Come to Me...♥

I want to share one of my all time FAVORITE songs with you! France Joli is a Canadian singer. "Come to me" was her first single, released when she was 16 and it hit #1 on the US Disco Dance chart in 1979. On the Billboard Hot 100, it was her biggest mainstream hit, breaking the Top 20 at #15. The success of the single put her in demand for talk shows with Merv Griffin, Dinah Shore and a Bob Hope special.

I never get tired hearing this song. My spirit just loves to dance to this song. This is how God started tugging on my heart while on the dance floor at a night club. Can you hear God? God is knocking on the door of your heart. Will you invite Him in and have a little chat about life? I promise you, His presence alone will transform your life. Instead of imagining someone else singing this song to you or you singing this song to someone else, just try for a moment to hear God's voice singing this song to YOU. Enjoy the lyrics! ♥

 Come to Me ~ by France Joli

Written and Produced by Tony Green

Come to me
When you're all alone and feeling down
Come to me
When there's nobody else around
Come to me
I'm still waiting open-armed for you
Come to me
'cause I will comfort you
When you've no one to turn to
I will be here just for you

Come to me
When your world is empty and cold
Come to me
When you need someone you want to hold
Come to me
In my arms I will keep you safe and warm
Come to me
I will shelter you from the storm
I'm not one to pretend

Why can't you understand
That I love you
And I love you
And I need you
And I want you
And I love you
And I love you
And I need you
And I want you
Come to me

(instrumental break)

I'm a lonely man
Living in a world of dreams
I've got everything
But the one thing that I really need

Come to me
I'll give you all the love you'll need
'cause I have love just for you

Come to me
When your world is empty and cold
Come to me
When you need someone you want to hold
Come to me
In my arms I will keep you safe and warm
Come to me
I will shelter you from the storm
I'm not one to pretend
Why can't you understand

That I love you
And I love you
And I need you
And I love you
Come to me
I need you
And I need you
And I want you

God, can I ask You a question? God Answers...♥

God, can I ask You a question?

[source: Evangelist Naeem Nasir]
Pakistani by birth but vision for nations

Me: God, can I ask You a question?

God: Sure

Me: Promise You won't get mad

God: I promise

Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?

God: What do u mean?

Me: Well, I woke up late

God: Yes

Me: My car took forever to start

God: Okay

Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong and I had to wait

God: Huummm

Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call

God: All right

Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager and relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?

God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning and I had to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that

Me (humbled): OH

GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.

Me: (ashamed)

God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick and I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work.

Me (embarrassed): Okay

God: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered.

Me (softly): I see God

God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to throw out all of the power in your house tonight. I didn't think you wanted to be in the dark.

Me: I'm Sorry God

God: Don't be sorry, just learn to Trust Me... in All things , the Good & the bad.

Me: I will trust You.

God: And don't doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.

Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.

God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children...

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20 NIV

[source: Biblegateway]

1 Jesus said, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

************

Leader’s Notes

Workers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20:1-16

[source: Swap Meet Dave]

How can focusing on God’s grace in our lives keep us from becoming jealous of others? In what way can you thank God every day for his grace in your life?

Observe that nobody was cheated! Not a single worker was underpaid. While it may be argued (based on human, subjective, economic comparisons) that some were overpaid, nobody was cheated. The complaint of the early workers offered no evidence of wrongdoing. It was a complaint born in hearts of jealousy, not objective reality. Some of them received less than they expected and many received more. We should rejoice in the good others receive.

The landowner had the right to “overpay” the late workers. He said “whatever is right you will receive.” He determined what was right, not based on ordinary human accounting, but grace. His over-payment of the late workers was his choice and nobody could argue he didn't have that right.

Jesus’ story makes no economic sense, and that was his intent. He was giving us a parable about grace, which cannot be calculated like a day’s wages. No one was cheated; all the workers got what they were promised. But discontent arouse from the scandalous mathematics of grace.

Significantly, many Christians who study this parable identify with the employees who put in a full day’s work, rather than the add-on's at the end of the day. We like to think of ourselves as responsible workers, and the employer's strange behavior baffles us as it did the original hearers. We risk missing the point of the parable: that God dispenses gifts, not wages. None of us gets paid according to merit, for none of us comes close to satisfying God’s requirements for a perfect life. If paid on the basis of fairness, we would all end up in hell. [source: Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace].

Critical Thinking Is Self-Guided, Self-Disciplined Thinking

Critical Thinking Is Self-Guided, Self-Disciplined Thinking

written Linda Elder, September 2007

[source: The Critical Thinking Community]

Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically. They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers – concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason.

They realize that no matter how skilled they are as thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will always at times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so.

They strive never to think simplistically about complicated issues and always consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous world.

I LOVE To Singa - Owl Jolson :)

CLASSIC Cartoon from my childhood.
Be of GOOD CHEER! Cherish your LIFE. Have a GREAT week. Enjoy! :)

Treasure Your Uniqueness! That's what makes you WONDERFUL... ♥
There is no other like you and that is a beautiful thing. ;)

You must first learn to love, respect and value yourself,

before you can expect to love, respect and value others.
Consequently, you will attract the same sentiment in return.

It starts from the inside out.

Be TRUE to your self... ♥

"Experience the plan God has for your life

by stepping out in faith and boldness…

one step at a time."

~ by Joyce Meyer ♥

"Each new step, each new adventure,

brings new richness, a new dawn,

and a new world around you."

~ by OSHO ♥

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.

But the really great make you feel

that you, too, can become great.”

~ by Mark Twain ♥

"At the centre of your being you have the answer;

you know who you are

and you know what you want."

~ by Lao Tsu ♥

"Each of us is meant to have a character all our own,
to be what no other can exactly be,
and do what no other can exactly do."
~ by William Ellery Channing ♥

“You have reached the pinnacle of success

as soon as you become uninterested

in money, compliments, or publicity.”

~ by Thomas Wolfe ♥

Loosen Up To Be More Socially Successful

Loosen Up To Be More Socially Successful

[source: Succeed Socially, A free guide to getting past social awkwardness]

One broad way to do better with people is to lighten up a bit. For a subset of people with social difficulties, a core issue they have is that many of their behaviors and attitudes are too uptight:

• They get irritated by social annoyances that most people let slide.
• They care too much about whether or not people are acting in ways they view as inconsiderate and thoughtless.
• They look down on what they see as silly, immature behavior.
• They think they always have to be controlled and proper and well-behaved. They have trouble letting loose and enjoying themselves.

At the heart of uptightness are traits such as:

• Having rigid, unrealistic standards about how you and other people should act, and how the social world should be.
• Being too sensitive to little irritations from the social world, and in people's breaches of your standards.
• Being too touchy and tending to overreact when things do go wrong.

Being uptight is one of those mistakes where just being made aware of it, and being told not to do it, can help... So try to loosen up. Don't get too upset by little things that go wrong when you're around people. Beyond that, here are some more thoughts:

Have a realistic idea of what to expect in social situations

There are lots of slightly irritating, but common and unavoidable, behaviors and events that come up in social situations. A friend may be unreliable about showing up to a get together. A group of friends may all start interrupting and talking over each other during dinner. A party may be overcrowded and full of sloppy guests who keep jostling you. Most people know these types of things just come with the territory and don't let themselves be too bothered by them.

If you're more socially inexperienced though, the same things can really irk you. You haven't been around enough to know they're not supposed to be a big deal. In your mind, you may have the expectation that a social situation should and can go a certain way, and then feel upset when people "ruin" it. The thing is, in practice that situation may never have had the potential to turn out the way you pictured it. For example, if you believe you should be able to have an in-depth conversation at a club, you'll always get peeved that it's too loud to do so. If you accept that's just not possible or part of that experience, you'll have a better time. Just like someone shouldn't get bent out of shape for not being able to go nuts and party at a library.

Some of the articles on this site describe what real social situations are like, and try to indirectly reduce any uptightness you may have by going over how things really work.

Don't take yourself too seriously

Uptight people often see themselves as important, refined, intelligent adults who are above the silliness normal folk engage in. They'll think they're more mature than their peers, and look down on their antics. They think they have to come across as contained and in control at all times. Actually, it's okay to be a normal dopey human. You can watch dumb movies with your friends while gossiping and making crude jokes. You won't lose your Intellectual card. No one will care. In fact they'll probably appreciate it. No one's keeping track of whether you're always acting sophisticated.

There's nothing wrong with light, brainless fun

Uptight people often don't have a very high opinion of anything entertaining, mindless, or pointless. They think it's beneath them, and that they have to be serious all the time. Being serious has its place, but there's nothing wrong with having a good time either. Having fun just feels good. There's nothing more to it, and that's fine. Not every conversation has to be about how the first world exploits developing countries.

Don't be too zealous about following the rules

Uptight people care a bit too much about obeying the rules, and they think other everyone else should too. They can be overly stringent about following them and can get really irritated out of principle when others inevitably don't do everything they're told.

The rules they care about could be explicit laws, like not to drive too fast. They could also be general social guidelines they've decided are important, and which they think everyone should never deviate from (e.g., don't talk loudly at a restaurant). Finally, they could be more abstract principles that they expect other people to follow too closely, like thinking everyone should be thoughtful and considerate. In a broader sense, they want everyone to act perfectly, and get upset when that doesn't happen.

It helps to make peace with the fact that in practice most people don't follow smaller rules to the letter or obey them 100% of the time. They bend and selectively ignore them. If they don't get caught or hurt anyone, what does it matter? The effect following a rule or not will have on everyone's good time often comes into the equation. An uptight person who rigidly thinks people should never jaywalk, or always be completely polite and urbane, will go crazy.

Don't overreact to certain activities

There are certain social activities uptight people often get annoyed about. Anything that involves people acting loud, stupid, and immature will do it. What also gets them is anything with an aura of rule breaking, danger, and sketchiness around it. So anything involving partying or recklessness really.

They dislike faux-dangerous things because their uptight worldview gives them a tendency to see things as more sketchy than they actually are. Like they may see drinking as this horrible thing to do, when 95% of the time nothing much happens when people do it. Or they may see something like skateboarding as a hobby where young punks are constantly causing trouble or cracking their heads open.

Accept you can't control everything

I don't think this applies to everyone, but at the root of some people's uptightness is a need to be in control and have everyone act the way they want them to. If you can let this need go, and just accept that people are often going to behave in a way you may not like or expect, it can do a lot to help you take on a more relaxed mentality.

How to Lighten Up and Not be So Hard on Yourself

How to Lighten Up and Not be So Hard on Yourself

written by Michael Angier, founder and CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) of SuccessNet

[source: Talent Development Resources]

A long-time friend called me the other day seeking some support. "Jack" was feeling stuck. He's going through a tough time in his life--financially, professionally and emotionally -- and he was reaching out to a few trusted friends to gain more clarity.

I thought his approach was very smart, and I was honored to be one of the few he called.

Jack didn't want to repeat some familiar and unhelpful patterns and was asking what I thought might be holding him back.

The fact Jack recognized that he was feeling stuck and reached out to ensure he didn't STAY stuck told me he was way ahead of where he had been in the past.

After asking him a few questiõns, I told Jack I believed his biggest challenge was, and has always been, that he was too hard on himself.

He accepted my observation, but he wanted more. Jack wanted to know what it would look like for him to lighten up. He wanted the specific recipe for going easier on himself.

You see, I can easily relate to Jack's issue. I used to put myself down a lot for my mistakes. I often felt stupid, inadequate, guilty and remorseful. I can still fall back into

that occasionally. But I catch myself pretty quickly, and I don't stay stuck in it.

Nonetheless, I didn't feel particularly articulate or confident in the answer I gave him. Just how DO we lighten up? How do we forgive ourselves?

I think acceptance is the first step. All too often, we justify and defend instead of acknowledge what we did that didn't work.

Jack wasn't doing this. He was anxious to learn and grow from past mistakes. He's also very grateful for the many good things he DOES have in his life -- a very important thing.

It's also important to recognize that it's a big life. Your current situation is only a chapter in your life -- maybe even a page.

I'm not saying we shouldn't learn from where we are. I'm only suggesting that we keep it in its proper perspective.

If you're being hard on yourself, would you be as hard on others if THEY had made the same mistake? I doubt it. Where is it written that you should be above making mistakes?

And you don't have to understand all the reasons why things are the way they are. It would be nice to understand it all, but you can't always do that.

You can expend all your energy studying the root instead of picking the fruit. Learn what you can and move on. You may only be able to fully understand it later.

Remember that it's our resistance to what is that causes our pain. When we think we shouldn't be in this predicament, that it's not fair or wonder, "How could I have been so stupid," we create pain for ourselves. And in doing so, we perpetuate the stuck icky feeling.

Another thing that will move us onward and upward is to take action each day on improving our situation. We may not be able to change what's happened, but we CAN change how we react to it. When we consistently take positive action to improve upon our difficulties, we feel better about ourselves, and we begin to see progress.

We all need to forgive ourselves for our shortcomings. Jack is one of the kindest, gentlest men I know. He has a big heart. But I'm guessing, like I had done, he bought into other people's criticism and began to question his goodness. In doing so, it made it easy for him to beat up on himself.

For me, I had to learn to develop a thicker skin to protect my soft heart. As a writer and Internet publisher, it's been essential. I tell others, "Develop a thick skin and a soft heart -- and never mix them up."

It also helps to surround ourselves with people who believe in us. Not necessarily people who AGREE with us, but rather people who will tell us the truth without judging us -- people who see the best in us.

By being more aware, by trusting ourselves, by forgiving ourselves and by not taking ourselves too seriously, we can move out of self deprecation and into self confidence. We can lighten up, be gentle with ourselves, break free and achieve the best that's within us.

10 Simple Ways to Lighten Up and Let Life Flow

10 Simple Ways to Lighten Up and Let Life Flow

written by Shannon Kaiser

[source: Mind Body Green]

There have been countless documentations of people having near death experiences and as they almost die they see “the light.” When they are jolted back to reality and wake up from their near death episode, the number one take away from the near-death experience is not, “Holy crap, I almost died.” It’s, “Holy Moses, I need to lighten up and not take life so seriously. I better start living!”

We don’t all get second chances but we can switch our path starting right now. If you feel unhappy, you have the power to choose happiness based on your actions. It starts with your perception and how you treat the world. The way we see the world is a reflection of how we see ourselves. Remembering to treat ourselves kindly and laugh often is one way to appreciate life. In order to love our lives to the fullest we can start by lightening up. When we learn to not take life so seriously, this is when we can truly be free.

I’ve been exercising this lately and I have seen a transformation in my world. New opportunities have come to me that otherwise wouldn’t have because of my outlook on life. When I choose happy, kind, and loving thoughts, more happy, kind, and loving people and opportunities can come to me.

Where are you grasping in your life? Are there any areas that you are taking too seriously, such as your job, your relationship, your family, or yourself? Look at that and see how you can release resentment and control over the seriousness. On our mission to finding happiness, we can let go of seriousness and let life flow more. Think about children and their outlook on the world. How often do you see a child super serious? They only learn to be poker-faced through us inspiring adults. So let’s learn a thing or two from the Mini Me's running around and adapt a happy-tude rather than an attitude.

Here are some simple ways to lighten up and let life flow:

1. Be in the moment fully.
2. Play more games.
3. Look at the situation that is bothering you from a new perspective.
4. Laugh more.
5. Go outside and enjoy nature.
6. Turn your head up to the sun and let the light fall on to your face (this gives people an instant mental makeover).
7. Call a family member or good friend and tell them how much they mean to you.
8. Pet a furry friend (refrain from wild furry friends unless you are comfortable with unpredictability).
9. Look at your dream list and put action towards your top one.
10. Smile at strangers.

How to Choose Your Battles and Fight for What Actually Matters

One of my favorite games at the moment to help take my mind off of this world's madness. :)

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare

How to Choose Your Battles and Fight for What Actually Matters

written by Adam Dachis, conflict resolution

[source: Life Hacker]

Any moment in life can turn into a heated argument, but most shouldn't. Conversely, you may not have the energy or confidence to stand up for yourself when it matters. Whether you fight too much or too little, you have a problem choosing your battles. Here's how to choose your battles and get what you want when it actually matters.

I was raised by a devil's advocate father and a mother who likes to stand up for the little guy, so I'm naturally inclined to take the opposite side of most points...whether I agree with them or not. While it's good to see things from other perspectives, it's horrible to argue them all. You can forego stress for yourself and others by approaching conflict both at the right times and more effectively. While I've learned a few things from my experience of changing my ways as a conflict-seeking individual, I'm no expert. I spoke with relationship and family therapist Roger S. Gil to find the best approaches to better conflict. In this post we'll discuss how it's done.

Learn Where Your Line of Conflict Should Lie

We all feel anger, but whether or not we act on it depends on a number of factors. Among them, confidence and forethought play a large role. Sometimes our anger gets the best of us, and we argue without thinking it through. Other times, we don't feel confident enough to argue effectively when we should. To start solving this problem, you need to find where you draw the line between letting something go and engaging in conflict.

Finding your "line" means considering how others will react to your choices and how you feel about those results. For example, if you avoid most battles and you're perfectly happy with that, your line may be fine just where it is. If you fight too many battles and upset a lot of people in the process, however, you probably need a behavioral shift. Roger suggests keeping track and analyzing what happened to figure out what's problematic and what isn't:

I have often had clients use journals or log sheets as ways of doing a "post-game analysis" of days where battles (or potential battles) occurred. Each entry should say what happened, how they did/didn't deal with the situation, the outcome of how they dealt with it, and whether or not they liked the outcome. More often than not, similarities emerge across the various sections of each entry after about seven to 10 of them (e.g. they may notice that they tend to pick battles more often with family members instead of colleagues). There are usually patterns among the type of situations we ignore/confront, the people that push our buttons, and how we chose to deal with the situations. Desired changes to our style of choosing battles can then be identified after we have our behavioral baseline.

When figuring out where you need to adjust, look for patterns. When you start to see yours emerge, you'll find it much easier to make the necessary behavioral changes and feel better about the battles you pick.

What You Need to Consider When Choosing Your Battles

Finding your line of conflict makes the largest difference, and your style of conflict is a personal decision. However, a few commonalities exist in most approaches. Roger suggests you should ask yourself this question every time: "is the situation so distressing that it needs to be addressed?" Your answer will help you avoid undesirable reactions:

Whether you're avoidant or aggressive, it's important to have an answer to this question before deciding how to act upon the situation. Taking the time to answer the question should also help us avoid knee-jerk reactions that usually contain more emotion than rational thinking.

Asking yourself a question, in general, works well because it makes you think. This is especially important when you're feeling emotional. If your emotions get in the way of logic, questions will help draw you back to reality. However, your emotions aren't the only part of the equation. Roger stresses that you ought to consider your relationship with the other party as well:

Is it a relative, employer, friend, etc.? We may have to put up with some stuff if the person is an authority figure (as long as we aren't being abused, that is). With people that are close to us, the decision to act or ignore isn't so simple. One has to develop a sense for when choosing a battle with that person is healthy versus harmful and a sense for when ignoring it is acceptable versus enabling negative behavior. Unfortunately developing both senses takes trial and error since only experience can teach each one of us how to get along in our respective worlds.

When you think about your approach and consider the other party, you'll have a much easier time deciding whether to fight or whether to just let something go.

Fight Constructively

You shouldn't fight any battle if you can't do so constructively. If your goal is to hurt or just express your anger, you're fighting for the wrong reasons. Every single argument you have ought to aim to improve an undesirable situation. Roger explains how to do this:

Another thing I tell my clients when helping them learn how to choose their battles is to remain "solution-focused". In other words, "don't pick a battle or ignore a situation until you know what outcome you'd like." Keeping your eyes on the solution can help you avoid becoming embroiled in an emotional conflict and it can help avoidant people push toward change instead of listening to their fears. When focusing on solutions, a person should consider whether or not their desired solution is fair to all parties involved and the points where they are willing to make concessions.

Focusing on an ideal outcome for all parties turns a battle into more of a productive debate, and that's exactly the goal you ought to have for each and every argument.

Practice Makes Perfect

Most skills require practice before you're any good. The importance of practice in choosing your battles cannot be understated: it is exceptionally important. While we can offer up tips and suggestions, changing your behavior and understanding the behavior of others requires effort. You'll need to try and fail a lot, then learn from your experiences. You can't walk away after reading this post and expect your conflict aptitude to rise to genius levels. That said, these tips should give you a starting point to choosing your battles better. Use them as a starting point, track your behavior, and practice. When things start getting better and you feel less stress, you'll know you're on the right path.

SUNDAY Afternoon Cartoons To Cheer Everybody Up And Take A Break From This World's Nonsense! Let Bugs Bunny Put A Smile On Your Face. :)

Bugs Bunny - Baseball Bugs (1946) by TheCryptoCrew

Bugs Bunny - (Ep. 25) - Wackiki Wabbit by serijedomace04

bugs bunny - sahara hare by tetleymoon

Transylvania 6-5000 -- 1963 by tetleymoon

Animation movies 2014 full movies english| Ali... by AnimationTV

My favorite part: Daffy Duck, "It's mine, you understand. Mine. All mine. Mine. Mine. Mine." That's how I feel about my favorite treats lol ;)

To thrive in life you need three bones. A wish bone. A backbone. And a funny bone. ~by Reba McEntire 

One last thing I'd like to leave you with... all of you really need to lighten up and laugh a little. Stop being so hyper-sensitive and offended by every minute detail you see. Stop over-analyzing something meant to be funny. First ask yourself, why am I offended by this? Is this really hurting me? Is this hurting other people? Sadly, I have read so many comments on youtube condemning Bugs Bunny cartoons because they were "offended". Really? As if our world didn't have enough major issues to be offended by like rape, murder, corruption, oppression, slavery, people left starving, millions of household pets euthanized per year in the US alone, fisherman capturing sharks who then cut off their fins and throw them back into the ocean to die, or how about elephants and rhinos being killed solely to have their ivory tusks and horns cut off with carcass left to rot. Catch my drift?

The leadership instinct you are born with is the backbone. You develop the funny bone and the wishbone that go with it. ~by Elaine Agather

I'll give you an example, I am not fond of Pablo Picasso artwork. However, there are millions of people on this planet who love his artwork. Many of his original paintings have been auctioned for tens of millions, even hundreds of million of dollars. I believe to each his or her own taste. If someone were to give me a Picasso painting as a gift, I could not in good conscience hang that painting any where in my home. Why? Because I have no connection to his style of art. His art doesn't move me. I don't care that it's worth tons of money. I'm not going to display it to make someone else feel good. I'm the one who needs to feel good in my own house. I would graciously accept the gift and thank them. But I would not hang it up. Now, just because I don't like Picasso's art style doesn't mean it's not amazing artwork, and just because I don't like Picasso's art style doesn't mean I want it banned.

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. ~by Plato

Another example I'd like to bring up is a Cuban artist expressing himself in 1987 by displaying a photograph of the cruxifiction of Jesus Christ submerged in a jar of urine at a New York art museum. If I were walking through this museum and saw this display, I would flinch. Then I would wonder, what would cause him to feel such disdain for Jesus Christ? That's what artist make us do, question things. Would I want this banned from any museum? No, this artist is expressing what is in his heart. Do I think his artwork is vulgar, well yes I do on a personal level because I love Jesus Christ. But that doesn't mean I want it banned. For all we know, this Cuban artist may have been molested by a Catholic priest who was supposed to be representing Jesus Christ.

Look, I respect each person's autonomy and right to believe whatever the heck that person wants. A person can worship a rock for all I care. As long as you are not harming anyone. Well then, it is no skin off of my back.

HAPPY Sunday! Sending Some Inspiration Your Way... ♥

7 Inspirational Quotes by Marie Curie

Marie Skłodowska Curie (November 7, 1867 – July 4, 1934) was a physicist and chemist of Polish upbringing and, subsequently, French citizenship. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes, and the first female professor at the University of Paris. Her achievements include the creation of a theory of radioactivity (a term coined by her), techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and the discovery of two new elements, polonium and radium. It was also under her personal direction that the world's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms ("cancers"), using radioactive isotopes. [source: wikipedia]

7 Inspirational Quotes by Marie Curie

1. Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
   
   
2. Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.
   
   
3. One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.
   
   
4. All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child.
   
   
5. A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales.
   
   
6. I am one of those who think like Nobel, that humanity will draw more good than evil from new discoveries.
   
   
7. There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down errors instead of establishing the truth.

BONUS

You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful.

BONUS BONUS

Humanity needs practical men and women, who get the most out of their work, and, without forgetting the general good, safeguard their own interests. But humanity also needs dreamers, for whom the disinterested development of an enterprise is so captivating that it becomes impossible for them to devote their care to their own material profit. Without doubt, these dreamers do not deserve wealth, because they do not desire it. Even so, a well-organized society should assure to such workers the efficient means of accomplishing their task, in a life freed from material care and freely consecrated to research.

TURKEY: Turkish Cartoonists Sentenced To 11 Months In Jail For ‘Insulting’ Muslim Brotherhood President Erdoğan. More Than 70 People Have Been Prosecuted For Insulting Erdogan Since Aug 2014.

BGN News

Turkish cartoonists sentenced to 11 months in jail for ‘insulting’ Erdoğan

written by Staff

Wednesday March 25, 2015

ISTANBUL - The ever-increasing cases of ‘insulting President Erdoğan’ now hits two cartoonists from popular satirical weekly Penguen, who received 11 months in prison each.

Cartoonists Bahadır Baruter and Özer Aydoğan were sued for the Aug. 21, 2014, cover of the magazine, which satirized Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s election as Turkey’s president.

In the drawing, Erdoğan is seen asking whether officials at the new presidential palace in Ankara have prepared “any journalists to slaughter” referring to ritual sacrifice in Islam, to mark his inauguration.

Soon after the publication, a Turkish citizen named Cem Safcıer filed a complaint to the Prime Ministry, arguing that the “ball-shaped” hand gesture is used to imply that the person being addressed is homosexual.

A prosecutor then prepared an indictment to open a lawsuit, claiming that the hand gesture was “against the ethical and cultural norms of Turkish society” and “went beyond the boundaries of criticism, to an insult.”

Erdoğan’s lawyers, who stepped into the case, sided with the prosecutor, demanding that the court punish the cartoonists for “insulting a public official.”

The cartoonists, who faced a prison sentence of up to two years, defended themselves in the first hearing of the case at the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance in Istanbul March 19.

“If you look at the whole picture, you see that the joke has got nothing to do with the gesture. There is no such comedic technique being employed,” Baruter said.

Aydoğan also pleaded not guilty, arguing that Baruter drew the picture as he conceived it and “such a simple thing could not be included in this joke.”

The court, however, sentenced both cartoonists to 14 months in prison on March 24. Considering the “good conduct” of the cartoonists during the trial, the court decreased the sentence to 11 months and 20 days, before converting it to a fine of TRY 7,000 for each convict.

The crime of “insulting someone” is normally punished by three months in prison according to Turkish law. However, if the complainant is a public servant, the possible prison term is extended to one year. If the “insult” is conveyed “publicly,” such as via a media outlet, the law stipulates an extra one-sixth increase in the prison term.

Risk of trial for insulting prosecutor, too

Despite the “good conduct” decrease in the verdict, Baruter now faces another trial due to his defense which prompted the court to file a separate criminal complaint. Baruter told the court in his March 19 defense that the “incorrect interpretation of the hand gesture by the prosecutor could be related to his subconscious.” The court considered the remark another insult, this time against the prosecutor.

This is not the first time Erdoğan has sued Penguen. He previously demanded TRY 40,000 in compensation from the magazine after they published a cover depicting the then-prime minister as various animals.

The magazine published that cover to support cartoonists from the dailies Cumhuriyet and Evrensel, who were earlier condemned to pay non-pecuniary damages to Erdoğan. A court in Ankara ruled to dismiss that case in 2006.

More than 70 people in Turkey have been prosecuted for “insulting” Erdoğan since he was elected president in August 2014. Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar testified in İstanbul on Feb. 26 over allegations that he insulted the head of state in an interview with a prosecutor who had been investigating corruption, describing the process as a “kind of deterrence policy.”

Most recently on March 9, a local journalist in southern Turkey was given a five-month suspended prison sentence, while the houses of two more journalists from the same city were raided by police, all for “insulting” Erdoğan on their social media accounts.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Czechs Import Wild Horses To Save Biodiversity. :) Meanwhile Our US Gov Is Rounding Up Wild Horses To Sell For Horsemeat. :/

CBS News

Czechs import wild horses to save biodiversity

written by AP staff

Monday March 23, 2015

MILOVICE, Czech Republic -- Twenty-five years ago it was a military zone where occupying Soviet troops held exercises. Today it's a sanctuary inhabited by wild animals that scientists hope will improve biodiversity among local plants as well as save endangered species.

A herd of 14 wild mares from Britain's Exmoor National Park were moved in January to the former Milovice military base, 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Prague, the Czech capital.

After an acclimatization period at a small enclosure, the horses were released Saturday to a 40-hectare (99-acre) area. Their task is to stop the spread of aggressive and evasive grasses - including bushgrass - that are delicacies for them. The invasive plants began to grow after Soviet troops withdrew in 1991, threatening the area's original plants and animals. A stallion will join the mares in April.

Dalibor Dostal, director of European Wildlife, the organization behind the project, said scientists decided that using big-hoofed animals such wild horses, which "maintained the steppe character of nature across Europe for thousands of years," could solve the invasive plant problem in the most effective way. That should also help some 30 threatened species in the area, including the Mountain Alcon Blue butterfly and the Star Gentian flowering plant.

"Alternatives to wild animals are very expensive and their impact on the environment is not very good," Dostal said.

Domestic animals such as sheep were ruled out because they would feed on the endangered plants, and mechanical cutting costs too much.

"(The horses) will move freely on the pastures the whole year. If they have a source of water and enough space, they don't need any care. They are able to care of themselves," Dostal said.

Environmentalists are already planning to expand the territory and use other big-hoofed animals such as European bison.

The Soviet army that stayed after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion of then-Czechoslovakia was the last armed force in the area. Dostal said the soldiers' activities actually simulated the impact of hoofed animals, a reason why "military zones in the Czech Republic are the places with the best biodiversity."

SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Arabia Islamic Sharia Court Sentenced Woman to 70 Public Lashes for Insulting Husband on WhatsApp.

Breitbart News

Saudi Arabia Sentenced Woman to 70 Public Lashes for Insulting Husband on WhatsApp

written by Mary Chastain

Tuesday March 17, 2015

A Saudi Arabian court in Al-Qatif sentenced a 32-year-old woman to 70 lashes and a fine of 20,000 Saudi Riyals ($5,333.33) after she insulted her husband on the WhatsApp mobile app.

She wrote, “I pray to be patient enough to put up with you,” along with his initials. The husband found the message and told the court he was “‘embarrassed’ and felt his reputation was being ‘tarnished.’”

The status led to a divorce.

“We were already miles apart in our relationship so I decided to divorce her before she retold my entire life story on social media,” he said.

The court claimed the woman is “guilty of tarnishing the reputation of the complaint [sic] through the application.” The man filed the complaint after “an argument with the woman.” The officials did not explain the disagreement, but the woman “admitted she had insulted the man.” She also “rejected the court ruling.”

Saudi Arabia’s Anti-Cyber Crime Law under Article Three says that “whoever defames or inflicts damage upon others through various information technology devices ‘shall be subject to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding SR500,000 [$133,306.61] or to either punishment.’”

On March 5, Saudi Arabian authorities arrested an Indian national when he posted “a controversial photo of Mecca’s Grand Mosque juxtaposed with Hindu religious symbols on Facebook.” A citizen brought the evidence to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which is the Saudi religious and morality police. Authorities arrested the man at the airport, but he claimed he “‘liked’ a link just to see the picture and the photo automatically uploaded on his Facebook page.”

In January, authorities arrested the man who filmed a brutal video of a woman beheaded in public in Mecca. Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Turki told The New York Times via text message that “such matters fell under the country’s law against cybercrimes,” confirming the arrest.

The religious police shut down over 10,000 Twitter accounts “in 2014 over religious violations.”

“The crimes include religious or moral violations via the Internet,” said Turki Al-Shulail, the spokesman of the morality police. “The number of these accounts has increased during the last five years and there is a need to put an end to them and arrest the users who publish material against our religion and society.”

DEMOCRACTIC REPUBLIC of CONGO: Elephant Massacre Uncovered; 30 Animals Killed In 15 Days. >:/

😠 RT @HuffingtonPost Elephant massacre uncovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo as 30 are slaughtered in 15 days http://t.co/KxgymsRBTY
— GlobalAwareness101 (@Mononoke__Hime) March 26, 2015

.@HuffingtonPost Islamist militants have been slaughtering elephants and rhinos all over Africa for ivory to sell to Asia in illegal trade!
— GlobalAwareness101 (@Mononoke__Hime) March 26, 2015

Huffington Post

Elephant Massacre Uncovered In Democratic Republic of Congo; 30 Animals Killed In 15 Days

written by Ed Mazza

Thursday March 26, 2015

Dozens of elephants are being slaughtered at a national park in the Democratic Republic of Congo as armed militants aggressively move into the poaching business, using money from illegal ivory to buy food, weapons and ammunition.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said this week that 68 elephants have been killed in Garamba National Park in the past two months, with AFP reporting 30 killed in just over two weeks.

"We have a group of north Sudanese coming inside the park, spreading in small groups and during 15 days they killed 30 elephants," African Parks conservation director Jean Marc Froment, whose group co-manages the park, told the news agency. "These are very experienced elephant hunters."

There are just 150 rangers patrolling Garamba's more than 5,000 square miles, AFP reports. As a result, the park's estimated 1,700 elephants have become an easy target for poachers and armed militants, some of whom are entering from neighboring countries.

From April 2014 through January of this year, 131 elephants were found dead in the park, according to the Enough Project. The group says Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony's Lord’s Resistance Army, renegade elements of the Congolese national army and armed poachers from South Sudan and Sudan have all been killing elephants in the park.

In some cases, gunmen using high-powered rifles have attacked from helicopters while men on the ground with chainsaws removed the tusks.

Enough Project said the black-market price of ivory in Asia is between $1,000 and $1,300 per pound, and that a single tusk can fetch between $20,000 and $175,000, depending on the size. The organization has prepared an interactive report on elephant poaching in Garamba National Park, which can be seen here.

In Africa, the tusks aren't always traded for money. Warlords will sometimes trade them for ammo; a single tusk can fetch 18,000 bullets, Sasha Lezhnev, Enough Project's associate director of policy, told the Daily Mail.

Last year, representatives from 41 nations signed a declaration in London, vowing to help protect endangered animals such as elephants. However, the IFAW said 15 of those countries haven't provided any evidence to show they were following through on that commitment.

“It is appalling that countries like Chad, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo, with elephant populations under extreme threat from poaching for their ivory, can’t show any headway whatsoever in slowing the slaughter,” Jason Bell, director of the IFAW Elephant Program, said in a news release.

THAILAND: Thailand Toughens Trafficking Law With Death Penalty, Steep Fines.

Reuters News

Thailand toughens trafficking law with death penalty, steep fines

reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat; written by Amy Sawitta Lefevre

Thursday March 26, 2015

Thailand's parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to introduce harsher punishments for human traffickers, including life imprisonment and the death penalty in cases where their victims had died.

Thailand's move came a day after Britain passed a law that could see traffickers face life imprisonment, and marked the latest step to combat a multi-billion dollar trade in human misery.

Thailand's National Legislative Assembly (NLA) voted to amend the country's Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in the third reading.

The changes will allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty and fines of up to 400,000 baht ($12,281) for those convicted of trafficking offences, Police General Chatchawan Suksomjit said.

"If the trafficked person dies in the hands of the trafficker then the sentence can now be life in prison or even the death penalty," said Chatchawan, who headed the committee responsible for amending the act.

If a victim of human trafficking is severely injured, those responsible can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined up to 400,000 baht, he said.

"The fine has now increased and goes up to 400,000 baht if the trafficker causes grievous bodily harm to the trafficked person."

The U.S. State Department last year downgraded Thailand to the lowest category in its annual ranking of countries based on their counter-trafficking efforts.

Thailand's military government said in January it was "confident" it had met the minimum standards to improve its ranking.

But a government report aimed at lifting Thailand from the list of the world's worst offenders showed Thailand identified fewer victims of human trafficking last year than in 2013 and convicted fewer perpetrators.

Thailand is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking.

($1 = 32.5700 baht)

INDONESIA: 4,000 Fishermen Stranded On Some Indonesian Islands; Myanmar Slaves On Thai Boats Spark Controversy.

Associated Press

Agency: 4,000 fishermen stranded on some Indonesian islands

written by Margie Mason

Friday March 27, 2015

JAKARTA, Indonesia — An estimated 4,000 foreign fishermen are stranded on a number of remote islands in eastern Indonesia, including men revealed in an Associated Press investigation to have been enslaved, an aid group said.

Many of the migrant workers were abandoned by their boat captains following a government moratorium on foreign fishing that has docked vessels to crack down on illegal operators, said Steve Hamilton, deputy chief of mission at the International Organization for Migration in Indonesia.

"It is reasonable to expect many are victims of trafficking, if not outright slavery," he said, adding the group has been working for years with Indonesian authorities to repatriate trafficked fishermen.

About a quarter of the men are in Benjina, a town that straddles two islands in the Maluku chain, according to an Indonesian official who recently visited the area.

The AP reported Wednesday that men were locked in a cage at a fishing company in Benjina. Journalists interviewed more than 40 migrant workers from Myanmar who said they had been brought to Indonesia from Thailand and forced to work on trawlers with Thai captains. Some are runaway slaves who have lived in the islands for five, 10 or even 20 years.

They described horrendous working conditions while at sea, saying they were forced to drink unclean water and work 20- to 22-hour shifts with no days off. Almost all said they were kicked, whipped with toxic stingray tails or otherwise beaten if they complained or tried to rest. They were paid little or nothing.

The yearlong AP investigation used satellites to track seafood caught by the slaves from a large refrigerated cargo ship in Benjina to Thailand, where reporters watched it being unloaded onto dozens of trucks over four nights. The lorries were then followed to a number of processing plants, cold storage operations and the country's largest fish market. From there, U.S. Customs records were used to link the fish to the supply chains of some of America's largest supermarkets and retailers.

The report prompted the U.S. government and major seafood industry leaders to renew their calls on the Thai government to crack down on slavery at sea and to punish those responsible. Thailand's biggest seafood company, Thai Union Frozen Products, announced that it immediately cut ties with a supplier after determining it might be involved with forced labor and other abuses.

Thai and Indonesian leaders have said they are investigating and will take action to end slavery.

*****

Mizzima News, Myanmar/Burma

Myanmar slaves on Thai boats spark controversy

written by Staff

Friday March 27, 2015

A year-long investigation by Associated Press reporters has revealed hundreds of Myanmar migrant workers are being used as slaves on fishing boats in Indonesian waters.

The report by Robin McDowell, Margie Mason and Martha Mendoza entitled, AP Investigation: Are slaves catching the fish you buy? examines the fate of hundreds of migrant workers – mostly Myanmar nationals – tricked into working on fishing boats in Indonesian waters under bad conditions, unable to escape.

According to the report by AP, released on March 25, the men interviewed on the Indonesian island village of Benjina were mostly from Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in the world. They were brought to Indonesia through Thailand and forced to fish. Their catch was then shipped back to Thailand, where it entered the global stream of commerce. Many men are said to have died.

The report, which included video footage, shows men locked up in Benjina and includes men shouting at night from a fishing boat to the reporter that they were being held against their will.

The reporting suggests the workers primarily from Myanmar and Thailand are used on Thai fishing boats and the resulting marine catch ends up in Thailand and on dining tables in the United States and Europe.

The revelations are not new. Thailand’s ranking in the US Trafficking in Persons assessment has fallen and several media reports have covered the abuse of migrant workers in the fishing industry. However, the AP report comes out with more “smoking gun” evidence of slavery in the Southeast Asian fishing industry and covers the issue in depth. Thai fishing boats and their captains are painted as the main culprits in the affair.

Thai reporting on the slavery allegations has resulted in a harsh response from Thai junta leader Prayuth Chanocha.

General Prayuth said the government will summon Channel 3 journalist Thapanee Ietscrchai who has been carrying out her own reporting on the slavery revelations on Indonesia’s Benjina Island. She reported about hundreds of graves said to belong to Thai fishermen who died allegedly due to the poor conditions or abuse.

“Please don’t escalate this news,” he told the Thai media.

"I tell you Thapanee. Come see our officers. What good does it do to talk on the outside? If I cannot solve this problem because of your report, what would you say? Is it illegal?” said General Prayuth in an angry tirade, according to the Bangkok Post.

He asked the media not to report on human trafficking without considering how the news will affect the Thailand’s seafood industry and reputation abroad. Millions of dollars in business is at stake, he said.

The Thai leader lashed out at reporters on March 25, saying he would “probably just execute” those who did “not report the truth,” in a straight-faced comment that has further worsened his relations with the media.

- See more at: http://www.mizzima.com/news-international/myanmar-slaves-thai-boats-spark-controversy#sthash.tFUTqvQ4.dpuf

AFGHANISTAN: What a Mob Says About the State of Islam in Afghanistan. A Brutal Lynching of a Women Highlights the Intolerance Preached in Afghanistan. Excellent Piece!

CAUTION: VERY GRAPHIC: showing regular Muslim schmoes, NOT CIA or Mossad that Islamic tools like to blame for all of the atrocities committed by Islamist around the world.

Khaama Press, Afghanistan

What a Mob Says About the State of Islam in Afghanistan

written by Nushin Arbabzadah

Friday March 27, 2015

The brutal lynching of Farkhunda, has revealed a number of significant issues regarding the state of Islam in Afghanistan.

The most crucial is that a fanatic strand of Islamic has become normalized, and accepted by a mainstream audience. The imam who incited the violence, the mob who lynched Farkhunda, the bystanders who filmed it — they were not the disenfranchised. They were ordinary Afghans, members of the middle class, including shop keepers. The initial public reaction was approval, expressed by public figures representing the spheres of culture and education.

They included a female deputy culture minister, who said, in reference to the murder, that nothing can stand in the way of the pure faith of the people. Rahel Musavi, a presenter on Tamadon TV, provided another public message of support saying, “She deserved to burn in the fire of the people’s anger.” And then there was the sermon of the imam, Ayaz Niazi, whose message can be summed up as follows: The people who killed Farkhunda were correct and the police have no right to arrest them. If they do, the people have the right to stage an uprising. This imam has a doctorate in Islamic law from the most respected institution in the Muslim world: the Al-Azhar University in Egypt and he teaches at Kabul University in addition to being an imam at a mosque in an affluent area of Kabul. All three figures used the phrase “people’s sentiments and beliefs” to stress the legitimacy of the lynching. Initially, similar messages of support abounded before the voices of opposition made themselves heard.

What do we learn from this? A populist, fanatic strand of Islam appealing to base emotionality has become mainstream, finding an audience in all levels of society.

What Kind of Islam?

Listening to the preacher Niazi’s sermon, it is easy to learn what kind of Islam is disseminated to the wider population through the institutions of mosques, universities, and religious media outlets. A key characteristic of this version of Islam is that is encourages lawlessness. Niazi told the mosque audience, that their religious sensitivity is the supreme source of legitimacy, overriding the legitimacy of the state and law enforcement. But to what extent? According to the sermon, it would seem that the believer is entitled to kill first and ask questions later. Even if it turns out that the believer was wrong, the supremacy of his religious emotions are such that police has no right to arrest him. In other words, religious sentiment, not religion, is the supreme force and the prime source of legitimacy in Afghanistan. This was what Niazi was endorsing.

From this it becomes clear that what the mob did to Farkhunda was putting into action the lessons that they were taught in mosques and schools, in religious media and at universities: that their religious emotions entitle them to murder. Hence, the lynching was not a breach of “religious norms,” it was the practicing of these norms. It is also useful to bear in mind that Niazi is classified as a moderate Muslim.

The Consequence

Why do preachers and similar public figures, encourage, empower and legitimize the emotional aspect of religiosity? I’d argue that public figures like Niazi, the deputy minister, and the TV presenter do not lead by example, do not guide, and do not educate. They tell people what they want to hear. The result of this mutual charming is that everybody who belongs to this collective is kept happy, feeling understood and validated. At the top, public figures are ensured popular support. At the bottom, the mob is appeased that the enemy and the oppressor is outside, not within.

The Enemy Outside

Who is the enemy outside? In the first stage of the encounter, the crowd that gathered around Farkhunda while she was still alive, said the following things about her in her presence, as if she were not there: Americans have sent her. She’s French. She’s German.

This is how Farkhunda was declared a non-Muslim, which automatically turned her into an enemy. This, too, is a result of the interpretation of Islam that has become mainstream in Afghanistan. An outsider is automatically classified as an enemy and an enemy, in turn, is not seen as a fellow human being deserving of a life or a space to share with the Muslims in this world.

Later, the Afghan media rightly explained that Farkhunda was a victim of prejudice and that her protestations were ignored, and deemed insignificant. Farkhunda’s mother asked, “Why did they say she was foreign? Are these people not capable of recognizing their own language when someone speaks it?” Indeed, why did the mob not recognize a fellow Afghan girl, born, raised and educated in their own city?

There are two reasons. First, their perception of reality was not shaped by what they saw and heard with their own eyes and ears but by the words of the shrine’s imam. He said that Farkhunda had burnt the Quran. Caught between their own perception and the imam’s description of reality, the crowd was incapable of thinking for themselves. A Muslim could not possibly burn the Quran. She had to be a foreigner. The mob immediately believed the imam. After all, a man of god does not lie.

This is how brain-washing works. Afghan imams do not practice religious education. What they do is mass manipulation.

The Consequence

Making Farkhunda part of the “other” was the catalyst for the unleashing of an extraordinary high level of aggression. Watching the video, what we see is lustful violence. The release gives the murderers a physical high. Like all forms of intoxication, the feeling of elation need to be fed, so the violence grew in intensity, kicking led to beating with sticks and metal bars, followed by running the body over with a car, followed by throwing the body into the dry river bank, followed by throwing stones and finally, burning.

Many Afghans continue to believe that the supreme law is their own religious emotions. This belief is not natural, it’s carefully cultivated and sustained through collective effort. Some comply out of fear, others out of populist motivation, others because they are ignorant. Afghan activists are some of the few who have opposed the message. In return, they have received threats. The nature of these threats is summed up by the following statement that a TV personality working for a religious channel said that Farkhunda’s burning will be a lesson to the other whores. Many Muslims around the world share this view. The precedent was set in England with the Salman Rushdie affair, when, in December 1988, 7,000 British Muslims gathered in Bolton and set fire to Rushdie’s book in the name of offended religious sentiment Since then we have had the phenomenon of global terrorism carried out by individual Muslims who believe that their religious emotions are the source of supreme legitimacy, overriding any other law. The result is that we all live in fear of the Muslim next door.