Austrian bank to start Sharia-based "Islamic Banking"

[Famous Mortimer]

The novel that my current username is from literally shows a better and more sympathetic and nuanced understanding of why people observe externally pointless-seeming rituals and customs than WillipsBrighton does, and it's by Shirley Jackson.

ETA: Especially, using 'it's a symptom of autism' as a shorthand for why you think something oughtn't be done is in poor taste.

I know autism is a popular insult on the internet, akin to "neckbeard" or "basement dweller" but that's not the spirit in which I use it. Overly literal thinking is actually one of the main symptoms of autism.

Also, we're not just talking about people observing pointless rituals. We're talking about people circumventing their own pointless rules and then insisting they aren't based on a technicality.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The novel that my current username is from literally shows a better and more sympathetic and nuanced understanding of why people observe externally pointless-seeming rituals and customs than WillipsBrighton does, and it's by Shirley Jackson.

ETA: Especially, using 'it's a symptom of autism' as a shorthand for why you think something oughtn't be done is in poor taste.

I know autism is a popular insult on the internet, akin to "neckbeard" or "basement dweller" but that's not the spirit in which I use it. Overly literal thinking is actually one of the main symptoms of autism.

That's not why I was saying it was in poor taste.

[Famous Mortimer]

Autism is bad. I'm not disparaging autistic people when I say that.

[Simfan34]

I don't have a problem with this.

Yeah, this isn't a big deal.

If you've got an issue with this, perhaps you're just Islamophobic?

At the same time, I feel that there'd be outrage (not from you, but others in the red avatar crew) if a Christian fundamentalist demanded something similar from Wells Fargo.

If they demanded it, yes. This is a bit different.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Autism is bad. I'm not disparaging autistic people when I say that.

It's very possible to make statements like 'autism is bad.' in contexts that make them entirely innocuous or even seemingly obvious, but somehow when it's you saying it, given the rest of what we as a forum know about your views, all it does is make you seem some kind of way.

Also, saying 'autism is bad.' does not necessitate that everything that is a symptom of autism is bad in every context, or that autism is so obviously and overwhelmingly bad that it's appropriate to use it as a basis for unfavorable comparison.

[afleitch]

Autism is bad. I'm not disparaging autistic people when I say that.

What sh**te is this? I'm on the autistic spectrum and it's how I view the world. Why would I want to see it differently when it's part of my personality and part of the reason people like me, I have a fantastic husband and a good career. It's not been bad for me