If you make it through the entire thing without being sick or wanting to break someone you've done well.
Well, yes ...... very sick indeed .... I found it revolting .... although I suspect what sickens me - and what sickens you - might well be two different things ....
To those that have eyes, let them see ....
Here's what to expect with a leaderless liberal administration in charge.
Oh - you mean
rabidly fanatical Christians (so-called, at least) running around, unchecked, in the streets, attempting to harass, attack and argue against the beliefs of others of a different faith, while sticking a video camera in someone's face ?
Or did you mean
something else ?
If you look at Acts 17 Apologetics website you can kinda get an idea who these jokers are, and what they are all about - from their "mission statement":
"The mission of Acts 17 Apologetics Ministries is to glorify God by defending the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the ground up. (Editorial question: from the ground up ? Really ?) We present evidence for the existence and attributes of God, the inspiration and historical reliability of the Scriptures, and the death, resurrection, and deity of Jesus Christ. We also refute the arguments of those who oppose the True Gospel, most commonly the arguments of Muslims and atheists."
(Interesting that the two individuals that compose Acts17 Apologetics are a former Muslim and a former atheist - there's nothing like a
reformed anything if you want true rabid, drooling fanaticism ....)
What they are into is challenging, refuting, and arguing against other religions (or beliefs) than their own - with the express intent of bringing those that they argue against into
submission .... and thereby into the fold.
While I'm sure that they would claim otherwise (I was fairly sure I could see the faint glow of
halos over both individuals heads), their method and intent is to use
force (not physical) and nullification to do so. History is littered with folks of this ilk (Tomás de Torquemada comes quickly to mind as a well-known one) - they are never of any real benefit to their fellow man, and often are quite destructive, sowing the seeds of dissension wherever they go ....
It doesn't take much of a great mind to see that Acts17 Apologetics actual intent and motivation was not acquire real answers to actual questions that they have - they have no real questions ....
but they do have an agenda .... and that is to portray a religion - any religion, I'm fairly sure, other than their own - in a less than flattering light.
It's really all about them
being right and all others
being wrong - and they are quite willing I'm sure, to get right up in your face to let you know it .... as evidenced by the video .... despite apparent requests by those they are videotaping to cease and desist ....
If a couple of Muslims (or Buddhists .. or Hindus .... or whatever) were doing a similar thing - say coming to Christian festival of some sort (music or otherwise) - equipped with video equipment
to interrogate the participants and question folks about their beliefs (ostensibly in order to get them to "see" the error of their ways .... and the
one, true light of course) I'm rather sure there would be howls of protest here .... and in that context, I sure the actions of the (apparently) middle eastern security guards (now being "Christian") wouldn't seem quite so bad - because obviously, the Christians are being
persecuted ...... yeeeahhh .....
One wonders about the
intelligence level of someone who would go someplace where it is fairly likely they would not be welcome (considering their true agenda), to deliver a message that by it's very nature would be unwelcome - and doing so all while sticking a camera in someone's face .... without even bothering to ask, as a matter of civilized courtesy whether the person minds being videotaped ..... and then be surprised when a situation such as the one in the video escalates into something greater.
It is the conduct of morons like these that actually cause folks to see people of religion as whack jobs, thereby driving people away from religion.
(FWIW, as someone who at one time was involved in professional video production, I suspect Mr. Qureshi would be well-advised to bone up a little on the laws regarding videotaping someone - especially since his chosen subjects don't seem at all willing. There is a reason that professional videographers obtain a "talent release" consent form from
any individual being videotaped:
Photography or Video Taping Consent)
Possibly something that folks might have missed is the conversation with the (white, anglo) security guard - where the guard informs Mr. Qureshi that it's fine if he wants to videotape and converse with other individuals and engage them in a dialog -
provided he isn't getting into an argument with them and causing a disruption.
But, in fact, that is
precisely Mr. Qureshi's intent -
to argue with them - and he, by failing to be honest, to "come clean" with the guard about what his actual motivations and intentions are (to argue with those there, and let them know
how wrong they are) is disingenuous at best, and, quite factually, he is being utterly dishonest (must be one of those "ends-justify-the-means" things .... and a great example of "Christian" behavior)
In fact, it would not surprise me to know that part of Mr. Qureshi's intent was indeed to intentionally cause the matter to escalate further (much better for his "message" I'm sure - and since Qureshi & Company are doing the taping and editing, they can of course taylor the final product and
control the message to whatever suits their agenda)
I also suspect that "walking away" (as the security guard advised him to do) didn't figure anywhere into Mr.Qureshi's gameplan.
BTW, did anyone else (besides me) notice that the title of the piece -
Arab Festival 2009: Sharia in the USA - had
nothing whatsoever to do with the content of the video.
There was
nothing about Sharia in the video at all (..... let alone "Sharia in the US") ..... despite claiming to be a "special report" about such ..... so much for "truth-in-labelling" .....
There are a number of other things that I could get into in regards to the video but I'm time-limited at the moment - suffice it to say:
One can rather easily surmise that the
titling of the piece itself was therefore designed to
manipulate the emotions (... of those who are fairly dim-witted and gullible ..... but may well pride themselves on crystal clear vision and right thinking)
One would do well to consider that one is watching an
edited, produced video piece (no doubt edited by someone with an agenda) - and not
raw footage, which could show the entirety of what
actually happened, had the camera been left on ...... I rather suspect that portions of the video which did not further the agenda of those producing it, probably hit the virtual cutting floor, somewhere out there in the digital ether ......
Yeah Leo, I was disgusted .....
Not by anything about "Sharia in the US" .....
since there wasn't anything about that in the video - but by the rather uncivilized conduct of those that produced the video .... and just how low they were willing to stoop to try and accomplish their goals (the ultimate goal of the product they are producing is incitement of hatred against a religion other than their own) ..... lying to the police for one:
"We're just trying to leave" - when in fact they were trying to do the exact opposite:
stay - and
then accuse the other party of lying to the police .... one couldn't possibly make up anything much more hypocritical than that .....
But then Boobus Americanus only sees what he wants to see ..... and hears what he wants to hear .......