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espritch · 26th December 2003, 08:03 AM

According to an Article in today’s Charlotte Observer, Iran’s best known dancer and 24 of her students were arrested by Iranian authorities after giving a public performance for an all female audience.

Quote:

Although there are no written laws against dancing, Iran’s hard line clerics have banned the activity which they consider a promotion of moral corruption.

This comes as no surprise. After all, the even more hard line Taliban banned not only dancing, but music and kite flying. The real aim of fundamentalism is to quash any activity that brings human beings pleasure or joy. After all, if people find any pleasure in life, they might not be as willing to spend all their time prostrate in Mosques and swallowing the crap the clerics want to feed them in hopes of gaining a little happiness in the afterlife.

It seems that Allah has rewarded their piety by randomly slaughtering up to 10,000 in the ancient Iranian city of Bam.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...d=540&ncid=716

Quote:

A severe earthquake devastated the southeastern Iranian city of Bam on Friday, leveling more than half the city's houses and its historic mud-brick fortress. A preliminary estimate said the death toll could reach 10,000.

Is it wrong of me to suspect that this kind of news secretly warms the cockles of their cold shriveled little harts?

Brown · 26th December 2003, 08:08 AM

Additional quirk: The Iranian city of Bam is pronounced "bomb." No kidding.

UnrepentantSinner · 26th December 2003, 08:19 AM

Quirk number 2: Qom is pronounced "{clear throat}om."

I lived in Iran and have an Iranian (a girl btw) e-mail pal and this sort of theocratic crap grates on their nerves. I don't think they'd want pornos availible on every street corner, but I know they wouldn't want a complete separation of the sexes.

{agenda}
Iran is our natural ally in the middle east, almost as much so as Israel. By marginalizing and declaring them part of the "axis of evil" we set back our regaining a major oil supplying and strategic ally in that region by 10 years. Iran might never be another Germany or England, but it would be folly to convince the population we hold them in less than high regard.
{/agenda}

Bikewer · 26th December 2003, 09:57 AM

One seems to recall that the "other guy" wasn't too fond of dancing either (at least in some sects).

NPR had a brief "morning edition" segment a few weeks ago about an Xian school somewhere that had finally decided to let the kids have a prom.

espritch · 26th December 2003, 11:25 AM

Just as a point of clarification, I bear no ill will towards the Iranian people. I do not presume that all Iranians are fundamentalists. It is fundamentalism that I have a problem with. I find Jewish, Christian, and Hindu fundamentalism equally objectionable (not to mention such non-theistic versions of fundamentalism such as Fascism and Communism). They all suck.

sparklecat · 26th December 2003, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bikewer
One seems to recall that the "other guy" wasn't too fond of dancing either (at least in some sects).

NPR had a brief "morning edition" segment a few weeks ago about an Xian school somewhere that had finally decided to let the kids have a prom.

*grins*

I went to a Christian boarding school for awhile... the teachers allowed dancing at the Graduation banquet if it happened to spring up, but nothing organized was allowed- last time they tried, the school's sponsors had called in and threatened to withdraw their financial support if the dance went off as planned.

Luckily, the 'guys and girls have to be more than 6" apart, and we'll be walking around with a ruler to check that' rule was long gone by the time I came...

MoeFaux · 26th December 2003, 03:22 PM

I went to a private xtian school, and we didn't have school dances, we had "banquets". They were just events to dress up and go out to a semi-fancy restaraunt. No dancing. No "rock music".

My freshmean year, I lived in Southern California. A lot of the kids would spend weekends at Disneyland, where at the Carnation Plaza, they had swing dancing. One of the students suggested that we have swing dancing classes instead of P.E. So for about two weeks, about 15 of us ditched P.E. and danced in the school auditorium (the only place with proper room and away from teachers). We were caught, told our idea was insane, and sent back to class.

I was always taught that dancing was a sin. And, I guess, if you're doing it right, it is. Heh. But really, it's just as suggested in the first post. Anything that brings someone joy and "distracts" them from whatever god they're worshipping is usually banned.

sparklecat · 26th December 2003, 03:33 PM

Mmm, well, we were just told that dancing was the vertical expression of a horizontal desire...

Bikewer · 26th December 2003, 07:04 PM

I remember when I was a young kid, my parents went out to some nightclub and returned discussing how people there had been doing the "dog", and even.....the "Dirty Dog". (1950's..)

Naturally, I was consumed with interest as to what made the "dirty" version dirty....

Yahweh · 26th December 2003, 09:39 PM

DANCING!?! What did those girls think they were doing!?! Heathens the girls are!

Can I go back to thinking Muslim Law is stupid...

shuize · 27th December 2003, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MoeFaux
I went to a private xtian school, and we didn't have school dances, we had "banquets". They were just events to dress up and go out to a semi-fancy restaraunt. No dancing. No "rock music".

My freshmean year, I lived in Southern California. A lot of the kids would spend weekends at Disneyland, where at the Carnation Plaza, they had swing dancing. One of the students suggested that we have swing dancing classes instead of P.E. So for about two weeks, about 15 of us ditched P.E. and danced in the school auditorium (the only place with proper room and away from teachers). We were caught, told our idea was insane, and sent back to class.

I was always taught that dancing was a sin. And, I guess, if you're doing it right, it is. Heh. But really, it's just as suggested in the first post. Anything that brings someone joy and "distracts" them from whatever god they're worshipping is usually banned.

Dancing a sin. Banquets. Southern California.

SDA?

MoeFaux · 27th December 2003, 01:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by shuize

Dancing a sin. Banquets. Southern California.

SDA?

That's the one. My father was associate pastor for a few years at a church in Westminster. Then we moved back to Northern California.
Are you familiar with them?

Mercutio · 27th December 2003, 05:14 AM

Which church was it (I'm thinking southern baptist) about whom it was said "they are opposed to sex, because it might lead to dancing"...?

shuize · 27th December 2003, 06:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MoeFaux

That's the one. My father was associate pastor for a few years at a church in Westminster. Then we moved back to Northern California.
Are you familiar with them?

Oh yeah. As a kid I spent time in Loma Linda, California where they deliver the mail on Sundays rather than on "Sabbath."

phildonnia · 29th December 2003, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Brown
Additional quirk: The Iranian city of Bam is pronounced "bomb." No kidding.

Just yesterday I was imagining some alternate universe in which the Farsi term for "utter destruction" was pronounced "Paso Robles, California". Thus, much snickering in the city of Bam about such an unfortunately named city finally meeting its destiny.

SFB · 29th December 2003, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by espritch
After all, if people find any pleasure in life, they might not be as willing to spend all their time prostrate in Mosques and swallowing the crap the clerics want to feed them in hopes of gaining a little happiness in the afterlife.

I agree with everything you posted, but I think clerics would say the only way to find pleasure is prostrate in a mosque. IOW, that's the only thing worth living for, hence one gains happiness reverring Allah.

Not that I agree ....... Just what they would say. Same for many religions, esp. here in the US. They see spiritualism as a means to enlightenment, a way to transcend everyday life which is base or corrupt (for a Muslim, not all that different from original sin).

This is a very fundamental concept which is very difficult to break from, or break people from.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound preachy!!! (Pun intended.) Just saw a chance to split hairs, expand a bit.

Suezoled · 29th December 2003, 11:15 AM

There's a tiny group of people up here called Shakers. They are very religious, and if you live among them boys are on one end, girls another, ne'er the two shall meet (except meals). They don't have sex and don't reproduce. To increase their numbers, they take in orphans and stray peoples. Once someone is accepted, they are welcome to leave anytime if they want. And they dance; to celebrate a God they believe is gentle and kind and good, to celebrate each other's company, to thank life. They arrange in a circle, and follow the patterns to a dance, and never touch. But they dance.

espritch · 29th December 2003, 08:32 PM

Quote:

I agree with everything you posted, but I think clerics would say the only way to find pleasure is prostrate in a mosque. IOW, that's the only thing worth living for, hence one gains happiness reverring Allah.

I'm sure that is what they would say. And if that is how they wish to conduct their own lives, more power to them. The problem is that they are not satisfied to just deny their own basic humanity - they want everyone else to do so as well and are quite willing to use violence to achieve that end. Muhammad himself was quite willing to force his religion on others at the point of a sword.

Ladewig · 30th December 2003, 05:39 AM

Which church was it (I'm thinking southern baptist) about whom it was said "they are opposed to sex, because it might lead to dancing"...?

The joke is: thay are opposed to any sexual position involving standing because it might lead to dancing.

Crossbow · 30th December 2003, 06:06 AM

Sounds like they need a Muslim version of that Kevin Bacon movie.

tedly · 30th December 2003, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mercutio
Which church was it (I'm thinking southern baptist) about whom it was said "they are opposed to sex, because it might lead to dancing"...?

Here it's Mennonites who won't dance, and the line goes 'Why won't Mennonites (do IT) standing up? People might think they were dancing.'

ggcarl · 30th December 2003, 07:10 AM

I was at a holiday party the other night, when dancing broke out spontaneously. A lot of black people were there and they were really "getting down." One 20-year-old woman was dancing rather suggestively, sticking her butt out, writhing it side to side in the crotch of a 15-year-old boy. The boy was obviously turned on.

The woman sitting next to me said something like, "If he ain't got a boner by now, he ain't human."

The boy's Mother noticed the dancing, too, and quickly stepped in to drag him away. I saw them over in the corner right after, she with a stern look on her face apparently giving him the riot act. I know her to be a devout Snapper.

I ask you: Which is more harmful, a boy getting a hard-on from suggestive dancing, or praying on a rug 5 times a day to an invisible guy?

[rap]Gimme the boner any day. Religion sucks in every way.[/rap]

26th December 2003, 08:03 AM	#1
espritch Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,380	Allah and the Evils of Dancing According to an Article in today’s Charlotte Observer, Iran’s best known dancer and 24 of her students were arrested by Iranian authorities after giving a public performance for an all female audience. Quote: Although there are no written laws against dancing, Iran’s hard line clerics have banned the activity which they consider a promotion of moral corruption. This comes as no surprise. After all, the even more hard line Taliban banned not only dancing, but music and kite flying. The real aim of fundamentalism is to quash any activity that brings human beings pleasure or joy. After all, if people find any pleasure in life, they might not be as willing to spend all their time prostrate in Mosques and swallowing the crap the clerics want to feed them in hopes of gaining a little happiness in the afterlife. It seems that Allah has rewarded their piety by randomly slaughtering up to 10,000 in the ancient Iranian city of Bam. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...d=540&ncid=716 Quote: A severe earthquake devastated the southeastern Iranian city of Bam on Friday, leveling more than half the city's houses and its historic mud-brick fortress. A preliminary estimate said the death toll could reach 10,000. Is it wrong of me to suspect that this kind of news secretly warms the cockles of their cold shriveled little harts?
	__________________ "I'm the master of low expectations." - G. W. Bush

26th December 2003, 08:08 AM	#2
Brown Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Twin Cities, Canada Posts: 12,293	Additional quirk: The Iranian city of Bam is pronounced "bomb." No kidding.
	__________________ Klaatu: I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it. Mr. Harley: I'm afraid my people haven't. I am very sorry. I wish it were otherwise. -- The Day The Earth Stood Still, screenplay by Edmund H. North "Don't you get me wrong. I only want to know." -- Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, lyrics by Tim Rice

26th December 2003, 08:19 AM	#3
UnrepentantSinner A post by Alan Smithee Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USAian is not a word Posts: 26,438	Quirk number 2: Qom is pronounced "{clear throat}om." I lived in Iran and have an Iranian (a girl btw) e-mail pal and this sort of theocratic crap grates on their nerves. I don't think they'd want pornos availible on every street corner, but I know they wouldn't want a complete separation of the sexes. {agenda} Iran is our natural ally in the middle east, almost as much so as Israel. By marginalizing and declaring them part of the "axis of evil" we set back our regaining a major oil supplying and strategic ally in that region by 10 years. Iran might never be another Germany or England, but it would be folly to convince the population we hold them in less than high regard. {/agenda}
	__________________ I am an American citizen who is part of American society and briefly served in the American armed forces. I use American dollars and pay taxes that support the American government. And yes, despite the editorial decison to change American politics to the nonsensical "USA politics" subforum, I follow and comment on American politics.

26th December 2003, 11:25 AM	#5
espritch Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,380	Just as a point of clarification, I bear no ill will towards the Iranian people. I do not presume that all Iranians are fundamentalists. It is fundamentalism that I have a problem with. I find Jewish, Christian, and Hindu fundamentalism equally objectionable (not to mention such non-theistic versions of fundamentalism such as Fascism and Communism). They all suck.
	__________________ "I'm the master of low expectations." - G. W. Bush

26th December 2003, 03:22 PM	#7
MoeFaux Suspicious Mind Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 3,919	I went to a private xtian school, and we didn't have school dances, we had "banquets". They were just events to dress up and go out to a semi-fancy restaraunt. No dancing. No "rock music". My freshmean year, I lived in Southern California. A lot of the kids would spend weekends at Disneyland, where at the Carnation Plaza, they had swing dancing. One of the students suggested that we have swing dancing classes instead of P.E. So for about two weeks, about 15 of us ditched P.E. and danced in the school auditorium (the only place with proper room and away from teachers). We were caught, told our idea was insane, and sent back to class. I was always taught that dancing was a sin. And, I guess, if you're doing it right, it is. Heh. But really, it's just as suggested in the first post. Anything that brings someone joy and "distracts" them from whatever god they're worshipping is usually banned.
MoeFaux Suspicious Mind Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 3,919	__________________ This post brought to you by the artist fauxmerly known as Moe.

26th December 2003, 09:57 AM	#4
Bikewer Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: St. Louis, Mo. Posts: 9,613	One seems to recall that the "other guy" wasn't too fond of dancing either (at least in some sects). NPR had a brief "morning edition" segment a few weeks ago about an Xian school somewhere that had finally decided to let the kids have a prom.

26th December 2003, 01:31 PM	#6
sparklecat Muse Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Scotland Posts: 741	Quote: Originally posted by Bikewer One seems to recall that the "other guy" wasn't too fond of dancing either (at least in some sects). NPR had a brief "morning edition" segment a few weeks ago about an Xian school somewhere that had finally decided to let the kids have a prom. grins I went to a Christian boarding school for awhile... the teachers allowed dancing at the Graduation banquet if it happened to spring up, but nothing organized was allowed- last time they tried, the school's sponsors had called in and threatened to withdraw their financial support if the dance went off as planned. Luckily, the 'guys and girls have to be more than 6" apart, and we'll be walking around with a ruler to check that' rule was long gone by the time I came...

26th December 2003, 03:33 PM	#8
sparklecat Muse Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Scotland Posts: 741	Mmm, well, we were just told that dancing was the vertical expression of a horizontal desire...

26th December 2003, 07:04 PM	#9
Bikewer Philosopher Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: St. Louis, Mo. Posts: 9,613	I remember when I was a young kid, my parents went out to some nightclub and returned discussing how people there had been doing the "dog", and even.....the "Dirty Dog". (1950's..) Naturally, I was consumed with interest as to what made the "dirty" version dirty....

26th December 2003, 09:39 PM	#10
Yahweh Ayay ashay ayay Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 9,029	DANCING!?! What did those girls think they were doing!?! Heathens the girls are! Can I go back to thinking Muslim Law is stupid...
Yahweh Ayay ashay ayay Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 9,029

27th December 2003, 01:07 AM	#11
shuize Master Poster Join Date: May 2002 Location: Japan Posts: 2,321	Quote: Originally posted by MoeFaux I went to a private xtian school, and we didn't have school dances, we had "banquets". They were just events to dress up and go out to a semi-fancy restaraunt. No dancing. No "rock music". My freshmean year, I lived in Southern California. A lot of the kids would spend weekends at Disneyland, where at the Carnation Plaza, they had swing dancing. One of the students suggested that we have swing dancing classes instead of P.E. So for about two weeks, about 15 of us ditched P.E. and danced in the school auditorium (the only place with proper room and away from teachers). We were caught, told our idea was insane, and sent back to class. I was always taught that dancing was a sin. And, I guess, if you're doing it right, it is. Heh. But really, it's just as suggested in the first post. Anything that brings someone joy and "distracts" them from whatever god they're worshipping is usually banned. Dancing a sin. Banquets. Southern California. SDA?

27th December 2003, 01:49 AM	#12
MoeFaux Suspicious Mind Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 3,919	Quote: Originally posted by shuize Dancing a sin. Banquets. Southern California. SDA? That's the one. My father was associate pastor for a few years at a church in Westminster. Then we moved back to Northern California. Are you familiar with them?
MoeFaux Suspicious Mind Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 3,919	__________________ This post brought to you by the artist fauxmerly known as Moe.

27th December 2003, 05:14 AM	#13
Mercutio Shakespeare's Sock Puppet Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Live Free Or Die Posts: 16,325	Which church was it (I'm thinking southern baptist) about whom it was said "they are opposed to sex, because it might lead to dancing"...?

27th December 2003, 06:10 AM	#14
shuize Master Poster Join Date: May 2002 Location: Japan Posts: 2,321	Quote: Originally posted by MoeFaux That's the one. My father was associate pastor for a few years at a church in Westminster. Then we moved back to Northern California. Are you familiar with them? Oh yeah. As a kid I spent time in Loma Linda, California where they deliver the mail on Sundays rather than on "Sabbath."

29th December 2003, 08:57 AM	#15
phildonnia Master Poster Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Sac'to CA Posts: 2,339	Quote: Originally posted by Brown Additional quirk: The Iranian city of Bam is pronounced "bomb." No kidding. Just yesterday I was imagining some alternate universe in which the Farsi term for "utter destruction" was pronounced "Paso Robles, California". Thus, much snickering in the city of Bam about such an unfortunately named city finally meeting its destiny.

29th December 2003, 11:08 AM	#16
SFB Critical Thinker Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 288	Re: Allah and the Evils of Dancing Quote: Originally posted by espritch After all, if people find any pleasure in life, they might not be as willing to spend all their time prostrate in Mosques and swallowing the crap the clerics want to feed them in hopes of gaining a little happiness in the afterlife. I agree with everything you posted, but I think clerics would say the only way to find pleasure is prostrate in a mosque. IOW, that's the only thing worth living for, hence one gains happiness reverring Allah. Not that I agree ....... Just what they would say. Same for many religions, esp. here in the US. They see spiritualism as a means to enlightenment, a way to transcend everyday life which is base or corrupt (for a Muslim, not all that different from original sin). This is a very fundamental concept which is very difficult to break from, or break people from. Sorry, I don't mean to sound preachy!!! (Pun intended.) Just saw a chance to split hairs, expand a bit.
SFB Critical Thinker Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 288

29th December 2003, 11:15 AM	#17
Suezoled Mentally Interesting Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 4,588	There's a tiny group of people up here called Shakers. They are very religious, and if you live among them boys are on one end, girls another, ne'er the two shall meet (except meals). They don't have sex and don't reproduce. To increase their numbers, they take in orphans and stray peoples. Once someone is accepted, they are welcome to leave anytime if they want. And they dance; to celebrate a God they believe is gentle and kind and good, to celebrate each other's company, to thank life. They arrange in a circle, and follow the patterns to a dance, and never touch. But they dance.
	__________________ "We must always fear the wicked. But there is another kind of evil that we must fear the most, and that is the indifference of good men." -priest guy from Boondock Saints "And we'll no longer memorize or rhyme/Too far along in our crime/ Stepping over what now towers to the sky/ With no connection" -Shins

29th December 2003, 08:32 PM	#18
espritch Graduate Poster Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,380	Quote: I agree with everything you posted, but I think clerics would say the only way to find pleasure is prostrate in a mosque. IOW, that's the only thing worth living for, hence one gains happiness reverring Allah. I'm sure that is what they would say. And if that is how they wish to conduct their own lives, more power to them. The problem is that they are not satisfied to just deny their own basic humanity - they want everyone else to do so as well and are quite willing to use violence to achieve that end. Muhammad himself was quite willing to force his religion on others at the point of a sword.
	__________________ "I'm the master of low expectations." - G. W. Bush

30th December 2003, 05:39 AM	#19
Ladewig Hipster alien Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: not measurable Posts: 16,932	Which church was it (I'm thinking southern baptist) about whom it was said "they are opposed to sex, because it might lead to dancing"...? The joke is: thay are opposed to any sexual position involving standing because it might lead to dancing.
	__________________ Is the JREF message board training wheels for people who hope to one day troll other message boards? It is not that hard to get us to believe you. We are not the major leagues or even the minor leagues. We are Pee-Wee baseball. If you love striking out 10-year-olds, then you'll love trolling our board.

30th December 2003, 06:06 AM	#20
Crossbow Seeking Honesty and Sanity Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 6,349	Sounds like they need a Muslim version of that Kevin Bacon movie.
	__________________ A man's best friend is his dogma.

30th December 2003, 06:45 AM	#21
tedly Critical Thinker Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Soviet Canickistan Posts: 380	Quote: Originally posted by Mercutio Which church was it (I'm thinking southern baptist) about whom it was said "they are opposed to sex, because it might lead to dancing"...? Here it's Mennonites who won't dance, and the line goes 'Why won't Mennonites (do IT) standing up? People might think they were dancing.'
	__________________ When asked why he kept enlisting, Cpl. Francisco Gomez told his uncle 'someone has to protect the children from the bullets' Believe half of what you see, a quarter of what you read, and absolutely nothing that you hear - Dad

30th December 2003, 07:10 AM	#22
ggcarl Sheep in Wolf's Clothing Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 43	I was at a holiday party the other night, when dancing broke out spontaneously. A lot of black people were there and they were really "getting down." One 20-year-old woman was dancing rather suggestively, sticking her butt out, writhing it side to side in the crotch of a 15-year-old boy. The boy was obviously turned on. The woman sitting next to me said something like, "If he ain't got a boner by now, he ain't human." The boy's Mother noticed the dancing, too, and quickly stepped in to drag him away. I saw them over in the corner right after, she with a stern look on her face apparently giving him the riot act. I know her to be a devout Snapper. I ask you: Which is more harmful, a boy getting a hard-on from suggestive dancing, or praying on a rug 5 times a day to an invisible guy? [rap]Gimme the boner any day. Religion sucks in every way.[/rap]
	__________________ The gas pressure is becoming less. It does not matter. Let it be. -- Simple Colloquial Persian, pg. 37, Second Edition, 1941; Longmans, Green, and Co., London.