Article

2004-12-13 Britain

Mockery, calumny and scorn: these are the weapons to fight zealots

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Posted by tipper 2004-12-13 03:46|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Ask Voltaire: scorn, laughter, calumny and abuse are vital to those who confront bullies.

I'm confident that Mel Brooks would definitely agree.

Posted by Zenster 2004-12-13 3:56:56 AM|| 2004-12-13 3:56:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 "Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt"
-- Henry V, Act II, Scene IV

Posted by HV 2004-12-13 6:45:48 AM|| 2004-12-13 6:45:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 "Civil, well-reasoned discourse"

Posted by Fred 2004-12-13 8:56:07 AM|| 2004-12-13 8:56:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 definitely a good point

we need more sarcasm about Islam

Instead of saying 'Mohammud was a pedophiliac as shown by him having sex with a 9 year old'

say,

'notwithstanding his having sex with a 9 year old and notwithstanding his fonding of Aisha's breast during her period, Muslims consider Mohammud to a a moral examplar for all time and are required to model their behavior on the behavior of Mohammud'

Posted by mhw 2004-12-13 9:28:57 AM|| 2004-12-13 9:28:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 I've said since 9/11 that the worst thing about picking a fight with the US is not that you will get your ass-whuppin', but that you will be ridiculed mercilessly while you are getting your ass-whuppin'. Ridicule is a very powerful weapon, especially in a war with a PR element.

Posted by BH 2004-12-13 10:04:45 AM|| 2004-12-13 10:04:45 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 I posted last year on the virtues of Precision-Guided humor:"As bullets and bombs find their mark, so does laughter prove as fatal to the humorless and fanatical. That we can laugh at them means we do not fear them, that they have been cut down to size and they have no more power over us. So pillory them with parody, scourge them with scornful laughter, fling the cream pie of derision in their direction, metaphorically de-bag them and giggle at their inadequate marital tackle, hector them ceaselessly with light-bulb jokes, knock-knock jokes, yo-mama-osama jokes, savage them with satire, lambaste them with dirty limericks and punish them with puns. A fanatic can handle anything but being laughed at..."

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2004-12-13 10:27:44 AM|| [http://www.sgtstryker.com] 2004-12-13 10:27:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 And besides that they have small reproductive organs to go with their small minds.

Posted by J. Edgar Hoover 2004-12-13 3:04:34 PM|| 2004-12-13 3:04:34 PM|| Front Page Top