345 Dead in Stampede on Last Day of Hajj

[aways]

Doesn't this happen every year? WTF is wrong with these people?
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/religion

[LeRoux Strydom]

They seem to be their own worst enemy....

[singpilot]

Edited. Inappropriate joke for this thread. -Z-man.

[Mulhollanddose]

I think Mecca would look better under glass.

[adrian jaye]

Edited. -Z-man.

345 people dead

[stevepaa]

Does it ever occur to people that why they do this may be a reason why we can never succeed in Westernizing them? As long as they have such religious fervor the rule of rational law will not sustain.

[singpilot]

Sorry Z-man, you were waaaaay wrong on this one.


Edited for inappropriate political instructional content. -Z-Man doesn't really need to be reminded (I hope) of HIS constitutional rights as a citizen of this country....

Singpilot.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by aways
Doesn't this happen every year? WTF is wrong with these people?
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/religion

Happens every year, world wide, in a variety of Christian festivals as well. So often, in fact, that no one thinks them unusual.

You've not seen anything, until you see young men in one of the latin American countries lick every step into their local cathedral. Yes, that's lick with their personal tongues, every stone step, until their tongues are bleeding.

I happen to be partial to the Christian religion, but let's not compare the emotion charged pilgrimage or ritual aspects of these religions.

You'd better look at the conquest requirement and the once Allah has granted us control of a land, it is ours forever aspects of Islam to find something to fret over.

[aways]

Originally posted by fastpat
Happens every year, world wide, in a variety of Christian festivals as well. So often, in fact, that no one thinks them unusual.

Hmm. I must be ignorant of them. Can you provide examples?

[Mulhollanddose]

Originally posted by aways
Hmm. I must be ignorant of them. Can you provide examples?

Don't hold your breath...or take him seriously. Patty is blinded by the sparks flying off the axe that he is grinding.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by aways
Hmm. I must be ignorant of them. Can you provide examples?

Yes, just one should do.

Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is tame by comparison, only a dozen or so die there each year.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Over-moderating?

Pussy.

[Nathans_Dad]

Wait, Mardi Gras is a Christian festival now??

Dang it!! I've been missing all those Brazilians boobies every year and NOW you tell me it is a Christian festival?!?!?!?!?

[stevepaa]

Originally posted by fastpat
Yes, just one should do.

Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Mardi Gras in New Orleans is tame by comparison, only a dozen or so die there each year.

That's like citing the Pamplona Bull run. Mardi Gras does not have anything to do with religious fervor.

[vash]

why do you guys even care what any other religious group is up to? so they are alittle bit zealous.

i will help fastpat a bit: Mount Christo Rey in between el paso texas, and juarez mexico. thousands of people go up there every easter for some pilgrimage. some people climb the entire distance on their hands and knees. to pay for their sins? i have seen some cathedral in the same area, where the nice folks lick the steps. with my own eyes. oh, the mountian in el paso, every year bandits from south of the border rob and hurt people. and they still go...

[livi]

Ill advised behavior have been known to emerge from most religious platforms from time to time.

Islam is not unique in this context, although arguably the worst in this day and age.

A lot of horrendous acts have taken place in the name of God during the last two thousand years.

If the old guy actually exists, he is possibly looking to upgrade his creation soon.

[fastpat]

Originally posted by stevepaa
That's like citing the Pamplona Bull run. Mardi Gras does not have anything to do with religious fervor.

Yur denial is noted, and properly filed.

[NICKG]

Originally posted by aways
Doesn't this happen every year? WTF is wrong with these people?
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/religion

whatt you mean is 345 dead insurgents......

[singpilot]

Zoltan explained to me why he removed a casual flippant joking reference to the deaths in Mecca. I accept his reasons.

Nonetheless, one of these final rituals of the Hadj is a 'ceremonial' stoning of a devil (you know, an infidel), and this blood lust ceremony results every year in a stampede to exit the arena, and go do Allahs' work (stoning infidels). I hope that point is made here.

I thought it was funny that several hundred obviously devout followers die in that very stampede to go do gods' work every year.

I used to do charter flights to the Hadj, as recently as 1998. We got tired of dealing with toilets that were not flushed (it's a religious thing), goats that were drugged and smuggled aboard, then slaughtered, and prepped to be cooked on fires that were set in the aisle. It's a religious thing. We got to the point that pax were vigorously searched, and the cost of completely refurbishing the interior, and having the plane out of service during that refit, were included in the cost of the charter. The cost of holding us infidels at gunpoint in our hotel rooms in Medina or Riyadh for the entire stay was also factored in.

If you had ever dealt with this insanity, you'd have a different view of things. And I don't think anything I have ever seen at Mardi Gras comes even close.

[stevepaa]

Vash, yes there are pilgimages by other groups. People walk barefoot up Croagh Patrick every year, I did it with a broken foot. But this behavior is nothing like that. Thousands of people acting in religious hysteria and hundreds killed.

Pat, find a comparative example.