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MAKE ISLAM VIDEOS

2/23/2016

12 Comments

 

It amazes me how many people think that since I've made YouTube videos about the religion I was brought up in, which is dominant in my culture going back millenia, and which I threw myself into whole-heartedly as a teenager, and struggled with, and eventually came to face as having been a lie that I'd lived like a fucking dupe, that that means that I am OBLIGED now, given the size of my subscriber base, to make videos about a religion about which I know absolutely fuck all and have never ever had any experience of whatsoever. Islam.

People seem to fail to realise that the strength of my videos about Christianity comes from the fact that I know things about Christianity. A lot. I know a LOT about Christianity. I can pull bible quotes and references out of what would appear to some to be thin air, but which is actually decades of exposure to the religion and its text and theology and apologetics. Perhaps the tiny references and citation gags that I insert into my scripts have gone over the head of many of the people who have enjoyed my videos. Trust me, they're in there. It isn't only my brilliant MS-Paint artwork that has made them so discomfiting for many Christians.

More and more, over the last few years, as Islam has become prominent in the western mind, I've been getting comment after comment from people who think that I ought to just flick that switch that I apparently have in my mind, download a lifetime's intimate experience of the religion of Islam, and make NonStampCollector videos about that religion, instead; complete, presumably, with the same sort of awareness and familiarity that has given my videos about Christianity their strength.

Seriously, in many people's minds, I have a moral obligation to make videos about Islam, and they think that if I have any gaps in my knowledge of Islam, then I have a moral obligation to fill those gaps with research, in my own abundant spare time; the kind of spare time that has allowed me to make, on average, one video per year for the last 4 years, on a topic with which I am already abundantly familiar. 

Some commenters can get pretty indignant in their demands that I devote the time between work and my family responsibilities to becoming as familiar with Islam as I am with Christianity (which would likely only take several decades, after all), so as to be able to make the videos that I am apparently obliged to make. They DEMAND that I receive the same kind of inspiration, regarding Islam, that have always been the spark of new NSC script ideas. They seem to be demanding that I be walking down the street, pondering some interesting little chestnut of Islamic scripture or lore (as though I'm as likely to be doing that as they themselves are), and come up with an analogous satirical parallel involving various characters from the Qaran which will draw on an enormous number of references to all corners of the faith, allow for all sorts of finicky language jokes, and put the Islamic faithful in a self-reflective corner that might disturb their mental status-quo and commence some sort of re-evaluation of the sorts of apologetics that they've always clung to in mental defense of their faith.  


To such commenters, the absence of Islam-related videos on my channel is deemed to be absolute proof that I am indeed an APOLOGIST for Islam. "You've made videos about Christianity, but not about Islam? Ah ha! Undeniable proof that you secretly support Islam!" I have been told on numerous occasions by numerous people that I am not entitled to use the term "antitheist" to describe my views on religion, because of this glaring lack of Youtube material.  I'll often be called a coward, or more recently, a "regressive", for not having developed the means by which I might be able to make my style of videos about a religion about which I know zero details. (That, after all, shows such a fantastic and thorough understanding of what Harris and Nawaz mean by the term "regressive left". not.)

Close to two years ago, such a comment came in, and I'd like to post a version of my response to it, as it has not received an adequate response from the OP, and sums up my usual response. In fact, I may have given you the link to this blog post because I want you to read this as my response to a comment of your own. (Having said that, though, my response is pretty abrasive, and if you haven't been rude to me then please don't take the rudeness of my response hereunder to apply to you. I mean - look at how the guy opened.)

My response went thus:
You said: "Do something similar about muslims instead you fucking coward."

It was a compelling argument that you made, eloquently stated, and I find myself convinced. I'm going to do it!

However, I'm going to need a great deal of help, because I know next to nothing about the Islamic faith. I'm absolutely incapable of coming up with a snappy 12-minute script filled with references to all corners of their scriptures without your help - in fact beyond the Qaran and the Hadith (whatever that is), neither of which I've ever read, I really don't know enough to even have an idea for a basis of a well-researched script.


So, I suggest that we do a co-write. You're convinced that I need to MAKE these videos, and you also seem convinced that the necessary preparation will be a piece of cake that requires fuck all in terms of effort and time, so I'll assume you're happy to volunteer to be my research assistant. Working together should be a fun adventure! I'm glad to have you on board.

Please get the ball rolling by providing me with a detailed crash course in Islamic beliefs, customs, texts, history, politics, apologetics, and culture that's sufficient for me to be able to start finding little problems out of which to start making up jokes, but short and compelling enough for me to read between all of the other things that I have to do with my time- (keeping in mind that in recent years, between work and family responsibilities, I've only ever had time to make one or two videos per year. Your report had better be good and concise.)

Once you've done that, we can start choosing characters. I don't know any Qaranic characters beyond the prophet and his 9-year-old bride. Do you know any others? How many? Do you know anything about their characteristics and history? Family connections? Roles? Anecdotes that can be ridiculed? Again, since you think it will be so easy for ME to do the necessary research, you won't have any problem volunteering to do it your fucking self.

After that we'll need a scenario into which to couch the action we depict in the script. Should we go contemporaneous, or humorously yank the scenario out of its history and into a completely different context? Give a reason for your decision on this. 

We'll need some contradictions and mistakes from the text, in fact I'll need PLENTY to choose from just like I have when it comes to Christianity, so you'd better get to work on that, too. And given that a lot of the "contradictions" that people do see in the Bible simpy aren't contradictions at all, in my opinion, you'll need to give a for-and-against argument on each one that you include so I can be confident that it won't be swatted down by the first muslim listener who hears it.

Oh, and by the way. Think of the pains I've gone to in the past to to make sure there aren't any significant errors of theology or apologetics in my videos. If you go making any mistakes in the research you go doing for this, we're absolutely fucked; you realise that, right? If people who know the religion more than either of us start picking holes in our script or our understanding of the history and traditions we're dealing with, it will all have been for zip fucking squat. You get that, right? This video we're working on needs to be convincing and persuasive to people who have been in the religion for their whole life. An absolute precursor to even having them take any notice of our video is for them to be convinced that we know their religion as well as they do. Otherwise: it is for NOTHING. Your research needs to be 100 percent bullet-proof.

​But again, that shouldn't be a problem, right?- you seem to think that I could handle it all on my own, in my spare time, so it ought to be a cinch for you.

If you agree to this, then email me your initial proposal, you fucking coward, and let's get to work.
You stupid, arrogant, ignorant fuck.

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12 Comments
The Rationalizer link
2/13/2016 03:15:50 pm

A brilliant reply, well done!

In my opinion nobody in the entire world who has not read the Quran should ever both, it is such a waste of life. I only make videos about Islam myself as a way of compensating myself for having spent so much time learning about it, otherwise it would have all been utterly pointless.

PS: I think you meant "swatted" not "swotted".

Reply
Logan M link
2/18/2016 09:31:28 am

I agree, I personally have not and cannot read the Qur'an because I do not understand Arabic, thus you must either learn Arabic or have it translated. Though many devout Muslims believe that a translation is no longer considered true Qu'ran scripture. It is logical then that an individual, familiar enough with its scripture and within its own Arabic language, may discredit or defend it as they see fit. On a personal note I want to express my gratitude and admiration to your blog and videos; many people do don't explore religion enough to see what is so corrupt about it, merely listening to sermons of what they think the “Holy Bible” is about. I myself was never raised in a particularly religious home but I have taken the liberty of reading the "Holy Bible" (King James version only, I don't have infinite time to read all versions nor the desire to) myself and it is nice to see that others find the “lessons” within it just as appalling and disturbing as I do. I am sure you either have heard and/or know of Christopher Hitchens, a true patriarch for our cause, he has a truly amazing book called God is Not Great and does a magnificent job depicting the corrupt nature of all religions. (I have just finished it myself and loved it). I hope to see more videos in the future and wish you the best in all your endeavors.
~a fellow non-believer.
post script: a new video idea could be on revelations, or from exodus each are filled with the stark brutality of g-d and would make a nice script. If you want any pointers please email me and I can send you some of my notes I have on each of these sections.

Reply
TCD link
3/18/2016 05:15:58 am

These keyboard warriors forget (or are willfully ignorant) that what gives your work credibility is the fact that you were indoctrinated into a very specific belief system, so you have an informed perspective when you illustrate just how silly that belief system is. These same people often have an agenda against Middle Easterners in general, not Islam (or even religion) in particular.

Thank you for (1) articulating how challenging it can be to maintain one’s voice of authority and (2) not doing your readers a disservice by pontificating on topics beyond your experience and knowledge.

It takes more courage to admit one’s ignorance than it does to blithely comment on matters beyond one’s depth.

Reply
sudon't
4/28/2016 09:27:06 am

"...the prophet and his 9-year-old bride."

As if to prove your point! This notion that Mohammed was having sex with a nine-year-old is a Western slur, (I say as a Westerner). She may have been promised to Mohammed at that age, but no wedding, and certainly no consummation, until she'd reached sexual maturity, (thirteen, fourteen or fifteen). The sources seem to indicate she was fourteen when the marriage was consummated. This was the common practice everywhere during this era, even in Europe.
Religion is responsible for enough horrors and atrocities - no need to go making them up. Yet some people won't let this juicy tidbit go.

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Prob-ex
10/13/2019 12:29:54 pm

As I'm an ex-Muslim, I can definitively tell you that, no, the story isn't exactly false. The bride was his best friend's daughter (Abubakr wanted his daughter to marry him) and they consummated when she was 9. She then started living with him at the age of 14. She was a renowned bride of his, actually. She was known as the "Mother of the Believers". Her actual name was Ayesha or Aisha

Reply
The Rationalizer link
4/28/2016 10:28:40 am

sudon't you are wrong. It is the hadiths that say Aisha was 9 when Muhammad *consummated* his marriage to her, nothing to do with "westerners". I am sorry to tell you that you have been misinformed

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Carl Marcks
6/12/2016 09:54:23 am

"It isn't only my brilliant MS-Paint artwork that has made them so discomfiting for many Christians." Really? I'm pretty sure it's just the artwork.

Reply
Alexander Yangov
11/8/2016 06:36:11 am

When I was trying to prove that all religions are shit and nonsense, morons called me Islamic apologist because they think I have to admit Islam is the worst throughout human history before saying anything else. Only in truth, my country has done hell more horrible things than Muslims, and became even more scary when it converted into a commie state.

Neo-Nazi crap used to fill my head when I was in middle school, and also made me to hate Muslims and consider them as low lives which need to be cleaned from this world, until I realized that we are probably the same kind of low lives consider what our shit hole has done to other human beings.

I do feel really sorry for Muslims, because my fucking country colonized lot of their lands, and idiots in this country believe those places have been legitimate ours long ago and locals are happy to be ruled by our government...... In spite the fact that even seeing a Muslim minority walking by on street could make their skins crawl.

Smart Muslims know to ask help from civilized world, but the rest might just sit one their asses and hope reading Koran and reviving their old barbaric traditions can help them to summon Allah to smash their enemies.

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Alisham link
6/18/2019 01:02:12 am

My wife and I stumbled over here different website and thought I might as well check things out. I like what I see so now I’m following you. Look forward to checking out your web page repeatedly InshaAllah.

Reply
Prob-ex
10/13/2019 12:25:33 pm

As I am an ex-Muslim myself, I can surely help whenever needed. I live in a muslim country, so I have to disguise my irreligious nature, which has lead to me absorbing more and more knowledge about Islam than I already do. I also have Islamiat studies at school, so yeah. If you need any help, I can help

Reply
David link
12/26/2020 02:06:06 pm

Nicee share

Reply
Ajeet Bharti
9/26/2021 07:02:02 pm

wow . I totally agree, I mean not everybody can do everything

Reply



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    NonStampCollector

    Youtube antitheistic video maker. See "info" section above for more of who I am.
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