John Cleese was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant and original comedians of his generation, and would have been remembered as a legend of intelligent wit and original script had he simply not devolved to be so full of hate recently.
Sadly, as he reaches his ninth decade and hence in what is most likely the last years of his life (and perhaps his age is an excuse...), he has become a bitter xenophobe spouting the most crass anti-Muslim stereotypes and regurgitating the worst caricatures of our faith that the Far Right can come up with. For the last few months, he has been on a literal crusade against Islam, and seems to refuse any sensible engagement with Muslims online or in person.
But Cleese is (or was) too intelligent to believe such lies; a simple dialogue or search would clear up these misconceptions. It's obvious his emotions have gotten the better of his intelligence.
To answer this simple garbling of facts:
No one is saying that the early Islamic empires expanded through friendly persuasion alone; they politically expanded through military conquest, just as virtually every major empire in history did. The more relevant question is whether people were converted by force. On that point, the historical evidence is quite clear. Egypt, Persia, and other regions remained largely non-Muslim for centuries after conquest, while the world's largest Muslim populations today—such as Indonesia—became Muslim without invading armies. So the historical record points to a distinction between the spread of Muslim political rule and the spread of the Islamic faith itself. Any fair assessment should recognize both.
More importantly, are you willing to apply your critique to your own civilization? Have you forgotten Britain's colonial history, and its boast of having an empire on which the sun never set, controlling over a quarter of the earth's population, subjugating hundreds of millions of peoples and fleecing the economies of many civilizations by force? Not to mention the entire mess of the modern Middle East...of which the lion's share is the direct fault of Britain with its Sykes-Picot agreement and Balfour Declaration?
All civilizations acted with a level of political force to protect their interests, but some left greater and more noble legacies than others.
@GekoGr9009@Phildidgee@WMelonees@History__Speaks@grok 1) Some Germans were ethnically cleansed from western parts of Poland, Czech etc. 2) These crimes provide no justification for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel 1948 until present.
83% of British people are white
87% of MPs are white
92% of Police officers are white
94% of the House of Lords are white
85% of Britains richest families are white
The notion that Britain experiences systemic anti-white racism is absurd
It’s a far-right conspiracy
@bigdayscoming@my_window_box@VerminusM@History__Speaks Again. Your Zionist rhetoric clearly confirms all stereotypes of which the world is learning more every day. The fact that the war crimes were committed in Dresden in no way, shape or form makes me a Nazi. Genocide in Gaza, on the other hand, is very reminiscent of Nazi crimes
@bigdayscoming@my_window_box@VerminusM@History__Speaks You seem to have a predilaction for your favorite political entity to commit crimes at will. Within this framework everything is permissible, as such don't be upset when others refer to the Zionist entity as a terrorist state.
@bigdayscoming@my_window_box@VerminusM@History__Speaks No, it does not allow for killing civilians. It allows for killing of the occupation forces. The events of 10/7 had 700+ civilians killed. In this regard, Hamas immediately agreed to international inquiry into the matter, Israeli government refused.
@bigdayscoming@my_window_box@VerminusM@History__Speaks You don't need to amend them, you can clarify them, which the court did. Nobody in their right mind can claim 59 year occupation to be within reasonable timing with respect to the original resolutions.
@bigdayscoming@my_window_box@VerminusM@History__Speaks Again, you can't commit crimes by claiming reasons, crimes are crimes. In the case of Palestine, the right of self defence only applies to intrusions into 1948 territory. In the occupied territories, Palestinians have the right to armed resistence against the occupier.