Scylla Rhiadra

Oh, there's always one in the crowd, isn't there? You'll bring the house down on us with that noise,

You don't LOOK like a noisy cat. How can you be so noisy?????

CHRIS!!!!! Now a little quieter, please!!!

Cliques and cults are a terrible thing. And they're usually pretty noisy too, with drums and tambourines and things. They should be silenced. Now, sssssssshhhhhhh!

Actually, that's rather therapeutic. :matte-motes-asleep-2:

I'd prefer it were, yes. Now SSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

But a very understated one.

Actually, it's a very clever metaphor for something.

I'd explain . . . . . . but it would require too much noise.

Ouch!! :matte-motes-frown:

Thank you.:matte-motes-asleep-2:

Yes, that means YOU too!!!

SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

very quiet now, please.

everyone to be very

I want

Ok.

What about something as simple as a "Like" button, as just about every other forum in the world has? It needn't be tied into "ranks" at all, and so wouldn't be gamed. It would just be a way to show appreciation for a post that one agreed with or thought particularly worthwhile. But I don't suppose Lithium has the capacity for that.

Celestiall Nightfire wrote: I think it behooves each of us to judge others as individuals, and not jump to conclusions based upon politics, religion, and nationality. The qualities of good and evil span the globe, and all groups contain people that fall within those two realms, and many that straddle the fence between. QFT

Celestiall Nightfire wrote: Yes. Sadly, acts of killing are routinely perpetrated by those who embrace religion. (I'm an atheist and a libertarian...and self- identify as such. Strangely, people routinely condemn atheists and libertarians although neither group is known for acts of violence) Well, if Prok were here . . . (if you say his name three times, does he appear?) . . . he would undoubtedly remind us all that the Soviets, and all manner of Communists, were atheists, but reasonably handy at the employment of terror too. And he'd be right. I think that there can be a political or ideological "fundamentalism" too, which is every bit as dangerous.

Linda Brynner wrote: I have just one word: Anguish... What else is relevant without falling into stereotyping at the moment... :smileysad: "Anguish" does indeed seem the most appropriate word, Linda. Talking about the "who" and the "why" is vital, of course . . . but one hopes that it doesn't intrude upon the mourning.

Celestiall Nightfire wrote: Unfortunately, Norway a country with a small population, has had numerous terrorist incidents over the years. (population of around 4.9 million) Here is the Global Terrorism Database's statistics maintained by the University of Maryland: http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?page=1&casualties_type=&casualties_max=&country=151&charttype=line&chart=overtime&ob=GTDID&od=desc&expanded=yes#results-table( That data is separate from crime statistics. Sadly, this terrorist act in Norway was done by someone who is a self-professed "Christian"...which underscores how identifying people's values, actions, compassion, and ethics through group-labels often yields wrong conclusions. I think that one of the things that this will do is alert Norwegians to the prevalence and dangers posed by the far right there. From what I've been reading, it's been growing as a force there even as it has been waning somewhat in other Scandanavian countries. Much of Europe right now is struggling with xenophobia and a sometimes militant anti-Muslim backlash that is, in part, a legacy of our tendency to associate terrorism with Islam. You are, of course, absolutely right: terrorism is not the sole property of any given religion, creed, ideology, or culture. It's a "way of doing things" that was being practiced long before there was an al-Qaeda.

Ishtara Rothschild wrote: I feel a bit guilty because when I read the grave news yesterday, my first thought was "this must be another terror attack by radical Muslims". As it turns out there was another fundamentalist ideology at work. And probably a great deal of insanity to boot, but that always seems to be the case when it comes to extremism. I don't think you need to feel guilty -- I suspect that this was a first reaction for many of us, and it certainly was the knee-jerk response of much of the media. We have been conditioned for 10 years or more by the rhetoric of "the war against terror" to associate terrorism first and sometimes only with Islamic fundamentalism. There's an interesting article -- overstated, but suggestive and thoughtful -- by Glenn Greenwald on this, which Coyote on SCII directed me to: http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/07/23/nyt/index.html It does seem true that it is nearly always one form of fundamentalism or another that is the source of this sort of thing.

Well, in times like this one needs, as you say, a leader who can articulate the feelings of the nation, but also channel them in positive ways. I am very heartened by what I have heard coming from Norwegian leaders, and from the people. Shock, immense sadness, and anger . . but also a determination not to let this destroy the kind of tolerant society that they have built. And that's pretty cool.

I think so too, Ceka. His restraint is particularly admirable given that it was clearly HIS government, HIS party, and probably his own person who were being targeted. This wasn't like 9/11, an indiscrimate attack on civilians. It deliberately targeted the Norwegian Labour Party.