Tom Over A person can take issue with the generally higher degree of homophobia and sexism in Muslim cultures while also being against the fear-mongering with which some people believe Islam = terrorism. The latter glosses over the reality experienced by people on the receiving end of US foreign policy (much of it done to increase the power of multinational corporations, not make ordinary US citizens safer.) Be wary of simplistic memes that rely on gross generalizations aimed at dividing and conquering the general population. Liberal-vs-conservative antagonism is a distraction, as political and economic power concentrates in fewer hands, and as our political freedoms erode.
12 hours ago · Like
Jeff Mclean Well all I know is Amnesty International presented photos and even video of the weekly public hangings of gays in Iran, which is why Ahmadinejad stated there are NO homosexuals in Iran because if they find you they kill you.
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Tom Over Jeff Mclean, when you quote from a site that involves the word ‘libtards’ (or conversely, ‘Republitards’) it’s typically aimed at sowing divisiveness. Some liberals can oppose beating the drums for war against Iran while also opposing the Iranian gover…nment’s theocratic repression of women and sexual minorities. It’d be interesting if the US government actually sought to support the creation of a secular society in Iran without such repression. But that hasn’t seemed to be the case. —–Unfortunately for the people of Iran, they’ve been sandwiched between the Shah , which the CIA installed to replace Mosaddegh in 1953, and the theocratic rulers that come into power since the 1979 revolution. In the case of Iran and other countries in the Middle East, South America and other parts of the world, the US has supported dictators while giving lip service to democracy, as part of the Cold War and later as part of the so-called ‘War on Terror.’ —–It’d be cool if the US more consistently supported political freedom, but doing that would require scaling back war profiteering. It’d also require a more informed US populace less tolerant of war propaganda and fear-mongering.
I don’t think any progressive is denying that, generally, though not in all Muslim countries, life (and death) is worse for Queer folk than it is here, or say, in various parts of Western Europe. —–But it isn’t just Islam. Social conservatives in India are repressive toward Queer folk. See their recent supreme court ruling. —-Then there’s the repression of Queer folk in Uganda which, according to some reports, is being spurred on by conservative Christians in the US.—-Within every religion and perhaps also among some atheists, there are folk with harsh opposition against sexual minorities.——I wouldn’t be the first person to say that the problem isn’t Islam, nor is it Christianity, Judaism, or Hinduism, or religion, per se. The problem is extremism, and that can also apply to atheism.
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