He’s Right
You know, I found this link over at Memeorandum, I had not seen Dadblog before now. But what he wrote over there hit a nerve. He is absolutely right here and we - and the media - should be asking ourselves why we hadn't seen that before.
Something odd. Guardian Unlimited is covering the bilious Muslim reaction to Salman Rushdie’s knighthood which includes the following gem:
“This is an occasion for the 1.5 billion Muslims to look at the seriousness of this decision,” Mohammed Ijaz ul-Haq, religious affairs minister, told the Pakistani parliament in Islamabad. “The west is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologises and withdraws the ’sir’ title.”
So, outrageous, no? Psychopathic, insane, disturbing, inane. But here’s the weird thing - there isn’t one reference in the GU piece to the other side of the debate. You know, the side you’re probably on. The side that says people have the right to say and think what they want. The side that says a piece of art can never justify media or hatred. The side that Voltaire would have been on. It’s not there.
It is NOT there. The media coverage is about the inflamed "Muslim Street." No real mention about the freedom of speech issue. Not a damned thing about the rights of Salman Rushdie to not have to hide from deranged fanatics with a fatwah in one hand and an attitude in the other. We are losing control of the issues, we are losing the initiative. Our media is increasingly carrying - verbatim - the issues and concerns of fanatics with no counterargument at all. It is stated as a simple matter of fact. Lloyd Shepherd (Dadblog) gets it dead on right here:
Because at the moment, if you were reading this coverage, you’d think the knighthood was in some way justifiably controversial. Please, someone with a brain and a degree, get up there and argue with these fascist morons.
There is nothing controversial about the honor bestowed on Rushdie. There is quite a lot that is controversial in the press coverage. And rather a lot to be ashamed of.
Blogosphere, Media | Gaius Monday, 18 June , 2007
Other Links to this Post
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Losing The Media War — Wednesday, 20 June , 2007 @ 6:59 am
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Blue Crab Boulevard » About Those Problems — Thursday, 21 June , 2007 @ 6:54 am
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Slow Societal Suicide — Sunday, 24 June , 2007 @ 7:30 am
By Quilly Mammoth, Monday, 18 June , 2007 @ 11:05 pm
Meanwhile Hamas thugs desecrate Christian Churches. And the 1 Billion Christians do what?
If they even know about it…amazingly like the Tancredo Amendment this hasn’t been widely reported…usually they _pray_ for the people that did the damage.
By Sylvia W in L.A., CA, Tuesday, 19 June , 2007 @ 12:44 pm
What happened to Rushdie in ‘89 and ever since has been an Islamist experiment — what can we get away with? What if we condemn a writer to death and nobody cares? Well, gee … that went well … now let’s say the Holocaust never happened and talk wistfully about a world without America. Anybody bombing Tehran? No?
As far as I’m concerned, Iran exploded its first nuclear bomb eighteen years ago on Valentine’s Day. Anybody who does not defend Sir Salman is sleeping with the enemy. Pleasant dreams!
By pst314, Wednesday, 20 June , 2007 @ 2:38 pm
“Meanwhile Hamas thugs desecrate Christian Churches.”
As do Egyptian Muslims, Turkish Muslims, Pakistani Muslims, Malaysian Muslims, Indonesian Muslims…
Gosh, if I didn’t know that Islam was The Religion of Peace (TM) I might detect a pattern there.