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Monk attack

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 18, 2007 - 12:02am.

Today, anti-government protesters in Myanmar vandalized shops and took officials hostage. But wait, here's the best part: the violent protesters are Buddhist monks!

Heh. Aren't Buddhists supposed to be all about calm and non-aggression? Apparently, Buddhism's lofty ideal of tranquility is just like Christianity's "love thy enemy" meme--sounds wonderful in theory but rarely works in practice.

You can hardly blame the monks though. Myanmar has been under oppressive military rule for decades, so of course the frustration of their people would boil over from time to time. Even the most peaceful Buddhist monk would fight back if you push him hard enough.

I don't know much about Myanmar. I personally know only six people from that country. I was in the same class as them when I attended a training program in Japan two years ago. They were a very nice and friendly bunch. They laughed at my corny jokes, and I pretended to like soccer. We got along real well.

I can't speak for them, but I had seen some of them looking at websites plastered with pictures of Burmese pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, so I think I can guess which way they're leanings politically. And I feel bad that they have to live in a place where information is heavily censored and GMail is illegal. GMail is a basic human right, damn it! Myanmar's military junta sucks.

I don't know how this monk riot will turn out. Maybe the monks are getting gunned down as we speak. I sure hope not. Their activities may be somewhat un-Buddha-like, but their cause is a just one. And, despite my personal distaste for religion, I understand that it can be a powerful tool for political change. In the Philippines, the Catholic clergy helped topple the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. Perhaps the Burmese monks would be able do the same for their country.

Yay.

Yay!

Submitted by Arbet Loggins C... on September 18, 2007 - 1:54pm.

Hurrah for disruptive men of the cloth!

http://awbholdings.com

Yay!

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 18, 2007 - 2:29pm.

Some of them aren't so nice though.

Wow

Submitted by philos on September 18, 2007 - 3:15pm.

He sure takes care of his eyebrows.

i know where he is..

Submitted by paolomendoza (not verified) on September 18, 2007 - 3:45pm.

he shaved his face and made a movie called Borat. Clue: He was last seen in the mountains of Tora Borat!

Ha?! ha?!

And he said "Wawawewa!" in his latest video

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 18, 2007 - 5:08pm.

How could I have missed it? All the clues are there!

Nah

Submitted by Arbet Loggins C... on September 18, 2007 - 4:40pm.

He's no man of the cloth. He's the man with clothes on, though.

http://awbholdings.com

Yeah

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 18, 2007 - 5:03pm.

He's a man with a pile of cloth on his head, heh.

Misleading and false

Submitted by Anonymous Chicken (not verified) on September 25, 2007 - 11:14am.

You should check and read your stories or sources. Even CNN was wrong. It wasn't really violent, it's just something that you wouldn't normally expect from Buddhists. But Buddhists are also Myanmar citizens, and being citizens they have civil rights, civil rights to civil disobedience.

Don't be a fundamentalist and interpret facts literally. Take into account the context of the situation.

You have power to disseminate information and persuade people to believe a line of thought. Please use that power responsibly.

Did you even bother

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 25, 2007 - 1:19pm.

to read the whole entry? Did you miss the part where I said that the monks' violence is justified?

To be fair, the protests have been peaceful over the last few days. But if you don't consider Day 1's vandalism and hostage taking violent acts, you're out of your mind... and I wouldn't want to mess with you :-P

Maybe he's from Usenet?

Submitted by carnifex on September 25, 2007 - 7:35pm.

You know, the "NOT READING, JUST SHOUTING!!!!111!!!ELEVENTYONE!!!111!!ONEONEONE!" kind.

Tyranids may look unpleasant, but believe me, you don't want to let them out of your sight

Well, at least he was able to

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 25, 2007 - 8:36pm.

form complete sentences. Too bad he couldn't do logical thinking.

Yes

Submitted by carnifex on September 25, 2007 - 8:54pm.

His supernatural ability to write sentences without Caps Lock on is also amazing.

Tyranids may look unpleasant, but believe me, you don't want to let them out of your sight

Anonymous chicken!

Submitted by neko-chan on September 25, 2007 - 11:55pm.

Come back! I want more controversy! :P

Looks like

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 28, 2007 - 2:05am.

you got your wish :-P

Oh of course I bothered, did you?

Submitted by Anonymous Chicken (not verified) on September 28, 2007 - 1:46am.

That's why I commented. I wonder if -you- bothered to, because your own reference or source, as I've said, is wrong. CNN only said the vandalizing and violent acts in the lead paragraph but did not go into detail how, where, what in the rest of the article those vandalisms or hostage-taking the Buddhist monks supposedly did.

If you're going to get news at all about the recent Myanmar protests, better get it straight from the blogs of Myanmar citizens. Because even the International media is relying on those blogs to get pictures, video, and stories on what's happening on the ground.

And even if you justified in the latter parts the monks' "violence", your second paragraph was already misleading, implying or insinuating that Buddhism is a walking contradiction like Christianity. And if you knew Buddhism at all, you would know that it's not "all about calm and non-aggression".

Hey, had your reference been true, I would have agreed with you. But you didn't check your facts, which is sad for a blogger who's aim is to persuade people. Bloggers are the Internet's version of newspaper journalists/columnists, and being a journalist entails the three A's - accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.

And no, I'm not from Usenet, I'm not from Myanmar, and I'm not Buddhist. I'm a Filipino, and I'm an agnostic. I appreciate your blunt and aggressive tack on theism, but I hope you properly do your role as a blogger, and as a person.

Yours truly,
Manok ~:>

Huh?

Submitted by carnifex on September 28, 2007 - 2:49am.

Bloggers are the Internet's version of newspaper journalists/columnists, and being a journalist entails the three A's - accuracy, accuracy, accuracy.

Chill out, dude, JC is as much a journalist as any other comedian, who bases his jokes on real life happenings (Jay Leno, for example). Give him a rest. If you want journalism, ChickenMafia is really not the place to go :-)

Tyranids may look unpleasant, but believe me, you don't want to let them out of your sight

But we check

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 28, 2007 - 3:03am.

and double-check our facts!

OK, we don't :-P Yay.

I like the 3 As though. I think they go well with the 3 Rs: redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.

I was tempted to dismiss you

Submitted by joyfulchicken on September 28, 2007 - 3:01am.

with some smart-ass insults, but since you took the time to post such a long comment, I guess you deserve a proper reply. So here's my response to the points you raised:

- I'm a blogger, not a journalist. And no, not all bloggers are or want to be journalists. As much as I like to make fun of them, the people at CNN are journalists. I'm not. You're not. CNN has teams that do fact checks. I don't. You don't. So you don't have to feel bad that I consider CNN a more reliable source than you are.

- Funny that you should accuse me of not checking my sources. Well, my source is CNN. What's yours? You declared that CNN's story was wrong. Where are your sources? If you're going to accuse them of being wrong, simply saying "they're wrong" won't cut it. You need to back it up. At least give me some links to news articles that tell a different story or something. I'm not unreasonable. If you can show that I'm wrong, I'll apologize.

- Not all bloggers aim to persuade people. I like to believe that my readers are intelligent enough to think for themselves and not mindlessly swallow everything I say. When I blog, my primary aim is to make people laugh. Some people get it, some people... get mad. And I'm fine with that.

- I'm not "implying or insinuating that Buddhism is a walking contradiction like Christianity." I'm saying that it is. But that's a whole other blog entry :-P

To sum everything up.... You can't say something is wrong without showing why it's wrong and expect people to take you seriously. Also, bloggers are not journalists, so don't take them too seriously.

Monks are human and have the capability for violent behavior just like everyone else. And they're bald. Heh.

Take a chill pill. Smile. Be happy.

Hmm... I don't have anything witty to add

Submitted by philos on September 28, 2007 - 6:20pm.

Let me just announce then, to still all doubts, that yes, I am indeed a Christian, a Filipino, and I don't know what Use-net is. And unlike JC, I don't just aim to make people laugh, it's also my goal to keep them from thinking about poop.

Confused? Me too!