h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Another thing I can`t understand is why there are no churches allowed on saudi soil,isn`t this some form of apartheid,why is no one
jumping up and down at this.Non muslims ,can`t explore the city of Mecca
I know this is where Islam started,but is this what Allah would have wanted to keep out non belivers out?
Any answers,all I`m after is some sort of explanation as to why it is,that`s all........thanks g.s.s.

Pretty much the same reason there are still men only cricket and golf clubs or that I have to wear a club badge whe i turn up for league fixtures. Its the rules of the people who run the place that count.

Is it some kind of apartheid? Well given that its based on the belief that Islam is like no other religion and apartheid held the blacks and whites were seperate races not just different shades of people then yes it is well spotted

If you do have an overwhelming need to visit Mecca you can. You just have to pretend to be a Muslim. Infact Mecca is probably easier for you to get into than the MCC which is in your own city.

Allah may well have wanted to keep out non-believers Ive been to a few clubs where if I couldnt prove that I was there as a member of the opposition I would not have been allowed into any of the bars never mind any members or players bars.


+ + =

Rocket Rod:
"The thought of an old man becoming aroused by a child is one of the most disturbing thoughts that makes us cringe as it reminds us of pedophilia and the most despicable people.

Thanks so much for linking to that site Rocket rdo because i can think of nothing better to undermine the whole "argument" that GSS is putting forward than that site itself

So sickend were the people who put it together that they felt the need to put some "jokey" country music on a long side it.

I have had to report child abuse of various types to my bosses things Ive seen and things people have reported to me and NOT F***ING ONCE did I think it was appropriate or necessary to have a comical song as a backing track.

Who knows though, they may be very carubg peopl who did it to deal with the "the disturbing thoughts" that might "make us cringe".

OR

It could be that the people who put the site together are a bigotted bunch of rednecks.

I know which one my money is on.



GSS:
What football team does Blinkybadger support??,he`s not happy that I`m a Manchester United fan,who lives in north London.[God only knows what he would say ,if he found out I`d never been to Old Trafford!!!!!]


I support West Bromwich Albion:

They are my home town team.

They are the first proffesional team I ever went to watch.

My school was right across the road from the Hawthorns.

They were the team supported by my Grandad.

As a little brown boy growing up in the 70s Cyrille Regis was my hero/god/role-model.

Why are you a ManU fan GSS?



Strangely:

.....strewth, anyone dares to stand up on here and say anything and they soon get slaughtered.

No they get told its wrong if its wrong, if its incredibly prejudiced they get told that too and if they're PS is found to be unacceptabel it gets pulled. Ive stood up and posted lots of controversial view points but Ive never been so melodramatic to call negative responses "slaughtered"


"Whatever the rights and wrongs of what GSS said it is so typical of these politically correct days where you can't say anything without getting called racist.

You might use typical in a negative way there but I dont htink it happens *enough* that when people like GSS or Kilroy Silk get up and start spouting their racist inspired claptrap that they and what they are saying gets correctly addressed as racist. There are lots of things you can say without getting called racist.....just not racist things.


"The world is bending over so far backwards to be P.C it can't see straight anymore.

(Your mixing of metaphor is almost poetic, coupled with your use of melodramatic statements I should think there is a great future for writting the kind of books I find it painful to read but which judging by the best seller lists other people seem to lap up.)


"Fine have equal opportunities...but have it for all."

That sounds great, when is it going to start? No seriously when are things going to be equal in this world, the UK or the borough I live in, because Ive see the figures and things are not equal.

"When you get to the stage where a library bans an advert for a carol service incase it offends anyone, but then is quite happy to hold a festival for another religeon it beggars belief.

You're right it does beggar belief could you post a link or name the library in question so that people can check it out for themselves?


In one of the entries someone was quick to condem GSS but then slured people from London and supporters of a football team!!!

Yes I slurred *Londoners who support Man U*, but not the two things seperately. As a football lover I feel Ive earned the right, by going along to support my own team in the sun, wind, snow and rain (what an afternoon that was ). Playing football for my school team then a local sunday league team, then managing that team and being part of the local FA.

During my whole time in football (I stopped playing six years ago to concentrate on other sports) I never heard a good word spoken for the kind of fan who supports a team from outside off their own area, who never even visits there teams ground and is fickle enough to support a team based on their sucess.


"Football is not life and death, its more important than that"

Bill Shankly.

My bigoted opinion about Man U fans from outside Manchester is restricted soley to the sports arena where loving your HOME team and only looking at the colour of the players shirt is all that should matter.



.....I really think some people don't understand how angry a lot of people in this country get when we are meant to bend over backwards to accommodate other faiths , but ours can be pushed aside when it doesn't fit in with the latest P.C dictat.

I have never bent over backwards to accomodate any faith, are you sure you live in the same country I do?

I have made sure that food laid out at events is at least in part acceptable to those will attend but I do exactly the same if someone has a nut allergy or glutn intolerance. its called being inclusive and is simply an extension of being polite. Why do so many people have such a problem with this sort of thing?

What is *your* faith? I take it you mean your some sort of Anglican maybe Methodist or other British denomination. WHat examples do you have of your faith being treated less favourably than others. Bare in mind you get your day of worship off in most jobs. Your major religious festivals are also normally gift wrapped with paid leave. Even more unfairly you get unelected representatives in the palace of Westminster that by proportion far outwiegh the numbers of bums on seats in church.


one love

blicky honey, you're falling into his game - you answer all his questions and he answers none of yours (nor any of mine nor whoever else has questioned him).

The man has nothing to say - he's a bigot pure and simple. If he would like to disprove this then he knows what he can do.

Anyhow, it ends up just feeding the troll unless this person actually makes an effort to debate properly. Which he hasn't done so far.


az

az - <>

Actually, I think that's the perfect way to debate.

az

What, have you never seen politicians "debating"?


Although I must say the Rocket Rods quote "Islam sucks a big one" chilled me to the bone.

Blicky

....You just don't have a clue what I meant do you. You will make yourself look very clever and disect ever word and bit of grammar of what I am writing now.
You simply have no idea of how a lot of people feel in this country. Today I spoke to someone who had to go to next town as Father Christmas had been banned from her town as offensive...although exactly who to is somewhat unclear. Yes I know you will give me a lecture on how santa has nothing to do with religeon, which will somewhat prove my point.
.....by pretending everything is hunky dory you will miss the point that people are now deliberately withdrawing back into their faith as it is being pushed further into a corner by P.C brigade....hey we are having a ''season'' next year, not Christmas incase it offends...these may seem like little unimportant things to you.....but they are very important to many other people. The little things build up to a lot of resentment when added together...strewth, I must be racist,
...but these days if you speak out you get called that anyway....but hey it's a good way of stiffling free speach!!

Stiffling free speech by calling you somone a name they deserve. How is that stiffling free speech?

If az cant say that SSG is racist then where is her free speech? If SSg can show that is not the truth he is just as free to do so here as he is to post his inflamatory and ill founded "information" about Mohammed and Muslims. Whats more is Im sure az would be only to eager to apologize if she was shown to be wrong. She's nice like that.

That's free speech.

I dont notice it being stiffled.



"You just don't have a clue what I meant do you.

Why dont you tell me then? I have asked you to tell me some other things yet I see from you post you havent so its not like I dont want to understand.



"You will make yourself look very clever and disect ever word and bit of grammar of what I am writing now.

You might think it makes me look clever others think it makes me an argumentative git...."you pays yer money you takes your choice"....



You simply have no idea of how a lot of people feel in this country.

Well i havent met them all have I but by the same standard you dont know how a lot of people in this country feel either do you!


"Today I spoke to someone who had to go to next town as Father Christmas had been banned from her town as offensive"

Really do tell who was it, what town,

Last year as was widely reported on this site I was dressed as Santa and gave toys to children in a local church hall. There were children and parents from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds there. They knew it was happening for weeks in advance, it was well attended and no one there at or at the school or womens refuge where I did the same thing not one of them complained.


Yes I know you will give me a lecture on how santa has nothing to do with religeon, which will somewhat prove my point.

Well I wont if you've already said it...it'd be like teaching my granny to suck eggs....


by pretending everything is hunky dory

You must have me mistaken for someone else mate



"people are now deliberately withdrawing back into their faith as it is being pushed further into a corner by P.C brigade"

Are these the same people who are turning up less and less at church

They certainly arent the people who I know who have the intelligence and compassion to adapt their language and try to make society a welcoming place for everyone who is willing to make that effort them selves.

Maybe you are talking about the people who target Jewish cemeteries and synagogues for vandalism. Or could you be talking about the people who think its funny to make monkey noises when Dwight Yorke gets the

Who are these people?


"hey we are having a ''season'' next year, not Christmas incase it offends...these may seem like little unimportant things to you

No they dont "seem" unimportant to me they *are* unimportant and you are a liar. Next year you will give christmas presents and put up a christmas tree. Most of the peope in this country will do that. Id bet my eyes on it. You might even be on of the minority who bother to go to church to celebrate Chirts mass. Even if I called it Kwanzaa or pancake day it *would* be unimportant to you.

strewth, I must be racist,

I wouldnt say that because you dont seem racist, but more understanding wouldnt harm any of us. I can see there are some fairly simple things that you dont understand about your own country and the people who live in it. Now that misunderstanding might extend to the idea that people of different etnicities and different cultures are different beyond those superficila ooutward things like siking colour and traditions, if you think this then you are racist.

I dont have any reason to think you are racist but I know very litle about you.

"...but these days if you speak out you get called that anyway....but hey it's a good way of stiffling free speach!!"

I have never had a post hidden even when ive been racially abused. All I simply do is use my freedom of speech to show what a hateful small minded person the racist is.

one love

In some ways Father Christmas could be seen as a offensive to Christians.

I mean most children (and adults) see Father Christmas as a far more important figure than Jesus during the Christmas period. I'm sure that SOME Christians see Father Christmas as detracting from the original 'true' meaning of christmas.

Though i doubt this was the reason for the town 'banning' Father Christmas (Councils always seem to be a little paranoid about being P.C). What town was this out of interest?

I don't know what country you live in Strangely, but it bearers no resemblance to the country I live in.

I wont say everything is perfect, but things are no where near as bad as try to paint - not by a long chalk.

You are allowing our prejudices to colour your opinion. Always latching on to the bad things that pander to your prejudices, while ignoring those facts that do not fit in. Bigots tend to do this all the time, thats what makes them bigots. Open your mind a little and look around you. There is a lot of good things to be seen.

Which town was this that banned Father Christmas? I am sure that an event such as this would warrant at least one item on the Internet, thats if it ever happened. Or is it just another piece of black propaganda in the Kilroy-Silk mould.

Donald

........well you couldn't resist it could you, pulling it apart word from word.

actually, I don't think your clever at all, as if you was you would have taken the opportunity to show some of the understanding which you claim everybody should have. I won't hold my breath waiting for an apology from you for calling me a liar, and yes we will be celebrating a season next year you can bet your eyes that next year there will be less and less mention of christmas in general and more and more 'season'.
....and a bit of advice about really winning an arguement, it isn't about being the sharpest wit, the cleverest at disecting sentences word for word..it is about seeing the other persons point of view, you dismiss my comments about people withdrawing into beliefs with some glib comment about number of people who go to church...beliefs have nothing to do with number of people who go to church.....I don't myself.

.....if you really wanted to win the argument you should have said that you understand that people feel their traditions are being eroded, and are understandably feel threatend by that. .You dismiss peoples fears at your peril, an unlistend group of people does not make up an ''inclusive'' society....and yes Britain has bent over backwards to be accommodating....but it has to be a two way thing.
.

...the person isn't here to ask...but I do know one of the big shopping centres did...was it Lakeside? not sure....somewhere further north?
.....expect giving presents was supposed to be offensive.....the P.C brigade don't realise just how much it annoys people.

>>. . cleverest at disecting sentences word for word..<<

In a medium like this it is all you have. No visual clues no sounds, just words. So you have to have to be precise. Any imprecision, bad grammar or blanket statements will be dissected. Its the nature of the medium.

>> ..you understand that people feel their traditions are being eroded, and are understandably feel threatend by that <<

I wouldn't say that because I dont feel it is true. You dont win an argument by agreeing with your opponant.

>>...beliefs have nothing to do with number of people who go to church.....<<

I agree, but probably for totaly different reasons. What about all those people that have beliefs that do not involve going to church, mosque or synagouge or temple.

Where is this town that banned Father Christmas? Please let us know. The suspence is killing me.

Donald

The Bullring in Birmingham decided not to have a Santas Grotto this year but that wasn't a PC decision, it was a commercial decision. Shopping Centres don't do anything to be politically correct.

......sorry but the little things are important, it is NOT about being bigotted...although not going into exact details, there is a Koran and assorted lighted signs in a room where I work...I have no problem with that..each to his own....but if I was to try to stop something to do with say Ramadan, or get its name changed, the outcry would be enormouse....so all I ask is that I be allowed to cellebrate Christmas as I like, as I allow others to celebrate whatever they want....that to me is a reasonable thing to ask!

Santa's Grottos have been on the decline for years. They only ever existed in order to entice customers into the shop. There are far more cost effective ways of doing that these days.

Donald

exactly, but the local paper and a couple of councillors tried to make out it was about political correctness

.....well although can't remember what shopping centre it was, it was weeks before xmas, a shopping centre spokesman said on T.V they wasn't having a centre Santa as it was a diverse area. Well I have discussed this with a muslim and she said she would NOT have been offended by it or Xmas decorations....

well since Muslims weren't objecting to it perhaps they were doing it for economic reasons and using that as an excuse
as usual Cardiff was overrun with pagan symbols but despite being an atheist I put up with them