|
|
Post by Armand Tanzarian on Feb 10, 2011 4:50:42 GMT -5
(Mods: if this belongs to F&B, please move it there)
I just returned from the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Its a place where thousands of people were tortured and killed in utter cold blood during Pol Pot’s reign. And what makes it bizarre is it used to be a school, situated in what is still today a very crowded area of Phnom Penh, and the basic infrastructure of the school is still there, down to the blackboards. Then you see the 5x8 cells, the beds with chains, the ammunition boxes, the torture devices. The skulls. The pictures. No one can walk through that place without feeling affected.
But this is not what makes it disrespectful.
Its that, in the middle of this place, is a church group from Wisconsin, USA. We struck up a conversation due to the gravity of the place, or so I thought. Then he hands me a pamphlet and asks me “Do you believe when you die you’ll go to hell?”
In a place where tens of thousands of people died, you have the attitude to ask me that question?
I’ve always maintained that evangelizing is the single worst thing one can do with his mouth. Yet even then, in a goddamn concentration camp, you’d think some people have the decency to keep a lid on it. Apparently not.
|
|
|
|
Post by itachirumon on Feb 10, 2011 4:57:49 GMT -5
It might not be appropriate since a place of such violence shouldn't beget more violence but....I would honestly say exactly what you said above and punch the person out. Then if they bitch just say again "Dude, fuck you, you should be ashamed. How dare you? Do you have ANY concern for the gravity of what's happened here? Get out, get OUT and don't ever come back. You've disrespected the souls of everyone here, EVERYONE HERE. 'Do you believe when you die you'll go to hell?' Well You just disrespected SEVERAL MILLION PEOPLE!!! So do YOU believe when you die you'll go to hell? Oh no, you're saved right? Guess what fucker, you disrespected them, that means you're going to hell, straight to hell, so burn there, piece of fucker shit."
|
|
|
|
Post by gyeonghwa on Feb 10, 2011 13:30:26 GMT -5
I've only seen it on the Christian TV so I imagine that it is more enraging when it happens in real-life.
I find it completely distasteful in that
1. the historical role of Christianity in the oppression of local people (especailly under South Vietnam and in medical care distribution)
2. Saying "are you going to hell?" in a place where the vast majority of people, who were Buddhist with a Catholic/Muslim/Animist minority, died is just horrible. It's almost like saying they "deserved it for not being in my religion".
|
|
|
|
Post by kmc on Feb 10, 2011 14:13:28 GMT -5
My BIL escaped from Cambodia. On foot, leading his family (minus his father who was a teacher and killed for being educated) out of the country, to the Philippines and then here to the U.S. I have the utmost respect for my BIL, his Buddhist faith, and what he went through. The fact that people are proselytizing there disgusts me.  Not to stray off-topic but Armand, what is that a picture of in your avatar? |
|
|
|
Post by ironbite on Feb 10, 2011 16:58:17 GMT -5
His thumb.
|
|
|
|
Post by kmc on Feb 10, 2011 19:54:58 GMT -5
|
|
Random Agnostic
Junior Member
A secularist and religious skeptic.
Posts: 76
|
Post by Random Agnostic on Feb 10, 2011 22:03:36 GMT -5
(Mods: if this belongs to F&B, please move it there) I just returned from the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Its a place where thousands of people were tortured and killed in utter cold blood during Pol Pot’s reign. And what makes it bizarre is it used to be a school, situated in what is still today a very crowded area of Phnom Penh, and the basic infrastructure of the school is still there, down to the blackboards. Then you see the 5x8 cells, the beds with chains, the ammunition boxes, the torture devices. The skulls. The pictures. No one can walk through that place without feeling affected. But this is not what makes it disrespectful. Its that, in the middle of this place, is a church group from Wisconsin, USA. We struck up a conversation due to the gravity of the place, or so I thought. Then he hands me a pamphlet and asks me “Do you believe when you die you’ll go to hell?” In a place where tens of thousands of people died, you have the attitude to ask me that question? I’ve always maintained that evangelizing is the single worst thing one can do with his mouth. Yet even then, in a goddamn concentration camp, you’d think some people have the decency to keep a lid on it. Apparently not. Sounds like kind of a "let us take a moment to reflect on the torture and horror caused by the evil tyranny of Pol Pot, and the love of God who sent them to a place of eternal torture and horror for not being Christians" type of thing. How sickening. They basically just spat on the corpses of all who died there. Just goes to show it isn't just the Westboro Baptist Church who does this kind of stuff. Exploiting human suffering to promote a religious agenda is one of the most morally repugnant things anyone can do. |
|
|
|
Post by stormwarden on Feb 11, 2011 0:25:21 GMT -5
That is vile, and disgusting, and as much as I'd hate to shed more blood in a place where so many died, I don't think their spirits would object if I handed that church group their asses on a silver platter, and topped it off with a nice "Why You Suck" speech.
|
|
|
|
Post by clockworkgirl21 on Feb 11, 2011 3:26:55 GMT -5
I've never heard of this place, so I looked it up. God, what a terrible situation for thousands of people to be in.
I would almost suggest making the fundies go through what those victims did until they apologized, but although they'd deserve it, it's too horrible to do that to anything that can feel pain.
I do have a question about torture though. It should be obvious the person will admit to anything to get you to stop torturing them. I'm sure the guards and torturers knew this. Why get some to confess to a crime they didn't do? Just to give you a reason to kill them?
|
|
|
|
Post by anti-nonsense on Feb 11, 2011 3:52:25 GMT -5
I've never heard of this place, so I looked it up. God, what a terrible situation for thousands of people to be in. I would almost suggest making the fundies go through what those victims did until they apologized, but although they'd deserve it, it's too horrible to do that to anything that can feel pain. I do have a question about torture though. It should be obvious the person will admit to anything to get you to stop torturing them. I'm sure the guards and torturers knew this. Why get some to confess to a crime they didn't do? Just to give you a reason to kill them? Yep, tried and true technique there, used by the Inquisition and probably other people before that. Lots of corrupt governments like to maintain the illusion of fairness and legitimate rule of law, so they have to find a reason to execute people. if they can't just make them disappear altogether that is. |
|
|
|
Post by Shane for Wax on Feb 11, 2011 10:36:51 GMT -5
I mentioned earlier that it was vile and the worst thing ever to do. Would they do the same at Auschwitz?
|
|
|
|
Post by shadowpanther on Feb 11, 2011 11:34:30 GMT -5
I mentioned earlier that it was vile and the worst thing ever to do. Would they do the same at Auschwitz? Ah, you see, this was different as it was only brown people who were brutally murdered. And also becasue nobody ever seems to mention Cambodia for some reason. |
|
|
|
Post by tgrwulf on Feb 11, 2011 13:19:17 GMT -5
Wow... do these people have no shame at all? I would of given him a big resounding "Fuck you!" loud enough for everyone to hear.
|
|
|
|
Post by Shane for Wax on Feb 11, 2011 15:40:09 GMT -5
Pol Pot's reign resulted in the deaths of 1.7 to 2 million people. I know it's not as much as the Holocaust but still. that's a lot of people gone.
|
|
|
|
Post by RavynousHunter on Feb 11, 2011 16:29:10 GMT -5
People like this are why I want to build a machine army that would kill anything I say, in any way I want. What better way to kill the soulless monsters, than with soulless monsters?
|
|
