@wtg said:

@jon-nyc You'll need to find someone else to argue with. I am not your new Horace.

Indeed. You are far more sunny and pleasant than my friend Horace.

@Bernard said:

@jon-nyc said:

Muslims were responsible for 80% of them.

Muslim extremists were responsible for 80% of them.

Muslims in (dare I say 'all'?) Islamic countries denounce extremism and terrorism in the name of Islam. This so from leaders to scholars.

Let's be clear what we're talking about. An extreme, fringe group of terrorists.

Yes. Whose prevalence in a certain group is multiple orders of magnitude higher than terrorist prevalence in other groups.

That is my point. And it’s not because they’re bad people. It’s because they inherited a set of horrible beliefs that deserve our criticism.

@Bernard said:

@jon-nyc said:

Ever notice that the terms ‘christianophobia’ or ‘judeophobia’ not only don’t exist, but they’re unintelligible

I hate to be the one to put a hole through this defense but 'christophobia' is a definitely a real term and I've heard it used thoughout my adult life. And then there's anti-semitism.

Christophobia doesn’t have a Wikipedia entry and my iPhone spell check flags it as not a word. I am not arguing that it’s never been written or uttered. But is isn’t in our collective consciousness.

Antisemitism is about Jews (a people), not Judaism (as a set of ideas). In fact antisemitism is more typically aimed at secular Jews rather than the religious set.

I'm done in this thread.

@jon-nyc said:

Ever notice that the terms ‘christianophobia’ or ‘judeophobia’ not only don’t exist, but they’re unintelligible

I hate to be the one to put a hole through this defense but 'christophobia' is a definitely a real term and I've heard it used thoughout my adult life. And then there's anti-semitism.

Phobias are for spiders.

The term ‘Islamophobia’ is, at best, a category error. Islam is a set of ideas. A memetic complex. One can object, even strenuously, to ideas without being a bigot.

Ever notice that the terms ‘christianophobia’ or ‘judeophobia’ not only don’t exist, but they’re unintelligible

@jon-nyc said:

Muslims were responsible for 80% of them.

Muslim extremists were responsible for 80% of them.

Muslims in (dare I say 'all'?) Islamic countries denounce extremism and terrorism in the name of Islam. This so from leaders to scholars.

Let's be clear what we're talking about. An extreme, fringe group of terrorists.

Followers of Islam were responsible for 80% of them.

They are 5-6% of the European population.

@wtg said:

There are all kinds of bollards and other barriers that were installed as part of the project to make Oxford Street car-free.

Lord Khan’s pedestrianisation of Oxford Street “discriminates” against wheelchair users and the visually impaired, disability campaigners have said.

The scheme was described as “shockingly bad” and discriminatory because it restricts access to the street.

Campaigners criticised inconveniently placed benches and bollards, and ramps that were “painful” to mount. They added that shops were also more difficult to access now that there was no direct public transport.

https://www.aol.com/articles/khan-oxford-street-makeover-discriminates-172332000.html

This isn't a "Christmas market" thing. The plan to close off Oxford Street has been in the works for a long time. They did rush to get it in before Christmas to maximize foot traffic to businesses during the holiday shopping season.

Everyone's a critic.

I get that we’re supposed to pretend it isn’t an especial issue with one particular group but the data don’t support that and they tried to kill me and were almost successful so I refuse to go along.

Lord Khan’s pedestrianisation of Oxford Street “discriminates” against wheelchair users and the visually impaired, disability campaigners have said.

The scheme was described as “shockingly bad” and discriminatory because it restricts access to the street.

Campaigners criticised inconveniently placed benches and bollards, and ramps that were “painful” to mount. They added that shops were also more difficult to access now that there was no direct public transport.

https://www.aol.com/articles/khan-oxford-street-makeover-discriminates-172332000.html

This isn't a "Christmas market" thing. The plan to close off Oxford Street has been in the works for a long time. They did rush to get it in before Christmas to maximize foot traffic to businesses during the holiday shopping season.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2026/oct/22/everyone-hates-oxford-street-will-pedestrianisation-save-it

I was going to post the Guardian article and see if @andyd had any opinions on the closure...