Thursday, June 09, 2005
Desecration's Inevitable Spread
As the lesson is learned, and the pattern passed on, I wait for the inevitable:
[Thanks owed to LGF, whose "Miscellaneous Links Thread" is a blast, and to any Lizardoids who clicked and read.]
If you really, really liked this -- or even really, really hated it -- there's lots more:
Moderator:Welcome back to TrashTalk. In our next segment, we'll meet Yusuf Jihad, and his son Skippy, a kindergartener caught up in the middle of this whole "desecration of the Koran" business.
Yusuf:Hi. And that's the "Holy Koran", Bob
Moderator:Of course. We'll also have Albert Kaydah from the Arab-Islamic Rights League to help us put this latest incident into perspective. He'll show us how this fits in with the rash of recent abuse, from the initial reports in Gauntanamo and Israel, up to yesterday's nursing home travesties. Welcome Albert, can I call you Al?
Al:No, definitely not. Call me Albert.
Moderator:Finally, we'll have Millicent Mumford of the ACLU to offer a civil rights point-of-view on this whole thing.
Millicent:[smiles and nods]
Moderator:Skippy, tell me a little bit about what happened to your Koran comic book... I mean Holy Koran comic.
Skippy:Nothing. It wasn't me. I don't know how it got under the chair, I...
Yusuf:What my son means, is that he was in the hall, at school, you know, when two hall monitors, big guys, for no reason, ripped the comic book right out of Skippy's little hands, threw it to the floor and .. and stepped on it, ripping the corner of this page here [holds up the comic book]
Moderator:And that red circle on the cover, what is that?
Skippy:I love raspberry soda
Yusuf:You see, these infidels...
Al:(children)
Yusuf:Yes, yes, these children, these hall monitors, scarcely children they are so big, they poured their raspberry soda all over this Holy Comic Book.
Moderator:Strange that it should make a circle like that
Skippy:Oh, it was in a Disney sippy cup, but the lid wasn't on tight and it just spilt a little bit, but I wiped it right up.
Yusuf:That's right. My son is such a good boy, cleaning up after these disgraceful monsters.
Moderator:Tell me a little about what happened when you confronted the boys who did it.
Yusuf:Well, they denied everything of course, what do you expect. It's so typical
Moderator:So you had to involve the school adminstration then, I take it. How did they react?
Yusuf:Please, we've all seen how people in authority handle these things, the generals, the administration. Deny, deny, deny. We didn't waste our time, knowing perfectly well what would happen.
Moderator:So how did you deal with it then?
Yusuf:We contacted Mr. Kaydah and called a press conference, of course. Only the power of the media can cut through the lies and subterfuge.
Moderator:[nods] On that note, this would be a good point to bring Al into the discussion. Al, why do you think this abuse of the Koran is suddenly so widespread, reaching even into kindergartens and nursing homes? What's going on?
Al:Well, I think you've really identified the problem, this horrible abuse of the Holy Book is just so widespread, a reflection of a culture of hatred of Islam, if you look at your -- I mean our -- leaders, the categorical branding of all Muslims as terrorists, the...
Moderator:Ok, ok, I hear you Al, but...but how do we put the genie back into the bottle? I mean, last year at this time, nobody'd ever heard of Koran abuse, and now its more widespread than Paris Hilton, how do we go back?
Al:Once again, you're made an excellent point, it is these so-called "Paris Hilton" videos, a decadent culture which can't handle the purity of Islam. I would suggest that if America were to absorb more Muslim values, if we were to encourage the Paris Hiltons to dress more modestly, especially in that scene in the hotel room. And of course, to adopt a more even-handed approach to the Middle East and Israeli intransigence, which causes so much of this baseless hatred.
Moderator:Ok, ok, very good. To be fair now, let's give some time to the other side of the debate. Millicent from the perspective of the ACLU, how would you answer Al's points?
Millicent:Answer him? But... but I completely agree with him.
Moderator:You do? But I... Well, wouldn't the ACLU suggest that this comic book, and the many, many other Holy Korans which have been defiled, wouldn't you say they're only books, and that these, these desecrations can be protected as acts of free speech or artistic expression? As, for instance, the treatment of Christian...
Millicent:No.
Moderator:No?
Millicent:No. There's no comparison. Our free society cannot tolerate the desecration of the sacred, holy book of a noble and peace-loving religious tradition. But a free society must allow symbolic protest against its own rabid religious right wing fundamentalists who want to turn this country into a Taliban state.
Yusuf:Not that there's anything wrong with a Taliban state.
Al:[loud cough]
Millicent:You know, another thing we are seeing, now that we are finally hearing about this endemic abuse, is how the right wing thugs who are runnng this country have so intimidated its minorities, to the point they're afraid now to even report this rampant abuse.
Al:That's a great point Millicent, very nice. Even today, after all we've seen, it took the brave and persistent follow up of a concerned parent, Yusuf, to encourage his son to come forward with this atrocity which might otherwise never have seen the light of day.
Skippy:But you also helped Mr. Kaydah. You're a very brave man too. And thanks for the candy.
[Thanks owed to LGF, whose "Miscellaneous Links Thread" is a blast, and to any Lizardoids who clicked and read.]
