Wednesday, February 22, 2006
UGLY FACE CONCEALED
A Financial Times editorial on Dubai’s takeover of US ports:
The current furore in Washington about the takeover of P&O, the UK-based ports operator, by Dubai Ports World says more about the United States Congress than the United Arab Emirates. The bluster about national security conceals one of the uglier faces of US protectionism—the one with the slightly racist tinge.
Could be something to that. Then again, I haven’t read much about the issue (incidentally, also headquartered in the UAE: delicious Mecca Cola!) Instapundit has a roundup of views.
ATTENTION, AUSTRALIANS IN FOREIGN LANDS
Your views are required.
TOONSTERS DUEL
US cartoonists Art Spiegelman and Joe Sacco offer differing opinions on Danish drawings:
Sacco: My initial reaction was, “What a bunch of idiots those Danes were for printing those things.” Did they not think that there was going to be some sort of backlash?
Spiegelman: I have spent a lot of time soul-searching and still come out on the same side of the equation. If there’s a right to make cartoons, there has to be a right to insult ...
Sacco: An editor, working in the real world, has to balance a number of things. There is a value in showing people what the fuss is all about, but the impact might be violent, and an editor does have to think about those things.
Spiegelman: If The Nation and the New York Times had simply said, “We’re scared shitless,” I could take that.
UPDATE. Wisconsin philosophy student Josh Cohen:
The longer these cartoons go publicly unacknowledged, the greater their force will be driven beneath the surface, and the more frighteningly inexplicable their consequences will seem.
Ha! He’s actually talking about the latest Abu Ghraib pictures (“The U.S. government has done an incredible job of keeping these images hidden”).
UPDATE II. NPR’s Juan Williams supports publishing:
“I just don’t see why anyone would resort to violence in response to a cartoon that they found objectionable,” he said. “To encourage young Muslims to act in a violent way is tragic ... But I will always side with the notion of freedom of speech and the right to publish.”
UPDATE III. Yet more cartoon trouble, this time in Malaysia:
The cartoon, which appeared in the [New Straits Times’] Tuesday edition, showed a street cartoonist doing a sketch on a drawing board with a sign next to him saying “Caricatures of Muhammad while you wait” and a caption saying, “Kevin finally achieves his goal to be the most feared man in the world.”
Muslim groups have called for action to be taken. Presumably similar to the action taken against Jihad Momani:
In a direct challenge to the international uproar over cartoons lampooning the Prophet Muhammad, the Jordanian journalist Jihad Momani wrote: “What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras, or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony?”
To illustrate his point, Momani published selections of the drawings — and for that was arrested and threatened with a lengthy prison term.
UPDATE IV. Related free-speaky thoughts from the Brussels Journal.
MORE HOLLYWOOD LIES
Remember the sensational car chase in Bullitt? Mustang-equipped Steve McQueen outrunning some bad guy in a Charger?
It was rigged.
UPDATE. Important car-chase information: never allow someone named Dietrich to race your Ferrari Enzo against a Mercedes-Benz SLR. I know; this is an old street-racing dictum we’ve all heard thousands of times before. But it’s worth repeating.
BIG MO TAKES ON BIG O
Oprah Winfrey is the target of a full-scale Mo-slam:
When world renowned American talk show host Oprah Winfrey announced a hero voting competition, she asked people to send true stories about a teacher, a firefighter, a parent or a relative, who has done something extraordinary for them.
But many Muslims are voting in the longest-running daytime television talk show in the United States for Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
“This is an opportune moment to vote in droves for our prophet on Oprah’s Web site to draw the world attention to our religion and the prophet of Islam,” a young lady using the name Hadeel said in a contribution to IslamOnline.net Discussion Forum.
If Mo wins ... free burkas to the entire studio audience!
SILENCE OF THE LIBS
Eleven journalists in five countries face prosecution for publishing Motoons, reports the New York Times. Where are their defenders? Why the silence?
“I keep hearing, ‘Why are liberals silent?’ ” said Said al-Ashmawy, an Egyptian judge and author of books on political Islam. “How can we write? Who is going to protect me? Who is going to publish for me in the first place? With the Islamization of the society, the list of taboos has been increasing daily. You should not write about religion. You should not write about politics or women. Then what is left?”
Good question. You’d expect Western liberals to be making more noise about this.
FEELINGS HURT
Christopher Hitchens on the damning of the Danes:
The incredible thing about the ongoing Kristallnacht against Denmark (and in some places, against the embassies and citizens of any Scandinavian or even European Union nation) is that it has resulted in, not opprobrium for the religion that perpetrates and excuses it, but increased respectability! A small democratic country with an open society, a system of confessional pluralism, and a free press has been subjected to a fantastic, incredible, organized campaign of lies and hatred and violence, extending to one of the gravest imaginable breaches of international law and civility: the violation of diplomatic immunity. And nobody in authority can be found to state the obvious and the necessary—that we stand with the Danes against this defamation and blackmail and sabotage. Instead, all compassion and concern is apparently to be expended upon those who lit the powder trail, and who yell and scream for joy as the embassies of democracies are put to the torch in the capital cities of miserable, fly-blown dictatorships. Let’s be sure we haven’t hurt the vandals’ feelings.
Which is the general tone of commentators at an Asian security conference:
“This cartoon crisis reveals a blind spot which we have not really seen before and sends a bad message to the Muslim community about democracy at a time when we are trying to advocate to the moderate community that Islam and democracy go together,” said Dino Patti Djalal, spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Bruce Lemkin, US deputy undersecretary for international affairs in the US Air Force, said that while freedom of expression should not be limited, it must be balanced with sensitivity.
“Globalisation has changed the effects and the consequences and we must understand that,” Lemkin said. “There is a responsibility to educate not only our populations but our media.”
The Boston Phoenix seems plenty educated. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton remains clueless:
Mr Clinton today said it was important to find out what was behind the cartoon and the reasons for their publication.
“Does anybody here know whether that cartoonist knew that it was blasphemous when he did the picture of Mohammed?”
UPDATE. Prophet and loss:
Denmark’s Aria Foods is reporting a $20 million loss ever since controversy erupted over cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
But Mecca Cola is selling like the proverbial cakes of hotness:
Sales of UAE-based Mecca Cola have tripled since the cartoon row began.
Mmm-mmm! Meccalicious!
UPDATE II. Another newspaper in trouble:
Saudi Arabia has suspended a youth daily that carried cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent protests around the world, journalists from the newspaper said today.
UPDATE III. Local Muslims disappoint.
UPDATE IV. Oh no! The EU’s credibility is under threat:
OIC Secretary-General Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Tuesday called on the European Union to invoke its existing law on offensive material over the publication of blasphemous cartoons and cautioned that failure to do so would put its credibility at stake.
How very alarming.
UPDATE V. Forty-two scholars have their say:
“The sacrilegious cartoons represent a crime of aggression on the Islamic nation that helps to torpedo the process of interaction among civilisations and peoples,” a statement issued by the prominent clerics said ...
“The Danish government and people should respond in a just manner by condemning the aggression, otherwise Denmark will have to live in isolation from the rest of the world community.”
Bossy little customers, aren’t they?
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
GREAT OUTDOOR FIGHT
“The fight is going well!” said Boris, editor at one of ACP’s fine gentlemen’s magazines, when I met him Monday morning for coffee outside our shared office block.
Boris isn’t of slight build, and his conversation sometimes hints at a familiarity with violence. He was still angry following the events of last week, when he chased a junkie 150 yards after the fool stole coffee lady Gina’s handbag (everybody is protective of Gina) only to be denied a citizen’s arrest by the intervention of an off-duty cop. “I had my move worked out,” Boris later complained. All who witnessed his subsequent demonstration agreed: it would have been an excellent move.
The compound means of traumatic spinal compression are no mystery to Boris.
But the conflict to which he initially referred involved not Boris but destiny-driven cartoon characters; he’s been following developments in this year’s Great Outdoor Fight (click that link and hit the right-hand arrow for subsequent instalments; three days, three acres, 3,000 men!). Shortly Boris will be wearing a commemorative Fight t-shirt. Sydney street thieves should consider themselves advised.
UPDATE. Sortelli: “Well ... Ray just tore some cowboy’s face off. He really is Blood of Champion.”
UPDATE II. Texas Ranger: “Jesus, Ray hell of took down a dude’s face.”
UPDATE III. Trexkilla: “The Great Outdoor Fight is so far at least twice as awesome as Cartilage Head, and that’s saying something.”
MAC MOCKS!
Mac Johnson brings us up to speed on a recent cultural controversy:
As has now been well established by the Western press, five months ago a vicious right-wing propaganda rag in Denmark, possibly edited by a cryogenically preserved Nazi collaborator, sought specifically to denigrate Islam by commissioning a series of unspeakably horrible caricatures that baselessly portrayed Islam as having a tendency towards violence and intolerance.
Now, Muslims are not normally a people to congregate in mass protest and burn flags, hurl stones or break things. But this unprovoked act of cultural aggression (coming, as it did, out of the blue and occurring in Islam’s heartland, Denmark) was simply too much to take. Therefore, after five months of consideration, it was decided to make an exception for this case, and spontaneous protests broke out.
Excellent.
UPDATE. At 57, a first-time commenter is moved to remark:
I wouldn’t have bothered normally but I’m stupified at what’s going on here. And I wouldn’t even be here if our gutless free press had done the right thing in the first place.
In a very short period of time the original dastardly Danish dozen have expanded to 1000’s on the web. The increase may be following a mathematical power law with some weighted average metric as the exponent. Weighting parameters to include as a minimum: number of riots, span of boycott, illumination of pyrotechnics (in candella/m squared) and litres of blood spilt. Needless to say however, further research needs to be done. Who would have ever thought that this could have happened? Boycotts, pyrotechnics, a few riots and a bit of bloodshed should have put an end to the silly infidel nonsense. But no.
How silly of us all. But perhaps I really should take this seriously.
No, I don’t think I will - it’s fine in Brisbane tomorrow so I think I’ll play 18 and have a few jars afterwards.
Maybe these clowns should do the same instead of poncing about making idiots of themselves.
Fine words, sir.
PEOPLE DEAD SOMEHOW
The Sydney Morning Herald—via AFP and Reuters—reports:
[Cartoon] protests have turned violent in several countries, including Libya, where 11 people died, and Nigeria, where 16 people were killed in rioting.
Those people weren’t “killed in rioting”, which suggests death through capricious mayhem; crowd tramplings and the like. They were killed by rioters.
UPDATE. Keep track of these illustration insurrections via an interactive Motoon map.
BARBARA BUSH’S HAIRSTYLE VISITS AUSTRALIA
The first black President is looking very red these days. Also, check this comment from John Singleton in the accompanying SMH item:
You know my affinity with the ALP and my affection for the many prime ministers I’ve worked with; but if I had one wish, it would be that Kim Beazley, who I know and love, if only he could just be injected with 10 per cent of Bill Clinton’s personality, what a Leader of the Opposition he could be, eh?
Note: not Prime Minister, but Leader of the Opposition. Way to talk up your man, Singo! Speaking of “injected with Bill Clinton”, Monica Lewinsky is mentioned in this unfortunately-headlined WaPo column by Howard Kurtz.
Monday, February 20, 2006
PHOENIX NIXES MOPIX
The Boston Phoenix explains why it won’t run any Motoons:
Out of fear of retaliation from the international brotherhood of radical and bloodthirsty Islamists who seek to impose their will on those who do not believe as they do. This is, frankly, our primary reason for not publishing any of the images in question. Simply stated, we are being terrorized, and as deeply as we believe in the principles of free speech and a free press, we could not in good conscience place the men and women who work at the Phoenix and its related companies in physical jeopardy. As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year publishing history.
With appropriate alterations, this editorial could run in most newspapers across the English-speaking world.
Sunday, February 19, 2006
“DUTY TO KILL”
The New York Post’s Andrea Peyser meets Manhattan’s Motoon militia:
The young man with the hot head calls himself Abdul lah, which he translates to mean “slave of God.” This slave is revolting, in more ways than one.
“If anyone disrespects the prophet, it’s our duty to kill him,” he said.
“One drop of Muslim blood is worth all the blood in the world.”
The man who calls himself Abdullah steeled his gaze at a non-believer.
“You insult the prophet,” he snarled, “and you will pay.”
And then this young man with no identifiable name displayed a handmade sign depicting four faces, all of them Danish. Each face bore the picture of a gun sight drawn in the middle of the forehead.
Not all of them are Danish. I’m pretty sure Peyser is talking about the sign below, featuring Australian Michael Leunig—who now finds himself the target of Muslim rage despite only insulting Jews:
You’re a marked man, Mike! And almost as ill-informed as your new enemies. From a recent interview with the doomed Melbourne scribble-pixy:
My father was a communist in the 1950s when the Communist Party was illegal in Australia.
The Communist Party was never illegal in Australia, as Andrew Landeryou notes. Stupid, but never illegal.
UPDATE. A Mozambique weekly publishes eight of the Deadly Danish Dozen, including the infamous Blast-o-Turban.
UPDATE II. Hooray for Hitler!
UPDATE III. Who was behind anti-toon demonstrations in Vancouver?
The event was organized by the group Mobilization Against War and Occupation.
UPDATE IV. The Rocky Mountain News reports happy reader reaction to its Motoon publication: “‘Thank you,’ was the consistent message.” (Via Instapundit, who writes that other papers “keep forgetting that it’s their job to tell us stuff, not to decide what we shouldn’t be told.”)
UPDATE V. Julie Burchill:
It’s a long hard struggle trying to make bleeding-heart liberals see sense. Especially when you live in a country where a sizable part of the print and broadcasting media are such guilt-ridden cretins when it comes to Islam that if they saw Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein sexually sharing their own grandmother, they’d swear the poor old lady asked for it.
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE VI. Criticism from the Prime Minister:
John Howard has strongly criticised aspects of Muslim culture, warning they pose an unprecedented challenge for Australia’s immigration program ...
“You can’t find any equivalent in Italian, or Greek, or Lebanese, or Chinese or Baltic immigration to Australia. There is no equivalent of raving on about jihad, but that is the major problem.”
CORRECTION. Communist Party never illegal? Not so, points out Mike A.:
It was briefly illegal during the first couple of years of the second world war when the Communist parties’ commitment to the Hitler-Stalin Pact lead them to opposing Australia’s participation in the war.
ICE PEOPLE CONDEMN HEAT
Yet again, frozen Canadians weather-cultists risk hypothermia to complain about global warming:
The weather may belie their message but devoted fans of the outdoor hockey rink plan to brave Alberta’s arctic-like weather as part of a statement against global warming ...
Michael Kalmanovitch, organizer of the event in Edmonton, says the skate will go ahead in Edmonton despite the -23 C temperature. He admits the cold snap is a touch ironic but stressed the above average temperatures that have dominated the winter thus far.
This phenomenon has been observed once or twice previously. (Via Jim Campbell.) In other environmental news, we’re all gonna die:
An apocalyptic vision of life 1,000 years from now has been painted by a team of scientists studying the effect of global warming.
If mankind does not put its house in order, temperatures could have risen by 15C (27F) by the year 3000 and sea levels by more than 11 metres (36ft), flooding much of London, the team, from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, says in a report for the Environment Agency. Abrupt changes could make Britain much hotter, or even — such is the uncertainty of the predictions — first colder and then hotter.
How might we avoid this warming/colding/warming apocalypse?
The solution, the team says, is to reduce emissions to zero by 2200.
And if we don’t?
The risk was that of returning the Earth to a hot state it had not been in since 55 million years ago.
Hmm. Sounds like these God-playing climate folks want to delay the earth returning to its natural state. I’ll have none of this meddling.
(Via J.F. Beck)
HE STILL CALLS GUANTANAMO HOME
Davey No-Mates isn’t welcome in Britain:
The Blair Government has not yet begun to process Guantanamo detainee David Hicks’s UK citizenship, despite an order two months ago to do so from the British High Court ...
The British Government continues to oppose Mr Hicks’s quest to be accepted as a UK citizen.
Can’t imagine why. The boy would fit right in:
Four out of 10 British Muslims want sharia law introduced into parts of the country, a survey reveals today.