Thursday 29 November 2007

Fur Be Upon Him

The Sudanese Teddy-bear saga moves forward, with the hapless teacher now to face court.

Some, including Inayat Bunglawala have protested that this is an overreaction etc. However, IB puts forward a dangerous concept in that he says that if it were a pig, then that would cause offence. He is trying to mark out territory here in the UK.

No. People should be free to call their pig Mohammed, a dog Adolf or canary David Abrahams. If the Sudan does not allow it, then the Sudan is a backward, ignorant, insecure, medaeval society. Inayat's protest is double edged, mark my words. In court because someone called their pet rat "Santa"? It is just as absurd.

3 comments:

Henry North London 2.0 said...

Have you heard the latest from the BBC. The Sudanese people want her shot

Mark Wadsworth said...

"Mediæval", BTW.

CFD Ed said...

This now seems to be resolving it’s self.

Never-the-less the problem with any person, or persons, who react like this is that they are insecure, ignorant, stupid, or a combination of these. When it involves religion it doesn’t say much for the insanely offended party's strength of conviction, or opinion of their deity’s capabilities.

If someone criticises you and it is unjustified, you can easily refute it by pointing out where they are wrong. For instance when the Pope quoted Emperor Manuel II Paleologos of the Byzantium when he said:

"Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

This would very simply and easily be refuted by showing something Muhammad brought that was new and not evil and inhuman, I am not sufficiently knowledgeable on the subject to do so, but I would hope there may be scholars who might be.

If someone criticises you, or even insults you, who’s opinion you don’t value then the best response is to ignore them. To quote Frederick Douglas: ”A gentleman will not insult me, and no man not a gentleman can insult me."