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guillaumeb

(42,649 posts)
Sat Mar 16, 2019, 05:25 PM Mar 2019

Critic Who Exposed China's Muslim Camps is Detained, Even Across the Border

From the article:

For six days a week, every week, in a crowded office in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Serikzhan Bilash had been ringmaster of one of the most influential efforts detailing China’s internment of Muslim minorities....

The police detained him early Sunday in Almaty, the city in southeastern Kazakhstan where his organization is, and flew him to the capital, Astana, where he was placed under house arrest....

In the months before his detention, he warned that the Chinese authorities were trying to use their influence in Kazakhstan to silence his group...

The Chinese authorities have bristled at foreign criticism of the camps. First, officials denied their existence, then they said the camps were part of a training program for poor Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities to help them find jobs and resist extremist ideologies. On Tuesday, a Xinjiang official said the camps were “like boarding schools.”


To read more:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/world/asia/china-kazakh-activist-camps-xinjiang-muslims.html

We all know that intolerance is a universal behavior. In this case, the officially atheist Chinese Government puts theists in jail for the crime of theism.
33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Critic Who Exposed China's Muslim Camps is Detained, Even Across the Border (Original Post) guillaumeb Mar 2019 OP
We all know that when religionists use religion to further intolerance... Major Nikon Mar 2019 #1
Religion is therefore no different from any other human institution edhopper Mar 2019 #2
Yes, China dislikes anyone who interferes with its policies. MineralMan Mar 2019 #3
I agree. guillaumeb Mar 2019 #5
What about theists who make sarcastic non sequiturs to atheists? marylandblue Mar 2019 #4
What do you think the motivation is for the sarcastic replies? guillaumeb Mar 2019 #6
Yeah, whatabout those Chinese atheists? Major Nikon Mar 2019 #8
Everybody apparently distracts here all the time. I try not to, but marylandblue Mar 2019 #9
Gil is rather one-sided in his criticism of intolerance. Mariana Mar 2019 #10
Well apparently all behavior is universal except when it's a lone nutjob marylandblue Mar 2019 #14
Speaking of the "thread after thread" tactic, guillaumeb Mar 2019 #11
As I mentioned in another post, human behavior is actually inconsistent marylandblue Mar 2019 #13
I disagree. guillaumeb Mar 2019 #17
I know you disagree. But it's not a double standard. marylandblue Mar 2019 #20
Sadly, each story is new. And since the RCC still hasn't taken any serious steps to address it, trotsky Mar 2019 #23
Classic child rape apologia Major Nikon Mar 2019 #26
Classic misreading of the actual response. guillaumeb Mar 2019 #29
Classic duplicity Major Nikon Mar 2019 #30
That also. guillaumeb Mar 2019 #32
Your "I'm rubber you're glue" canned response was banal the first time Major Nikon Mar 2019 #33
That reminds me. Voltaire2 Mar 2019 #15
There is a bit of a difference Major Nikon Mar 2019 #19
That is why I will be bookmarking... NeoGreen Mar 2019 #21
That's been his M.O. for a long time. trotsky Mar 2019 #24
The most deplorable part is it's not the child rape that upsets him Major Nikon Mar 2019 #25
"it's strange he would actually admit to it." trotsky Mar 2019 #27
Some days this place is too deep for me. nt littlemissmartypants Mar 2019 #7
That is why I always wear a life vest while swimming here. guillaumeb Mar 2019 #12
Hahaha. Thanks. littlemissmartypants Mar 2019 #16
No need for one. eom guillaumeb Mar 2019 #18
Why are you spreading falsehoods? trotsky Mar 2019 #22
I understand the the posts on China upset you, and a few others here. guillaumeb Mar 2019 #28
You've already admitted the reason for your ad nauseum China shitposts is you are butthurt Major Nikon Mar 2019 #31

edhopper

(34,846 posts)
2. Religion is therefore no different from any other human institution
Sat Mar 16, 2019, 05:49 PM
Mar 2019

therefore there is nothing unique or divine about religion.
Therefore God has no effect on religion.
Therefore God has no effect on humanity or God does not exist.
It's one or the other.

MineralMan

(147,603 posts)
3. Yes, China dislikes anyone who interferes with its policies.
Sat Mar 16, 2019, 07:19 PM
Mar 2019

It's not a bastion of freedom, to put it mildly.

guillaumeb

(42,649 posts)
5. I agree.
Sat Mar 16, 2019, 08:17 PM
Mar 2019

And the Chinese, on their side, have suffered through many attempts by outside countries to exercise power.

marylandblue

(12,344 posts)
4. What about theists who make sarcastic non sequiturs to atheists?
Sat Mar 16, 2019, 08:10 PM
Mar 2019

That's also intolerance. Do you condemn that as much as Chinese extra-judicial rendition?

guillaumeb

(42,649 posts)
6. What do you think the motivation is for the sarcastic replies?
Sat Mar 16, 2019, 08:18 PM
Mar 2019

I would argue that, at most, it is impolite.

But, your diversion aside, what did you think of the article?

marylandblue

(12,344 posts)
9. Everybody apparently distracts here all the time. I try not to, but
Sat Mar 16, 2019, 10:13 PM
Mar 2019

but it's a human characteristic. I've also learned in this group that all bad human interactions are intolerance and all intolerance is tribal, and tribalism is a universal human characteristic. Therefore I thought I was out of step by being insufficiently tribal and tried to act more human, lest I be expelled from the tribe or suffer some other tribal punishment.

With that for an explanation of my all too human behavior, the article (and all other articles you have posted about this issue) severely downplay the ethnic, geopolitical, economic and historical dimensions of the oppression, likely because the reporters focus on the main thing they understand, "Muslims."

You apparently do this on thread after thread after thread to make a claim that "atheists" oppress "theists" for a situation that probably has more to do with millenia-old attempts by China to control the Central Asian steppes.

It's not clear why you want make this point on thread after thread after thread after thread other than your stated desire to point out the painfully obvious (lest anyone miss the all-important obvious) which has the (surely unintentional but IMO unfortunate) effect of distracting from the details of whatever the OP is about.

In this case, I find it interesting that Turkey, and not, say Morocco is defending Muslim Kazakhs, but as the interesting parts of that have little to religion(since Morocco also is a Muslim country, why don't they care about other Muslims?) I'll refrain from raising those issues here, as this is the Religion Group, not the Central Asian Geopolitics Group. However I'll note that anyone with at least a little knowledge of Central Asia would see the obvious connections missed by the article.


Mariana

(15,126 posts)
10. Gil is rather one-sided in his criticism of intolerance.
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 12:18 PM
Mar 2019

He has previously ridiculed atheist recipients of credible death threats from Christians in the US, some of whom have been children.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1218270285#post1

marylandblue

(12,344 posts)
14. Well apparently all behavior is universal except when it's a lone nutjob
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 02:19 PM
Mar 2019

in which one may give tacit approval to threats in order to defend the faith.

guillaumeb

(42,649 posts)
11. Speaking of the "thread after thread" tactic,
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 12:42 PM
Mar 2019

what is your opinion of the possibly hundreds of individual posts that focus on a particular incident of child abuse by priests?

Is it an attempt to flood the Religion Group with these posts?

My congratulations on your opening paragraph.

As to the "why" of my posts on China, and the repression of theists by the Chinese Government, they should serve as counterpoint to the far more frequent posts about theists oppressing others. And a reminder that, no matter the group, human behavior is consistent.

marylandblue

(12,344 posts)
13. As I mentioned in another post, human behavior is actually inconsistent
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 01:59 PM
Mar 2019

So the thing you are "reminding" people of was never true to begin with.

My opinion on Catholic priest child abuse issues is tjat gets a lot of attention for perfectly understandable and obvious reasons that are in fact grounded in human psychology. Not assumed "universal" psychology as you like use, but behaviors that have been researched and are seen to be common (though not "universal" ). So there is nothing to be surprised about and there is no nefarious conspiracy to make the RCC look bad.

guillaumeb

(42,649 posts)
17. I disagree.
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 05:04 PM
Mar 2019

The double standard is obvious.

The same type of post can be made 999 times about the RCC, with the same responses. So posting for the 1000th time reveals nothing new.

marylandblue

(12,344 posts)
20. I know you disagree. But it's not a double standard.
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 07:08 PM
Mar 2019

That's because the RCC is not the Chinese Government. They are two different things that have very little common with each other. The posts about the RCC are not all the same. They say different things. I really think you either don't read them, or don't care about what they have to say, or why it might bother people here more than some other things. And that appears to be because you are unable to make moral distinctions. You seem to have trouble making any kind of distinctions at all. If you can't distinguish colors, then everything does appear to be black and white. But other's will still see a panoply of colors no matter how much you claim it's "obvious" there is only black and white.

trotsky

(49,533 posts)
23. Sadly, each story is new. And since the RCC still hasn't taken any serious steps to address it,
Mon Mar 18, 2019, 07:40 AM
Mar 2019

there is nothing wrong with people posting news stories to additionally shame the institution (and people like you who make excuses for it).

If the RCC quit raping children, protecting rapists, and covering up the crimes, then the stories wouldn't need to be posted.

Get mad at your (former?) church and its behavior, not the people who are calling attention to it.

Major Nikon

(36,900 posts)
26. Classic child rape apologia
Mon Mar 18, 2019, 08:08 AM
Mar 2019

Which is a big part of the reason child rapes will continue in the RCC. The reason the RCC doesn't feel the need to take meaningful steps to do anything about religion's culture of child rape is because so many Christians are providing cover for the child rapists.

guillaumeb

(42,649 posts)
29. Classic misreading of the actual response.
Wed Mar 20, 2019, 07:14 PM
Mar 2019

Actually, expected at this point.

In spite of your provocative heading, it is obvious how your claims are taken.

Major Nikon

(36,900 posts)
33. Your "I'm rubber you're glue" canned response was banal the first time
Thu Mar 21, 2019, 04:29 PM
Mar 2019

After you’ve pulled that one a few dozen additional times you are approaching the intellectual value of a 2yr old beating on a drum repeatedly.

Major Nikon

(36,900 posts)
19. There is a bit of a difference
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 05:43 PM
Mar 2019

At least Gil is now admitting the reason for his shitposting is to try and deflect blame from the culture of child rape that exists within religious institutions. So while the behavior is no less deplorable, at least now we have confirmation on what the motivation is.

NeoGreen

(4,033 posts)
21. That is why I will be bookmarking...
Mon Mar 18, 2019, 07:20 AM
Mar 2019

...post #11.

Plus he seems to think that all the posts condemning the RCC's coverup are all relative to one "particular incident".

11. Speaking of the "thread after thread" tactic, what is your opinion of the possibly hundreds of individual posts that focus on a particular incident of child abuse by priests?


Emphasis added.

trotsky

(49,533 posts)
24. That's been his M.O. for a long time.
Mon Mar 18, 2019, 07:41 AM
Mar 2019

He sees something that upsets him, and so he lashes out inappropriately.

Major Nikon

(36,900 posts)
25. The most deplorable part is it's not the child rape that upsets him
Mon Mar 18, 2019, 07:58 AM
Mar 2019

What upsets him so much is people are talking about how religion has enabled a multi-national culture of child rape on a biblical scale.

You also have the proof the reason for his shitposting is the epitome of whataboutism. It's a blatant attempt to deflect from bad news about religion which upsets him. It's not as if we didn't already know this, just it's strange he would actually admit to it.

trotsky

(49,533 posts)
27. "it's strange he would actually admit to it."
Mon Mar 18, 2019, 08:13 AM
Mar 2019

In a way, I don't find it strange at all. He has also claimed to have a large invisible following, encouraging him every step of the way. Despite spamming the group with posts about China, people continue to post news stories about abuse in the RCC. He's so desperate to stop that, he's now blatantly throwing out his "deal": Stop posting bad news stories about religion, and I'll stop my shitposting.

No deal. Religious bigotry and intolerance need to be called out.

littlemissmartypants

(25,497 posts)
16. Hahaha. Thanks.
Sun Mar 17, 2019, 04:55 PM
Mar 2019

At least you don't feel the need for a haz mat suit. Yet.



I hope you have a nice weekend, too, guillaumeb. Keep the faith.

trotsky

(49,533 posts)
22. Why are you spreading falsehoods?
Mon Mar 18, 2019, 07:36 AM
Mar 2019

"the officially atheist Chinese Government puts theists in jail for the crime of theism."

You are 100% WRONG and spreading misinformation. Mike Pence may agree with this position, but reasonable people do not.

The Chinese Government jails people for opposing the state. Period. Whether they are theists or atheists, it doesn't matter. If you speak out against the government or pose any kind of threat, you are arrested.

If they arrested people for "theism" then there would be no theists free in the country. But there are millions.

So stop with the lies. Your virulent hatred is really ugly.

guillaumeb

(42,649 posts)
28. I understand the the posts on China upset you, and a few others here.
Wed Mar 20, 2019, 07:12 PM
Mar 2019

And the re-education camps for theists do sound brutal.

Major Nikon

(36,900 posts)
31. You've already admitted the reason for your ad nauseum China shitposts is you are butthurt
Wed Mar 20, 2019, 09:58 PM
Mar 2019

...over the bad press about your church.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1218&pid=309626

I suppose you can try and project that behavior on others, but it's going to fly about as well as a brick. Still the attempt does offer a fair amount of entertainment value, so there's that.

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