in going where she was
going, so I made up my mind I wouldn't try for it.
But I never said so, because it would only make
trouble, and wouldn't do no good.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

From the first chapter of Huckleberry Finn:

I had forgotten that quotation about going to heaven.

There is an incident much later in the book, where Huck is hiding bread and butter under his hat, and the butter melts and comes down his forehead. Aunt Sally thinks he has brain-fever.

Curiously, there is a modern urban legend where a burst tube of ready-made biscuit dough is mistaken for brains.

[LaurV]

I have a similar story about a guy driving behind of me in a splendid sunny day in a summer in the '80-ies in northern Romania. We don't get many summer days there, but few there are, are extremely hot. There was no cloud in the sky and no wind, and the temperatures were close to +38 or so (for Americans, this is +100, over ). Now this guy was running his wipers like crazy, you imagine it's the rainiest day, not only cats and dogs like English speaking people would say, but also elephants and giraffes... (we don't have that, we say, it rains by the bucket, or barrel).

For long minutes I wondered what is wrong with the guy, I was even making suppositions like he is kidnapped and asking for help (what stupid kidnappers, they could not see the wipers running), and all kind of stuff.

Later when I stopped at the next area for a coffee, some juice, a cigarette, or to take a leak, I don't remember, I found out the mystery... the guy reached the same area in few minutes and he was quite talkative, with a good sense of humor, and (as a good Romanian) didn't mind talking with strangers, so he told me in a comic/funny/sad way (he was upset, but trying to make fun of the situation, "haz de necaz", we say, which is like "making the best of a bad bargain" - here this is textual, hehe) the whole story: he was smuggling halva from Poland and he had like 50 kilo of it packed on the top of the car, in a special box that you put on top of the car to carry stuff, I don't know its name. He said the custom officers never look there, they only look in the trunk . So, the sun melted the whole stuff, and the oil from it started running down the windshield... Combined with the dust of the way, he had some opaque "liquid-sandpaper" on the glass, he could not see anything, he could not wash it out.

No place to run, no place to hide...

[Dr Sardonicus]

I know Ernst will love this WAPO article: My group filed an IRS complaint about organizations that espouse Meir Kahane’s beliefs.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

I know Ernst will love this WAPO article: My group filed an IRS complaint about organizations that espouse Meir Kahane’s beliefs.

Would you summarize? WaPo won't let me in.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Will Il Duce pardon this guy? Too soon to tell!
;-)