20th, 21th & 22th May

Khris · Fri 20/05/2011 17:05:45

This is going to be an awesome weekend, in case you have missed what three events are going down today and the two days after:

20th May:
The second Draw Mohammed Day.
People are killed over cartoons, so let's teach Islam a lesson about tolerance: http://dmd2011tf.net/

21th May:
At 6 PM, a global earthquake will herald Armageddon. Harold Camping didn't want to nail down the time zone, but 6 PM is pretty much when it's going to go down. So according to the blabbering, senile old fool, apparently the earthquake will start in the Pacific and then run around the globe, slowing down or getting faster according to how wide the time zones are.
This guy has gotten media coverage without end and has thousands of followers. And, this time, he's absolutely 100% positive it's going to happen.

22th May:

(click for bigger version)

Have fun

Ali · Fri 20/05/2011 17:53:20

I'm not sure about Draw Mohammed Day. I love drawing and blasphemy alright, but it doesn't seem right to celebrate free expression by victimising a particular faith.

What value is there in provoking the many moderate Muslims who are offended by depictions of their prophet?

A day of drawing something forbidden would have been far more imaginative and open to free expression.

Still, the rapture sounds like fun.

Edit: On second thoughts, if there was a day making fun of Catholic beliefs I'd be all for it. So maybe I'm being over sensitive. Or under sensitive towards Catholics.

Stupot · Fri 20/05/2011 18:32:59

Fucking idiots. Seriously. Most people are joking about it, but it scares me that some people actually believe this shit. It makes me ashamed to be part of the same race as these fucking morons.

Atelier · Fri 20/05/2011 18:49:40

It will be a global earthquake, but will happen at around 6pm? Then it won't be 6pm on the other side of the world when the 6pm earthquake is happening, therefore it won't happen? Help, paradox!

Babar · Fri 20/05/2011 19:19:24

IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW!

People will draw Muhammad on Draw Muhammad Day, then muslims around the world will get seriously pissed off, launch nukes, predictably miss, and hit the pacific, starting off Armageddon, and then the next day our alien overlords will show up, exasperated that their human experiment on earth went so tragically wrong, and thus pull the plug and destroy everyone with...triangular formations!

Khris · Fri 20/05/2011 20:59:27

A few tips for those of you who'll get raptured:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmX-lZOYcVA

Ali:
The point of DMD is ultimately to make drawing the prophet so banal that the free press no longer bows to dogma.
There are people who say that the mere concept of "being offended" by something is utterly useless and ridiculous. I share this opinion.

Atelier:
Sure, Camping doesn't even realize the contradiction. I wish I could see his face when he realizes that nothing happened. But he will find an excuse of course.

My favorite is the UFO thing though. Fooling morons might be petty, but it's still great fun.

Phemar · Fri 20/05/2011 21:05:16

Bad news, the UFO thing has been reported to a few UFO sighting sites, so they're all pretty much aware of the joke

Makes me sad.

Snarky · Fri 20/05/2011 21:36:18

Yeah, I don't get how they expected to keep that a secret from the UFO people. You can't really crowdsource a conspiracy.

And as for Camping, I mostly feel sorry for him. He's just an old guy who's been waiting for the end of the world for most of his life, and this is pretty much his last chance. Of course, once you start asking why he's so keen on doomsday, you find the same old homophobia and xenophobia, but still...

There's no telling how he and his followers are going to take it. Some apocalyptic movements dissolve or at least reform their beliefs once their prophecies fail, others come up with even crazier explanations and become more confirmed than ever in their faith.

Christianity of course has a long history of end-of-the-world-is-nigh doomsaying. Jesus himself explicitly promises that the Kingdom of God will appear in the lifetime of some of those around him. In fact, failed prophecy is my (not-so-original) interpretation of how the whole religion got started in the first place. Jesus goes around saying that the world is about to be turned upside down. God is going to fix everything for the Jews, especially the poor and downtrodden. He'll throw out the Romans and set up a holy kingdom, and Jesus and his disciples will be its rulers. Then the authorities simply arrest and execute him, and all his promises look ridiculous. It's a crisis for anyone who believed in him. How do the disciples deal with this? They freak out, trying to make sense of it, until one of them has a revelation... The idea of the Resurrection and an imminent Second Coming becomes the linchpin of their new belief, and the foundation of what eventually becomes a new religion (once they conclude that Jesus was actually God himself).

Ali · Fri 20/05/2011 22:20:36

Quote from: Khris on Fri 20/05/2011 20:59:27
Ali:
The point of DMD is ultimately to make drawing the prophet so banal that the free press no longer bows to dogma.
There are people who say that the mere concept of "being offended" by something is utterly useless and ridiculous. I share this opinion.

I agree that people have no right not to be offended by drawings of Mohammed, but the concept of being offended is hardly ridiculous. I do agree that orchestrated outrage from extremists is useless and ridiculous.

The drawing on the DMD video showing Mohammed as an octopus with a bomb for a hat spreading his tentacles around the globe is flatly provocative and borderline racist. It chimes with the 'Islamic Conspiracy' theorists who make up the European far right and hardly embodies the spirit of free expression which ought to lie behind a project like this.

Quote from: Snarky on Fri 20/05/2011 21:36:18
In fact, failed prophecy is my (not-so-original) interpretation of how the whole religion got started in the first place.

If you haven't read it, you'd like Philip Pullman's the Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, in which he retells the story giving Mary two sons.

Edit: Alright, you probably wouldn't like it. But I do!

Snarky · Fri 20/05/2011 22:44:06

I'm not sure I would. I don't really get the point of making up something like that when a plausibly historically accurate version could be so fascinating. And I find Pullman at his most insufferable when he's dealing with religion. The last book in His Dark Materials turned into a shrill anti-religious screed (while at the same time apparently promoting Gnosticism, weirdly enough).

What I am really interested in is groups like these various sects we've discussed that live in a reality entirely unlike what the rest of us (here in the modern western world) know. I just find it so mindblowing that within this vast homogeneous landscape of iPods and Lady Gaga and swine flu or whatever, there are pockets of people who might almost as well be undiscovered Amazonian tribes for all they have in common with such concerns. The closest I've found to something that really explores this paradox is Never Let Me Go, but I wasn't quite satisfied with its treatment of the theme (let's not talk about The Village). I've long wanted to make a game with a setting like that, but have never come up with a good story for it.

Snake · Fri 20/05/2011 23:43:28

Idiots.

"We all know that the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse are called Fountain of Youth, Run Hot, The Legend of the Lost Lagoon and The Legend of Leitor's Edge. When you see any of them appear, you know that hell has frozen over and the end of time is nigh." -SSH

\\--EDIT--//
I'm truly sorry, LimpingFish. Every time I read this, "It's less of a joke, and more of a hilarious tragedy. Like a clown being kicked in the balls.", my bowl full of jelly jiggles, but I think it is appropriate that until October 21st that I change my signature to the above

Khris · Fri 20/05/2011 23:49:57

I don't feel sorry for Camping, more for the people who fell for him.

Quote[Family Radio] received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009.

Quote from: Ali on Fri 20/05/2011 22:20:36I agree that people have no right not to be offended by drawings of Mohammed, but the concept of being offended is hardly ridiculous. I do agree that orchestrated outrage from extremists is useless and ridiculous.

I think the perfect analogy for being offended is a child who hurts its knee but doesn't start to whine until its mom is within earshot.

DMD: What's more important? Free expression without fear from religious bullying or not hurting the feelings of a few fundamentalists?

Domino · Sat 21/05/2011 00:34:47

Any Facebook members here who want a good laugh, check this page out.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121968371215699

It is hilarious, and have even commented a few times.

Calin Leafshade · Sat 21/05/2011 00:47:18

I don't see why the rapture thing is so absurd...

Surely Christians believe judgement is going to happen at some point. I fail to see why this saturday is any less likely than any other day.

Stupot · Sat 21/05/2011 00:53:40

What is absurd is that they think this saturday is MORE likely than any other day, when the Bible clearly states no man can know when it will be. They've chosen to believe this because of one old man's dodgy maths. As a Lost fan, I'm used to people coming up with wild theories based on an arbitrary set of numbers, but I'm also well aware that Lost is FICTION!

[edit]
By 'they' I don't mean all Christians, but the select few morons who actually believe it's gonna happen. If it does happen... then Thank God... the world will be better off without them (although they'll have turned out to be right and I'll look like the moron... d'oh

)

Mati256 · Sat 21/05/2011 01:00:35

Be aware in case of Zombie Apocalypse!
http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

m0ds · Sat 21/05/2011 01:55:08

Nice quote Snake! And SSH. Based on that information, I can assure you the apocalypse is still a way off yet

Good to see you stoke the paranoia/conspiracy hype though, Khris!

And yeps - us "UFO people" were well aware of that hoax about a week ago. That kind of thing can still catch out the idiots, but most "UFO people" with common sense would be able to spot a hoax/hoax material like that if it surfaced

As for Camping - well, too bad. Whatever money he made from his campaign should just about cover the cost of the "end is nigh" signs on his fleet of camper vans...

Personally, it's all about the 23rd, 24th and 25th May for me.........AMSTERDAM!!!!

SSH · Sat 21/05/2011 02:12:04

Hi folks, sorry the pastor is right. Being in an Asia timezone, I'm already raptured and I can exlusively reveal... Heaven has free ipads and wifi which may reveal which is the ONE TRUE RELIGION.

Spoiler

It's no coincidence that the tree of knowledge was an Apple

[close]

RickJ · Sat 21/05/2011 03:27:06

Here's a rapture ad from craigslist

http://spokane.craigslist.org/zip/2393561754.html

Ponch · Sat 21/05/2011 04:09:12

Quote from: SSH on Sat 21/05/2011 02:12:04
Hi folks, sorry the pastor is right. Being in an Asia timezone, I'm already raptured and I can exlusively reveal... Heaven has free ipads and wifi which may reveal which is the ONE TRUE RELIGION.

Spoiler

It's no coincidence that the tree of knowledge was an Apple
[close]

How am I supposed to enjoy heaven if Steve Jobs is there? I don't want to spend eternity with such a tool.

20th, 21th & 22th May

m0ds