Re: The First Swedes

BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

Mar 30, 2025 at 1:58:51 PM PDT, moviePig <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:

3/30/2025 2:54 PM, BTR1701 wrote:

Mar 30, 2025 at 12:20:51 AM PDT, shawn <nanoflower@notforg.m.a.i.l.com>:

Sun, 30 Mar 2025 04:53:06 -0000 (UTC), BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>:

. . .

Imagine you're a tourist on your first trip to England and this is
what you find at all the major tourist attractions in London: Muslims
on loudspeakers blasting out the call to prayer five times/day.

https://www.instagram.com/islamicstrength/reel/DCxuFg-NEbN/

And it's not limited to the Caliphate of Europe, either. The guy who
wanted us to vote for him for VP was perfectly happy having the same
thing blasted out across Minneapolis five times a day. (The first
one occurs in the pitch dark before the sun even rises.)

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1905743262754996224/vid/avc1/576x1024/vZcZAaA39qx48TCK.mp4?tag=16

I lived in Riyadh as a kid. Believe me, if you're not a Muslim, this
sort of thing has a major negative effect on your quality of life. It
wakes you up in the morning, it keeps you from sleeping at night
and it disrupts your life several times in between every single day,
but you're just supposed to accept it or you're an Islamophobic bigot.

I guess I know what I am because it seems to me if someone were truly
devout they could keep themselves aware of when it was time for
prayer. It would be one thing if this were centuries ago when time
pieces were expensive and few could afford any sort of alarm clock,
but today for a few dollars anyone can have an alarm that keeps
accurate time and can let them know when it is time for prayer. No
need to disturb everyone in the area for such notice.

Disturbing everyone in the area is the point. It's a power move over
the local population.

I'd imagine it's based on a Muslim commandment.

The purpose of which is to give the local population a daily reminder
of who's in charge. Like I said, a power move.

moviePig is wrong. It's merely an application out outdoor speaker
technology to a religious practice. It is not a commandment to disturb
all those who do not share that faith. There's supposed to be a guy
outside the mosque, the muezzin, making the call. These days, he uses
a microphone and loudspeaker, or a recording since small congregations
can't pay someone to stand there.

With a brief goog, I'm not seeing where the practice of stringing
together outdoor speakers to broadcast through an entire city began.

And, as such, I don't see how it's *qualitatively* less appropriate than,
e.g., Blue Laws.

To the extent those laws were motivated by religion, the same analysis (and
result) applies. Which is the main reason why those laws have been, for the
most part, repealed.

A more direct comparison would be the church bells on Christian churches. The
tradition of ringing them on Sunday mornings is pretty much the same thing: a
call to prayer. They are less intrusive, only ringing once per week rather
than five times every single day, but people who aren't religious shouldn't
have to put up with this shit from the Muslims *or* the Christians.

At least the Jews are quiet.

Have you met Jews?

We have a call to prayer. However, a minyan (quorum of 10 men) is
present first. This isn't broadcast on loudspeakers.