by Andrew G. Bostom
A review of Robert Spencer’s Religion of Peace?—Why Christianity Is and Islam Isn’t , Regnery, 2007, 246 pp.
This past December, 2006, a British radiologist, and the executive director of the Sword Swallowers Association International published a fascinating survey which evaluated, “information on the practices and associated ill-effects of sword swallowing.” The respondent sword swallowers typically required extended daily practice for months or years to appropriately desensitize their gag reflex,
…sometimes by repeatedly putting fingers down the throat, but other objects are used including spoons, paint brushes, knitting needles, and plastic tubes before the swallower commonly progresses to a bent wire coat hanger. The performer must then learn to align a sword with the upper esophageal sphincter with the neck hyper-extended.
Not surprisingly, such “desensitization” training does not spare sword swallowers from the predictable hazards of their chosen profession, including serious morbidities—perforations of the pharynx or esophagus and associated neck abscess or aspiration, pneumothorax, pleurisy, pericarditis, and intestinal bleeding, ranging from melena (frankly bloody stools), to blood-transfusion-requiring hematemesis (vomiting blood)—and even death. more....
Posted on 08/14/2007 8:07 AM by NER
Comments
22 Aug 2007
Alexander Wild
Bostom's review of Robert Spencer's "Religion of Peace..." provides an excellent overview and succintly states the main points. After reading this review, I have decided to order "Religion of Peace..." in an effort to become better educated about Islam. I was particularly fascinated about the so called "achievements" of Islamic science and philosophy.
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