The U.S. military in Afghanistan on Monday expressed regret for a publicity
campaign aimed at winning hearts and minds that ended up offending scores of
Muslims. U.S. troops on Friday dropped dozens of free footballs for soccer-mad
Afghan children from helicopters in an area of southeastern Afghanistan, all
marked with flags of various countries.
But the balls depicted the Saudi
Arabian flag, which features the Islamic declaration of faith and includes the
names of Allah and the prophet Mohammed. The idea of kicking something bearing
their names is considered deeply offensive to Muslims.
This one confuses anyone with any sense of reason and logic. The U.S. military handed out soccer balls to kids in Kabul. In another example of no good deed going unpunished some professional victim found the soccer balls offensive. What was the source of the offense one might ask? The offense came from the flag of Saudi Arabia (the soccer balls were decorated with flags of surrounding nations) which happened to show a picture of the prophet Muhammad. This is of course blasphemous since his image is NEVER supposed to be disrespected. Michelle Malkin has more on the story including several truly blasphemous images of Jesus and the difference in the reaction to those images...
As we’ve learned from Rushdie Rage, MoCartoon Rage, Burger King Ice Cream Cone Rage, Koran Flushing Rage, Valentine’s Day Rage, Veil Rage, Pope Rage, Fallaci Rage, Miss World Pageant Rage, and Rushdie Knighthood Rage, they’re pretty damned “sensitive” (read: ready to riot) about everything.
For crying out loud:
Mullahs in Afghanistan criticised the US forces for their insensitivity, and around 100 people held a demonstration in Khost.
Afghan MP Mirwais Yasini said: “To have a verse of the Koran on something you kick with your foot would be an insult in any Muslim country around the world.”
A spokeswoman for the US forces in Afghanistan said they made “significant efforts to work with local leaders, mullahs and elders to respect their culture” and distributing the footballs was an effort to give a gift the Afghan children would enjoy.
The second story is about an Opus cartoon originally meant for publication in the Washington Post. Michelle picks it up again...
If you haven’t already been to Berkeley Breathed’s website to see the first
of two syndicated “Opus” cartoons that many of his newspaper clients are
refusing to run because they might offend members of the Religion of Perpetual
Outrage, go there
now. Many blogs noted this story last week while I was traveling. See HA
for full background.
The LATimes, surprisingly, ran the cartoon yesterday,
according to LAObserved.
According
to Breathed’s syndicated, some 25 newspapers refused to run the strips.
Let’s have the names, shall we? If your paper regularly carried Opus, but
didn’t run yesterday’s strip, speak now.
Foxnews was on top of it from the beginning and the website even has the "blasphemous" cartoon for reference...
A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident
one week ago was deemed too controversial to run over the weekend because this
time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists.
The Washington Post
and several other newspapers around the country did not run Sunday's installment
of Berkeley Breathed's "Opus," in which the spiritual fad-seeking character Lola
Granola appears in a headscarf and explains to her boyfriend, Steve, why she
wants to become a radical Islamist.
The installment did not appear in the
Post's print version, but it ran on WashingtonPost.com and Salon.com. The same
will hold true for the upcoming Sept. 2 strip, which is a continuation of the
plotline.
There is something about a society that yawns when someone uses their religion to justify beheading someone and then proceeds to stomp their feet when a cartoon goes out of bounds or a soccer ball has an inappropriate image. Yesterday, I wrote that Middle Eastern societies are
f$%ked up and right on cue...
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