the whole middle east thing...

[C0pernicus]

[ QUOTE ]
Good sub-thread IMO. THE GREAT DIVIDE: HOW WESTERNERS AND MUSLIMS VIEW EACH OTHER t

This may be an interesting poll to some. Apoligies if a link has been posted before.

[/ QUOTE ]

the post you are quoting says they dont value life in the same way . That doesnt say more, less, just differently.

Its hard to put on a scale of 1 to 10, but it could give some relativism to different peoples perspectives.

For myself, I would say Westerners value their own lives as a 10, the lives of other Westerners an 8, and their enemies a 6. Islamofacists, a 2, 2 and 0.

[tolbiny]

[ QUOTE ]
these people do not value life in the same way that westerners do. thus, they think taking your life with theirs is a worthwhile trade. they dont care if they die, so long as you die.

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Is this that much different from a "give me liberty or give me death" apprach to life?

[C0pernicus]

They are identical except:

1. Patrick Henry didnt advocate killing civilians
2. Patrick Henry was willing to die in front of and fighting a standing army, not hide behind suicide bombers
3. Patrick Henry was willing to die for his liberty and the others, not for repression, power and the gifts of an afterlife.

Yup, pretty close

[thetruest]

[ QUOTE ]
They are identical except:

1. Patrick Henry didnt advocate killing civilians
2. Patrick Henry was willing to die in front of and fighting a standing army, not hide behind suicide bombers
3. Patrick Henry was willing to die for his liberty and the others, not for repression, power and the gifts of an afterlife.

Yup, pretty close

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think anyone here was comparing Patrick Henry to Osama bin Laden, in case you needed a News update./

[xpokerx]

um. you did.

[tolbiny]

[ QUOTE ]
They are identical except:

1. Patrick Henry didnt advocate killing civilians
2. Patrick Henry was willing to die in front of and fighting a standing army, not hide behind suicide bombers
3. Patrick Henry was willing to die for his liberty and the others, not for repression, power and the gifts of an afterlife.

Yup, pretty close

[/ QUOTE ]

The person i quoted had said "these people do not value life in the same way that westerners do. thus, they think taking your life with theirs is a worthwhile trade" - i take that to mean he is referring to suicide bombers which makes your point #2 moot.
The point that i take issue with is that we "value lives differently". Every culture celebrates war heroes- those who sacrificed their lives or even those who only risked them. Pat Tillman was recently honored for giving up his life in defense of what he thought was valuable.
Now clearly there is a disconnect between the cultures in what they believe to be worthwhile in laying their lives down for, and who they view as the enemy, and the methods used are different in some ways, but you cannot say that the "west" doesn't praise eople who died killing others.

[thetruest]

[ QUOTE ]
um. you did.

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What? Make sense? Is that possible?