Quote of the day

Doesn’t this story point out the differences between the actions of Christians toward “blasphemy” and the actions of Muslims toward “blasphemy”? Christians want to sue. Muslims riot.

Also, it was only a matter of time before this happened. Christians are getting tired of the double standard by the mass media. Muslim groups intimidate the mass media into putting the title “Prophet” in front of Mohammed’s name whenever they write articles. The same is not done for putting “The Lord Our Savior” in front of Jesus’ name when writing articles about Christianity. So, while Muslim groups intimidate the mass media into censorship and “religious tolerance” and “respect” through the threat of violence, Christian groups are now pressing the issue and testing the “religious tolerance” and “respect” shown by the mass media to Islam and seeing if it goes both ways for Christianity.

Makes sense. And doesn’t it disprove Christopher Hitchens’ theory that Christians would start using the Muslims’ terrorist tactics to get their way? Christians are not threatening to blow up the BBC, but threatening lawsuits.

Michael in MI on November 19, 2007 at 11:31 PM

highhopes on November 19, 2007 at 11:33 PM

Highhopes – My opinion is that there is a general anti-Christian bias here at HotAir with AllahPundit as well as with many of the HotAir atheist commentors. I don’t have a problem with that so much as I do the seeming glee with which AllahPundit and the atheist commentors take with bashing Christianity. The posts and comments are not done in order to understand Christianity, but rather just to take glee in the Christian-bashing that goes on.

This has been going on for quite a while here at HotAir and I have just accepted that it how it is and choose not to engage in serious discussion in these posts, because there is very rarely any respect shown to Christians and their beliefs. The posts, in my opinion, are not made in order to stir debate, but in order to take glee in the Christian-bashing.

While I find this troubling and have just lowered my standards for what I expect at HotAir anymore, AllahPundit and Bryan and Robert Spencer do a good job in posting in other areas that make coming back here to HotAir for its detailed reporting worthwhile.

But really, when I want to read about military matters, I go to military blogs. When I want to read about religious matters, I go to blogs which address religion in a serious manner. HotAir though is where I first visit when a serious breaking news story comes out, because AllahPundit is great at research and finding all the details and facts to put the story into proper context and perspective.

But I don’t expect to find serious discussion of military issues or religious issues here at HotAir. Most of the posts, in my opinion, are not really to seriously address issues, but are to ‘stir the pot’ and incite divisive discussion. And then there are also the tabloid posts. But that’s the way to bring traffic to the site. And that seems to be the goal of this website.

So be it. AllahPundit, Bryan and Michelle run this site and they have determined that they is how they want to do things here. That’s fine. We shouldn’t expect anything more. HotAir is what it is. As with anything else, if we don’t like it, there are plenty of other blogs which we can read. I have made my decision to stop coming here as often as I once did, because I did not like the posting and commenting here. Everyone else is free to do the same.

It’s just like Hollywood or the mass media or anything else. If you don’t like the product, stop buying it (or in this case, stop reading it and giving the site traffic).

While I would prefer things were different here at HotAir, AllahPundit has made it clear on a number of occassions that he is not changing, and has said that if we really have a problem with him, then talk to the boss (Michelle Malkin).

Again, HotAir is what it is. I have accepted that and adjusted my blog reading habits accordingly.

Michael in MI on November 19, 2007 at 11:57 PM

csdeven on November 20, 2007 at 12:04 AM

csdeven – How is that different than Christianity or Judaism? I believe that while Christians and Jews believe their faith to be the correct faith and the only faith which will get us to Heaven, I believe the Mormons believe the same thing, otherwise they would not go around trying to recruit people into their religion. Right?

I’m not trying to be clever here. I was recruited in college by the campus Mormons. If they believe in allowing others to worship how we may, shouldn’t they have backed off from recruiting me after I told them I was Catholic and not interested? (FYI, they didn’t back off) I didn’t take their recruitment of me to be tolerant of my Catholic upbringing.

Well, they were tolerant, but they also evangelized the same way any Christian or Jew would tolerate other religions, but also evangelize since they believe theirs to be the “correct” religion.

I’m not bashing Mormons here. They were genuinely very nice with my roommate and I when trying to recruit us. But what I take from your comment is that they are more tolerant of other religions than, say, Christians. In my experience, that is not the case. They are just as tolerant of believing others should be allowed to practice their religion, but also in believing that those other religions are wrong and Mormonism is correct.

Michael in MI on November 20, 2007 at 12:12 AM

Anton on November 20, 2007 at 1:04 AM

“How long have you been reading this blog? Have you been paying attention to the bylines or just the headlines?

I have been reading HotAir since it started as I was already an avid reader and fan of Michelle Malkin’s blog prior to that (and still am). I keep track of the bylines. Though by now, it is usually pretty obvious by the writing styles and tones of Bryan and AllahPundit that I can figure out who wrote the post without even looking at the byline.

“Bryan has written thoughtfully and extensively about Christianity, especially the conservative Evangelical branch of the faith. Michelle lets slip her conservative Catholic upbringing every now and then. It’s hardly an anti-Christian blog.”

I didn’t say that it was an anti-Christian blog, but I did say that there is an anti-Christian tone here among AllahPundit and many of the atheist commenters. And I also pointed out that I did not have a problem so much with the anti-Christian tone so much as I did with the fact that many of the posts and comments are not serious discussions of religion as much as they are just excuses to take pleasure is making fun of religious people, mostly Christians.

As far as Michelle and Bryan go, they do not post enough at HotAir to really represent the website. I would have to do an actual tally to verify my hunch, but I would guess that in any given week, 75%-80% of the posts are by AllahPundit. So HotAir could be generally described as AllahPundit’s site with some guest posting done here and there by Bryan Preston, Robert Spencer and See-Dubya when AllahPundit goes on vacation. But I would guess that when people thing of HotAir.com, they think of AllahPundit, since he is by far the author of the vast majority of posts on this site.

“It’s true that AllahP likes to stir the pot with his atheist posts, but you guys oblige him by responding with a blizzard of Bible quotes and then devolving into a discussion of how to properly interpret said quotes.”

That is what Robert Spencer does as well in order to properly explain Islam to HotAir readers. I see nothing wrong with a discussion and debate on the scriptures – and the proper interpretations of them – which are the basis of religions. What I don’t like seeing is disrespect from both sides of the discussion. And I believe that this lack of respect is encouraged by AllahPundit, since in many posts he comes off as very condescending and disrespectful of Christianity and Christians. While his opinion of the religion is to be expected, since he is an atheist and, as such, probably sees the belief in God along the same lines as the belief in aliens or ghosts, there is a way to discuss religion in order to learn more about it and foster intellectual debate, and then there is what I feel happens here at HotAir from most of his religion posts, which is foster an environment of a lack of respect for one another and all out flame fest. Which then the atheists take joy in, because then they can accuse Christians of not being nice people and, therefore, “un-Christian”.

“I’ve read some insufferable comments from atheists in the discussions, but you can hardly blame AllahP for the excesses of his co-(non)religionists. He’s also a useful reminder that “conservative” and “christian” are NOT synonyms, no matter how hard the MSM likes to work that meme.”

As I just noted, I do partly blame AllahPundit, because I believe he fosters that environment here at HotAir. He doesn’t tell the atheist commentors – nor the Christian commentors – to be respectful in the debate and I have seen him join in on the making fun of Christians in many of the discussions in the comments. AllahPundit could easily warn people on both sides to keep things respectful, but he doesn’t. Therefore he is absolutely partly to blame for the excesses on both sides of the debate.

“I suggest you do what I do. Just ignore any post on religion unless it has Bryan’s name on it. I read AllahP because I like his political and humor writing, which is really what I expect when I click on HotAir. For religious writing, there is always Touchstone or First Things online.”

I suggested the same thing in my previous posts in this thread. As I noted earlier, I have changed my blog reading habits based on my displeasure with the tone here of the posts and comments. I don’t read HotAir as often and when I do, I skip over many of the posts, because I know the tone will either be an unserious analysis of the subject matter or a negative or condescending tone towards the subject matter. Maybe you were talking to highhopes with this suggestion. For me, as I said, I don’t come here for serious discussions of topics anymore. I come here for the great reporting on news stories as AllahPundit is fantastic at research and doing the digging into a story that the mass media refuses to do – or is incapable of doing. I have great respect for AllahPundit’s talents and hard work in that area and recommend and pass on HotAir articles to my distribution list regularly.

And Bryan has had some great posts about religion and the military, but he doesn’t post enough here to make it worth it to come here for those types of things. And plus my standards for military writing have gone way up after spending the last few years reading military blogs such as Blackfive, Mudville Gazette, Neptunus Lex, CDR Salamander, Dadmanly, Op-For, Small Wars Journal, Michael Yon, Michael Fumento, Michael Totten, among many others, including those found at Mudville’s DAWN PATROL by Mrs. Greyhawk. So when I want military analysis, I go there. Maybe if Bryan posted more, I would come here too, but he just doesn’t. I don’t know why, because I very much enjoy his posts when he does (I especially liked his reports and analysis after coming back from Iraq). He is a great breath of fresh air most times from the negativity and defeatism that seems to permeate HotAir’s posts and comment sections the majority of the time.

Michael in MI on November 20, 2007 at 11:06 AM