"Iran: A female revolution - A monumental challenge to Islam"

[Diraker]

http://richarddawkins.net/article,4130,Iran--A-female-revolution----A-monumental-challenge-to-Islam-,Azar-Majedi

http://c0116801.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/090803Azar%20MajediPhotos2.jpg

Seems like when Michael Jackson died so did the news stories about the revolution in Iran.

Anyway empowering Muslim women is something we've discussed before. Good to see it's actually happening. Maybe there's more info out there though.

[Konrad]

Agreed...empowering women throughout the middle east is one of the best ways to control the fanaticism of Islam.

[Drekor]

I think it can be boiled down to a simply point: better education = less retardation.

[Kydorias]

Yep, better education is really one of the only ways to defeat fundamentalist religion. That, and bringing some sense of prosperity to impoverished areas. When you're poor, uneducated (except in the Koran), have very little opportunity to move up socially, and have very little hope of getting married and raising a family, martyrdom looks pretty good. At least based on Islamic fundamentalist mentality.

When your death grants you plenty of virgins in the afterlife and your family is honored and rewarded by your martyrdom, it starts to look like a fantastic alternative to continue living in the real world.

[Konrad]

I think it can be boiled down to a simply point: better education = less retardation.

Then how do you explain the fact that a large percentage of suicide bombers are highly educated and come from middle to upper income families?

[Diraker]

Konrad, I'm going to quote Sam Harris and echo your point.

How many more architects and mechanical engineers must hit the wall at 400 miles an hour before we admit to ourselves that jihadist violence is not merely a matter of education, poverty, or politics? The truth, astonishingly enough, is that in the year 2006 a person can have sufficient intellectual and material resources to build a nuclear bomb and still believe that he will get 72 virgins in Paradise. Western secularists, liberals, and moderates have been very slow to understand this. The cause of their confusion is simple: They don't know what it is like to really believe in God.

[Gnioss]

If that first picture was real then that would be a pretty remarkable image - so i researched it. turns out it's not (http://twitpic.com/8bxsv). Shame, that might have been a tiananmen square level of famous picture.

[Diraker]

Yeah that first image set off my BS detector too and yup it's photoshopped. Someone in the comments of the RD website linked it too.

Yay for skepticism.

[Glaive]

How many more architects and mechanical engineers must hit the wall at 400 miles an hour before we admit to ourselves that jihadist violence is not merely a matter of education, poverty, or politics? The truth, astonishingly enough, is that in the year 2006 a person can have sufficient intellectual and material resources to build a nuclear bomb and still believe that he will get 72 virgins in Paradise. Western secularists, liberals, and moderates have been very slow to understand this. The cause of their confusion is simple: They don't know what it is like to really believe in God.

fixed

edit- actually it doesn't even need to be fixed.

[Mourne]

If that first picture was real then that would be a pretty remarkable image - so i researched it. turns out it's not (http://twitpic.com/8bxsv). Shame, that might have been a tiananmen square level of famous picture.

It's a fake pic? The only comment I see mentioning it on the link you provided is one saying it's real due to the reflections on the bumper and grill, coming from a "terminal photoshopper."

Edit: There are a couple other comments mentioning the validity, but more saying it's real than fake, and the people claiming it's fake have just as much proof as the people claiming it's real...none.

[Nadric]

It's a fake pic? The only comment I see mentioning it on the link you provided is one saying it's real due to the reflections on the bumper and grill, coming from a "terminal photoshopper."

Edit: There are a couple other comments mentioning the validity, but more saying it's real than fake, and the people claiming it's fake have just as much proof as the people claiming it's real...none.

The middle finger is photoshopped.

She defiantly blocked the car, but she wasn't flipping the bird when she did it.

[Mourne]

Oh, I didn't even see the middle finger pic. The one Gnioss linked I guess is the original, where her hand is just raised. That first posted pic is too tiny for my aging eyes lawl.

[Drekor]

Then how do you explain the fact that a large percentage of suicide bombers are highly educated and come from middle to upper income families?

I mentioned better educated which means even if they have masters or PhD's they can still improve their intellect. Also the term "highly educated" can be interpreted different ways.

There are many doctors who are theists, most would consider doctors highly educated. However they are highly educated in their field: medicine. They are not highly educated in quantum physics or meteorology. When parents instill basic values into their children and those values revolve around god(or superstitions) then you have occurrences as you pointed out: highly educated upper income families being complete idiots.

You cannot build a solid wholesome education on weak foundations. I would honestly say in response to this line from the quote:
The truth, astonishingly enough, is that in the year 2006 a person can have sufficient intellectual and material resources to build a nuclear bomb and still believe that he will get 72 virgins in Paradise.
Such a person is in fact poorly educated. To think you will receive 72 virgins after you just detonated a nuclear bomb(likely killing more than 72 virgins you could have had fun with) with absolutely not factual basis is simply proof positive they are completely irrational and not using their famed intellect.

[Splicer]

I don't think the word your looking for is educated. Highly educated people can still be idiots and completely irrational but it doesn't make them any less highly educated.

I'd say the first step to stopping such radicalism isn't educating people but simply getting them to question everything around them. Blind faith should never be the reasoning behind any action. Be it religious, scientific, or in one's own superiority.

[Mourne]

I don't think the word your looking for is educated. Highly educated people can still be idiots and completely irrational but it doesn't make them any less highly educated.

I'd say the first step to stopping such radicalism isn't educating people but simply getting them to question everything around them. Blind faith should never be the reasoning behind any action. Be it religious, scientific, or in one's own superiority.

Well put. I agree.

[Mutt]

I'd say the first step to stopping such radicalism isn't educating people but simply getting them to question everything around them. Blind faith should never be the reasoning behind any action. Be it religious, scientific, or in one's own superiority.So you're saying that just because dem titties look real, you should be skeptical?

[Shokar]

Mutt is in rare form morning. GG, sir!

[Kydorias]

So you're saying that just because dem titties look real, you should be skeptical?Being oft surrounded by fake titties in SoCal, I've learned to be quite skeptical. I recently learned that one of my wife's friends has fake boobies, but its such a good job (she's C-cup after the job) that I had no idea.

Others are much more obvious, like the 55-year old Cougar with very perky DDs that attempted to prey on me a couple of weekends ago.

/shudder

[Mutt]

Its often the ones that get greedy and go for too much that end up looking garish.

[Mourne]

Being oft surrounded by fake titties in SoCal, I've learned to be quite skeptical. I recently learned that one of my wife's friends has fake boobies, but its such a good job (she's C-cup after the job) that I had no idea.

Others are much more obvious, like the 55-year old Cougar with very perky DDs that attempted to prey on me a couple of weekends ago.

/shudder

Screenshots or it didn't happen! :waddlegun