Taliban Seizes and Burns PCs, Cell Phones To Stop Obscenity 294
retroworks writes "As translated from Central Asia Online, Cellular News reports that militants from South Waziristan set ablaze about 300 cellular phones and a number of computers in Wana because the devices were allegedly used to spread obscene materials. Prior to taking the action, they gave everyone fair warning with 'leaflets.' 300 cell phones down, 5 or 6 billion to go.
hmm.. (Score:2, Insightful)
I know association that would be happy to do the same here in the US.
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Ya... (Score:5, Funny)
I even got a speeding ticket last week! Cop asked, "You know what the speed limit is?"
I answered: "Um, somewhere around 186,000 miles per second?"
Go on, find some law you hate and then freely make absurd comparisons...
Re:Ya... (Score:5, Funny)
I'm betting not a lot of cops will get your joke.
Re:Ya... (Score:4, Funny)
Traffic cops aren't usually the brightest.
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You need to light-en up; you responded to a post that just continued the joke centered around the "relativity speed limit".
Re:Okay, let's examine that decision (Score:4, Informative)
"a) the Soviets, a communist government that ran extermination camps that killed about 10 times more people than the holocaust,"
WTF?!? Nazis have killed around 20 million people in the USSR during the WWII. There's simply no way Stalin could have killed 10 times more people.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The parent commenter was probably taking pop statistics to calculate that. Figure 6 millions Jews killed (which is not the whole story) and the use the 60 million figure that is commonly touted for Stalin (which is way overestimated according to anything I've read about it; that doesn't make it less heinous, however).
Re:Okay, let's examine that decision (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Okay, let's examine that decision (Score:5, Insightful)
To be fair, OP referred to a) the holocaust (which was specifically the 6 million figure you cited)
The holocaust was one of the worst times in human history.
But for whatever reason, people seem to often neglect mentioning the other half. Yes, 6,000,000 jews were killed. But the 5,000,000 mentally handicapped, physically handicapped, Poles, Russians, Roma, intellectuals, actors, thinkers, teachers, etc. who were just as "undesirable" nearly always fall by the wayside.
I'm in no way trying to diminish the suffering of the Jewish people, but I think that it's not only absurd but outright insulting and revolting that everyone else who was killed in the holocaust is so often ignored and forgotten.
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Ok, first thing, the very link you gave said the work "holocaust" derived from the Greek word (holókauston) via the way of the Latin (holocaustum) and was from the Septuagint (the Greek translation by the Jews of the Old Testament) originally. The word is Jewish and invented by the Jews, so you're wrong there.
And secondly, a horrific act that was ignored at the time by many countries and to this day is denied in many Muslim countries is not made any less horrific because other people have also done h
Re:Okay, let's examine that decision (Score:5, Informative)
Communism killed around 100,000,000 people in the last century.
The Black Book of Communism [harvard.edu]
The Black Book of Communism (Translation by Jonathan Murphy and Mark Kramer) (Review) / (book review) [harvard.edu]
Author: Daniel J. Mahoney
Re:Okay, let's examine that decision (Score:4, Interesting)
How many people did capitalism kill 'directly or indirectly'?
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The Nazis were capitalists.
"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."
How was it not 'capitalist'?
Because it's not control of production by those individuals who supplied the capital to it. (I'm obviously not counting governments who use tax revenues to establish industries, firstly because they're not individuals, and secondly because it would include typical and obvious communist economies). 'Capitalism' isn't 'favouring an economy with markets in it', nor 'favouring an economy in which some people control large commercial organizations and have a lot of power over the rest of society'. It has a speci
Re:Okay, let's examine that decision (Score:5, Insightful)
Or how about a third option:
c) do nothing
The Taliban didn't need our help. Our psychopathic drive to jump into every conflict on earth (ok, maybe we largely ignore Africa) is a big part of why America is bankrupt and widely despised.
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Our psychopathic drive to jump into every conflict on earth (ok, maybe we largely ignore Africa)
Sadly, we didn't ignore it enough; cf. Angola [wikipedia.org] and the Congo [wikipedia.org].
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So given that there were 2 sides fighting, which side do you suggest America should have supported ?
Neither, because it's none of our business?
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So given that there were 2 sides fighting, which side do you suggest America should have supported ?
How about "a plague on both your houses"? We don't need to take sides in every fight, you know; in fact, in most fights, we shouldn't.
Re:Okay, let's examine that decision (Score:4, Insightful)
You do realize that USSR did not have "extermination camps" in 1979 for like 25 years already, right?
Soviets in Afghanistan were teaching the locals - building schools and universities - and also country infrastructure like roads and power plants. They were supported by a considerable chunk of the population, too, the more secular part. It wasn't Soviets vs Afghans - it was a civil war, Afghan secularists with Soviet backing vs Afghan Islamists with US/Pakistani backing.
The end result is that you sacrificed the quality of life of several million people for your convenience - every madrasah built instead of a school, every mosque built instead of a factory in the last 30 years. Worse yet, you didn't even gain anything for yourself as your support for Islamists came to bite you in the ass today, and unlike Soviets, they have no hesitation about striking first, hitting your territory directly, and targeting civilians. Karma's a bitch.
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If you want an example of what happens when we DO NOT take action, look at Pres Clinton and Africa (Mogadisu to be specific). We bailed because he couldn't accept the political fallout of a few Americans dying, and now millions still die there.
So why didn't Bush invade Somalia instead of Iraq?
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They would be the wrong ones to ask. Rather ask Wikipedia and you shall receive: USSR was just taking back what was theirs in first place [wikipedia.org] so that one was not a valid rebuke.
GP is wrong nonetheless, the Soviet Union has led an offensive war exactly two times.
1) Winter war [wikipedia.org]
2) Soviet-Japanese war of 1945 [wikipedia.org]
They took mine. (Score:5, Funny)
I knew I shouldn't have browsed that one site where a woman showed her ankle!
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Oh noes (Score:2, Funny)
burn the devil box, it showed the chin of a female!
If they were smart they would burn the internet ...
Re:Oh noes (Score:5, Interesting)
Close... (Score:5, Interesting)
Contrast with:
US Government Seizes and Burns DNS domains, To Stop Copyright Infringement.
Discuss.
Re:Close... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why contrast between two unrelated things?
The USA arrested and jailed a man for directing obscene pornography between consenting parties. [boingboing.net]
Now I'm sure some would argue what he did was manipulative and destroyed the lives of several people and liken his abuse to rape. Well the USA also arrested and jailed a man for possessing obscene comics, where no adults or children were harmed in the making. [wired.com]
Let's discuss related facts shall we?
Re:Close... (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oh noes (Score:5, Insightful)
If they were smart they would burn the internet ...
We' ll take care of that with SOPA.
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Aside from the obvious authoritarian fanaticism problem, someone needs to tell these asshats that when cost-plus contractors threw electronics in pits and burn them, it's not because they were environmentally safe to burn, it's just because cost-plus contractors don't give a crap about the environment "over there."
Idiots. (Score:3)
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Whatever... just don't tell my wife about them!
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I'm guessing that miltant crazies don't really know what a hard drive is, or where the memory is stored. It's just a devil box at that point. Hell I don't think most US fundamentalist crazies would know either.
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I'm guessing that miltant crazies don't really know what a hard drive is, or where the memory is stored. It's just a devil box at that point. Hell I don't think most US fundamentalist crazies would know either.
Sure they do. It is that big box on the floor with all the buttons and lights on it and a cup holder. What do you think I am? Some kind of idiot?
Re:Idiots. (Score:4, Funny)
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Durrr! You only use the shiny circle if the cup wont fit in the whole
Re:Idiots. (Score:4, Insightful)
Blowing up those ridiculously old and big statues was also the right thing to do.
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...I will wipe from the face of the earth every HD (Score:2)
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After all, hard-drives are the bigger enablers of porn.,/quote>
Uhhhh no. It's Ethernet cables.
Objective Hide their actual Activities (Score:5, Insightful)
First objective is to hide what they are doing. This is accomplished by no one able to photograph their brutal actions and so the Leaders will not be photographed for later intervention by NATO.
Second is to control the media and what the people are told. Hopefully create more little zealots to continue the cause.
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Bingo! We have a winner!
Re:Objective Hide their actual Activities (Score:5, Interesting)
Considering the Taliban manual specifically prohibits any Taliban from being alone in a room with an unbearded man (boy), I bet it is so that nobody can record that evidence as well.
Which is incredibly ironic that they are trying to prevent obscenity when they are predominately pedophiles.
Before anybody mods this troll..... if it was false why would it have to be in the manual for the Taliban specifically?
Re:Objective Hide their actual Activities (Score:5, Informative)
Considering the Taliban manual specifically prohibits any Taliban from being alone in a room with an unbearded man (boy), I bet it is so that nobody can record that evidence as well. Which is incredibly ironic that they are trying to prevent obscenity when they are predominately pedophiles. Before anybody mods this troll..... if it was false why would it have to be in the manual for the Taliban specifically?
Because it's a popular entertainment in Afghanistan that the Taliban want to ban?
What makes you think it's not a problem with non-Taliban? Didn't American contractors with DynCorp pimp young boys for a party for Afghan cops (cite [houstonpress.com]?
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Homosexual pedophilia is a prominent part of Pashtun culture in general. Local traditional interpretation of Islam is extremely misogynistic, but allows for homosexual sex as an outlet, and young "beardless" boys are seen as legitimate object of sexual desire.
Taliban is different in that they are much more straightforward on this issue: it's a sin, and punishment is death. In fact, Taliban had started as an organized militia movement when mullah Omar and his madrasa students liberated several boys kidnapped
Re:Objective Hide their actual Activities (Score:5, Insightful)
Jokes on them... (Score:5, Funny)
The toxic chemicals released from burning all that hardware gave them all cancer.
HA HA.
Re:Jokes on them... (Score:5, Insightful)
The toxic chemicals released from burning all that hardware gave them all cancer.
"Why are you worried about something that will kill you in 7 years when there are so many things that can kill you tomorrow?" -- Lord of War
Hard to preach long term thinking when most people in the community die in their thirties...
Re:Jokes on them... (Score:4, Funny)
The toxic chemicals released from burning all that hardware gave them all cancer.
HA HA.
... which leads straight into the XKCD cartoon [xkcd.com] about just his phenomenon.
But you know... (Score:3, Insightful)
SOPAliban (Score:4, Funny)
Lesser of many evils (Score:5, Insightful)
Forget about this...
Compared to throwing acid on a young girl's face because she wants what we consider an elementary education - now that's worth some outrage.
Children are to be cherished and encouraged to reach for their full potential. Any society that fails to do this is failing, period - USA included.
Re:Lesser of many evils (Score:5, Insightful)
Forget about this...
Compared to throwing acid on a young girl's face because she wants what we consider an elementary education - now that's worth some outrage.
Children are to be cherished and encouraged to reach for their full potential. Any society that fails to do this is failing, period - USA included.
I think this is a perfect thing to get outraged at since it's just a different side of the same problem, "where you burn books, you will ultimately burn people also".
Re:Lesser of many evils (Score:5, Informative)
I had to google that last quote because I liked it so much.
For everyone's edification:
"Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen."
"That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also."
Heinrich Heine, in the play "Almansor" - 1821
--
BMO
Re:Ah, just like the Americans (Score:5, Informative)
Americans?
Following your own link and reading it contradicts your assertion.
And...
"Neigboring countries" are not Americans.
Flamebait
Troll
Douchebag
Fuck. Off.
--
BMO
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Just because there is something worse in comparison doesn't mean that what they're doing isn't still bad.
Instead of settling for the lesser of two evils, we should be condemning ALL evils.
All your porn are belong to us! (Score:3, Interesting)
The thing is... (Score:3, Interesting)
There are people in the US that are ready and waiting to do the exact same thing. Some of them are corporations.
The RIAA and MPAA wish all this would go away.
The Dominionists and other so-called-Christian radicals (note the location of the hyphen) would burn all modern communications technology and "unchristian books" (meaning anything other than the bible) in a heartbeat.
--
BMO
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One of my friend's kids wanted to place a dinosaur in the Christmas stall he built yesterday. A true believer and righteous boy, he is.
Re:The thing is... (Score:5, Informative)
Excuse me?
In case you haven't noticed, the MPAA and RIAA have been nothing but terrorist thugs when it comes to the Internet. It fucks with their distribution system, cuts out middle men, and is generally a pain in the ass to them. They would like nothing better than to go back to the bad old days of no Internet where they held the distribution channels in their grip.
SOPA, a bill which they wrote, is tantamount to burning down the Internet.
--
BMO
Re:The thing is... (Score:5, Funny)
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I suggest you go look up the definitions of metaphor, simile, comparison, and contrast. I also suggest that you go back to school and learn literary criticism, because you only read the surface and take whatever you want from there and do not look any deeper.
I also note that you also conveniently disregarded my mention of our own Taliban right here in the States. There is little difference between what the Taliban want and the Dominionists like Joel's Army whose ultimate goal is "kill everyone"
Lastly:
You
Now we know (Score:2, Funny)
Now we know the REAL reason bin Laden moved to Pakistan!
Is this about blocking porn or... (Score:5, Insightful)
About the militia maintaining a monopoly on electronic communication to prevent a rebellion or infiltration by the government or other tribal leaders?
Remember, these villagers are mostly Muslim, and they pray five times a day. And somehow I doubt the people in the militia will be burning their own phones and computers.
Sounds more like a power move (Score:2, Insightful)
The motive is (IMHO) most likely to express and increase their power over the people affected rather than the stated one. Eliminate something that gives those people power, and show them how weak they are against their new rulers.
This just in... (Score:2)
Leaflets used to spread obscenity.
Burn all leaflets.
It's okay (Score:3)
According to Joe Biden, the Taliban is not the US's enemy so it's okay.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/joe-biden-taliban-america-enemy-gopers-romney-santorum-mccain-pounce-article-1.994760?localLinksEnabled=false
Signals Intellegence (Score:5, Interesting)
There are two possibilities. Either they are eliminating all cell phones, or only the cell phones of the non-Talaban under their control. If the get rid of all cell phones, then their ability to coordinate and send/receive timely information will be seriously impacted. They will become less effective.
If they keep cell phones for themselves, they become much more obvious targets. It will be easier to listen in on their communications because they will be the only ones talking. Even just detecting a cell phone signal will flag the location of a Talaban member. Not such a good move in the era of loitering UAVs with GPS enabled munitions.
It's nice when your enemies are such stupid fanatics that they either shoot themselves in the foot, or paint a target on their backs. I hope they find even more ways to use their religious fanaticism screw themselves up.
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DRAVOT:Now listen to me, you benighted muckers! We're going to teach you soldiering, the world's noblest profession. When we've done with you, you'll be able to stand up and slaughter your enemies like civilised men. But first, you'll have to learn to march⦠in step and do the manual of arms without having to think! Good soldiers don't ever thinkâ"they just obey!⦠Do you suppose if a man thought twice he'd give his life for King and Country? Not bloody likely. He wouldn't go near
Randall & the Taliban (Score:2)
Bunch of Savages
What else is new? (Score:2)
Religious surpression creates perversion.
Old story - for reference see Wihelm Reich, Character Analysis.
Totally perverse to destroy cellphones and computers.
What do you expect the poor nations (Score:2)
to do. They're just following the leader, that's right the good ol USofA.
hypocrisy go! (Score:2)
Don't look now... (Score:2)
They really move with the times (Score:2)
Burning books is sooo last century.
Jewish rabbi burns New Testament AND tv sets (Score:3)
Jew burning the Christian bible, the New Testament. Big News... Big Deal... ;)
"Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak oversees burning of a New Testament"
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158924,00.html [ynetnews.com]
It gets worse. The same dork is now burning tv sets...
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158924,00.html [ynetnews.com]
"Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak held a protest against television and its products on Tuesday evening, during which 1,000 (relatively old-fashioned) TV sets were thrown into large garbage bins. The modern "Tashlich" ceremony was held outside the Israel Broadcasting Authority's building in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yitzhak is famous for his activities which are centered on helping Jews to become more religious or observant. Leader of Dushinsky Hasidic dynasty threatens to expel members caught with 'non-kosher' cellular phones, computer with Internet connection"
Published? December 9, 2011... So much for progress into the 21st century.
What I am getting that these Amish-like sheep brains are all over. The Amish, the Hasidic and now some Moslems. I am sure that there has been symbolic burning amongst "peace-loving" Buddhist too...
Why can't people get over their religion. Sigh...
Not about porn (Score:3)
But controlling communication and infromation access of the people. The more ignorant they stay, the better for the Taliban.
War on Terror (Score:4, Insightful)
So, let me get this straight:
The USA spent years, trillions of $$$ - amounts where the interest on it could pay for the entire financial crisis - and hundreds of thousands of innocent lives (a few of them US soldiers) on this war thing... ...and here we are, essentially where we started with the Taliban, just with more of a mess?
Uh oh, now they've gone too far (Score:3)
Raping, looting, pillaging and being general all-around scoundrels is one thing, but now they're fucking with access to the Internet!
I reckon the Taliban's days are finally numbered....
Re:Extingush the Taliban (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm with you with the following proviso:
You must GUARANTEE, BEYOND ANY DOUBT WHATSOEVER that EVERY SINGLE LIVING BEING within the AoE is a willing follower, enabler, adherent, and/or card-carrying member thereof.
Once you've done that, Bombs Away!
-AC
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Or maybe instead of resorting to violence to achieve your goal (like the tailban does) we could try and teach them to think for themselves so they arent so easily brainwashed by religion.
Haha good one (Score:2)
Have you considered that they fucking like whats currently happening? Look at the big revolution that happened in Egypt. A new set of leaders and the same shit is still going on without even a pause.
How do you propose to teach someone who would rather die for their beliefs?
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Good luck with that. You guys couldn't even bother to finish Iraq, let alone to what was necessary to defeat what was causing the problems in the first place. Because you let politics get in the way of beating an ideology.
Re:Extingush the Taliban (Score:5, Insightful)
How do you logic with that? The answer is you can't. I don't really expect you to understand because you're in a Westernized, modern, industrial world. You follow laws, understand technology and very likely had an education. None of these are done here, in Afghanistan where I write these words, nor have they been done in thousands of years. You know, you can drive a donkey down the middle of the road here, put a family of 4 (no eye, head or other protection) on a motorized scooter, or drive the wrong way down the road here in their capital (Kabul), right past a cop, and he won't do a thing? Mind blowing but that's how it is. After we leave, that's how it'll still be...
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Insightful comments, i dont know the answer to the problems there, but i believe it has to _start_ with literacy (education).
Even "crazy" people can have logical reasons to behave in their own twisted way, the logic only makes sense if you apply it to their twisted base conditions. (it can be logical for a crazy person to behave in a crazy way)
I think a lot of arguments happen because people look at the same problem from different viewpoints and disagree with what they see. To resolve the problem requires t
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First, it's really hard to read what you're saying, when you have huge run-on sentences. I have no idea what your first sentence is trying to say, or not say. However, I'll take a stab at it. Yes, there are 0 (zero) Afghans who have watched a US Soldier burn a Koran with their own eyes. There are many who were told by TB that they were, after the TB guy burned something down and then threw a Koran into the ashes. Your second sentence seems to ramble a duplicate of the first, but I'll give a second exam
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Thermonuclear weapons are cheaper.
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You know of Tank Man, the famous protester in China? You don't know his name though. Because after the protest he vanished and was never seen or heard from again. The only force that can really counter violence is more violence. That is why most countries have a police force: A legitimate force, able to counter violent crime with violent enforcement, but willingly (-ish) subject to constraints and accountability.
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Sure, the police can keep a small percentage of "immoral" people in line, but if a significant percentage of people decide to act against society, then the police wont be much help.
Police often have resource problems as it is on say New Years EVE, or other special occasions, what makes you think they could handle it if crime say doubled, and they had to lock up 2% of the US population instead of 1.
If there wasnâ(TM)t a clear majority of "good" people then society would have crumbled long ago.
shit, why didn't Obama think of that (Score:3)
maybe we should also just round up a few thousand of them and ship them to cuba and torture them until they tell us where all the bad guys are?
i bet that would work, this war would be over tomorrow!
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maybe we should also just round up a few thousand of them and ship them to cuba and torture them until they tell us where all the bad guys are?
i bet that would work, this war would be over tomorrow!
Na, just lock them into a room with a TV running C-span 24 hours a day.
Three weeks of that and they'll be babbling vegetables.
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