Monday, December 03, 2007

A Misplaced Respect

The Mo BearLast week I wrote about the British schoolteacher who faced prison and flogging in Sudan because her schoolchildren named their class teddy bear “Muhammad”.

Today comes the news that the British government has persuaded the president of Sudan to pardon her. So now her ordeal is over, to the extent that the ordeal can be over for anyone who has spent ten days in Sudan’s prison system, all the while facing the possibility of a flogging and even death at the hands of an enraged mob of Muslims.

According to the AP:

Sudanese President Pardons British Teacher Jailed for ‘Muhammad’ Teddy Bear

A British teacher jailed after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad was released Monday hours after Sudan’s president pardoned her, a British embassy spokesman said.

Gillian Gibbons’ conviction under Sudan’s Islamic Sharia law shocked Britons and many Muslims worldwide. Hard-line Muslim clerics in Sudan accused her of intentionally seeking to insult Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, and the case angered some Sudanese, sparking a protest where demonstrators called for her execution.

[…]

“She is in British Embassy custody and is with the deputy British ambassador,” embassy spokesman Omar Daair said. He would not give her exact location or say when she would leave Sudan.

Gibbons, 54, was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad — a common name among Muslim men — in a class project on animals. The trial was sparked when a school secretary complained to the Education Ministry that Gibbons aimed to insult the Prophet Muhammad. Her time in jail since her arrest Nov. 25 counted toward the sentence.

Well, at least she got away. Like the Libyan nurses, she had to be pardoned in order to escape Islamic “justice”. No one was ever forced to admit that what she did was hardly a crime.

But consider the next part of the story:
- - - - - - - - -
Lord Nazir Ahmed, who met with al-Bashir earlier Monday along with Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, said the case was an “unfortunate misunderstanding” and stressed that Britain respected Islam.

He hoped “the relations between our two countries will not be damaged by this incident,” Ahmed told reporters at the presidential palace after Monday’s meeting.

Ghazi Saladdin, a senior presidential adviser, said al-Bashir insisted that Gibbons had a “fair trial,” but he agreed to pardon her because of the efforts by the British Muslim delegation.

[…]

In the written statement released by Sudanese presidential palace and read by Warsi to reporters, 54-year-old Gibbons said she was sorry if she caused any “distress.”

I have a great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone,” Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday, said in the statement. [emphasis added]

Everybody involved is falling all over themselves to demonstrate how much they respect Islam, the great religion of peace, whose adherents are so reasonable and thoughtful that an enraged mob of them wants to kill a woman over the name of a teddy bear.

Whence this “respect”?

This fawning dhimmitude is what we’ve come to expect from our politicians, our diplomats, our media people, and our academics. But ordinary people now seem to be prey to the same condition.

One expects hostages to say these things in the midst of their captivity. But after they are set free…? This is the Stockholm Syndrome gone mad.

The appropriate statement after one’s release from such imprisonment would be something like this: “I have nothing but contempt for the barbaric and cowardly people who did these vile things to me, and I shall never again set foot in that backward hellhole known as Sudan.”

Don’t you wish that you could hear words like this spoken publicly, even once?

It’s as if everyone in the West has been possessed by the PC Demon. We need a visit from the Exorcist with his little black bag.

How did Her Majesty’s government react?

In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was delighted by news.

“Common sense has prevailed,” Brown said in a statement released by his office.

That’s a polite word for it.

How about this instead: “We have notified the Sudanese government that if any more incidents like this occur, we shall have no choice but to take the appropriate measures.”

No, not bloody likely.

On Friday during a rally in Khartoum, thousands of protesters, many armed with clubs and swords and beating drums, burned pictures of her and demanded her execution.

[…]

Sudan’s ambassador in London, Khalid al-Mubarak, insisted Monday that the demonstrations “were an argument from the fringe.”

I beg to differ. These demonstrations were hardly from the fringe; they were from the heart of Islam.

There are Muslims for whom I have great respect. Some of them I know personally, and their character and integrity have earned my respect.

But I have no respect for the religion of Islam. None. Not an iota.

Nor do I respect its manifestations as expressed in public institutions, governments, and Arab tribal culture. For these I have nothing but contempt.

Respect must be earned.

13 comments:

AngleofRepose said...

Derision is a good response.

(link NSFW and fairly offensive)

:)

heroyalwhyness said...

Six to seven years ago, I would have read this report and thought it was the transcript of a South Park episode or an Onion piece.

Such an astoundingly short time to witness the utter collapse of the collective western spine.

There aren't strong enough words to express my disgust with this level of appeasement. Where is the next Reagan?

A Time for Choosing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvg7lRsCVJ8&eurl=http://mypetjawa.mu.nu

kepiblanc said...

As usual, Pat Condell gets it RIGHT.

Unknown said...

"The appropriate statement after one’s release from such imprisonment would be something like this: “I have nothing but contempt for the barbaric and cowardly people who did these vile things to me, and I shall never again set foot in that backward hellhole known as Sudan.”"

That would be something you would save after you leave the Islamic hell hole of Sudan.

Michael said...

How about this instead:

“We have notified the Sudanese government that if any more incidents like this occur, we shall have no choice but to carpetbomb Khartoum.”

Unknown said...

I think it's unfair to criticize this woman for the statement in the article above. Making that statement may have been a condition of her release, so I think it's a bit premature to criticize the statement. Personally, if making a conciliatory statement would help me to get out of Sudan, I'd do it. However, if it was not made under duress, it's a bit ridiculous.

OMMAG said...

As I'm sure you are well aware... the Islamix response to your contempt is that you will learn to respect Islam or die!

Since you clearly do understand that proposition... you must be willing to accept the logical response to such threats.
Know your enemy!

Charlemagne said...

I have absolutely no respect for Islam and will ridicule it at every opportunity. I only wish I had a public forum with a wide audience and following.

Witch-king of Angmar said...

Here's a nice gift for your kid for Christmas: The CAIR Bears

Chris said...

It is frightening how many in the West, including government officials, are willing to make such conciliatory remarks to a culture of utter barbarism and hate. One can only ascribe it to fear, which can also be viewed as surrender. That is why the Hague Museum pulled artwork from a recent exhibit, why the anti-Islamisation of Europe protesters in Brussels were roughed up and arrested, and it will go on and on and on. It is so sad that the West has so many who will gladly accept dhimmitude - or maybe they will eventually convert outright.

Charlemagne said...

I think it isn't so much fear driven as it is that we've all been brainwashed into believing that it is somehow bigoted for us to criticize other cultures and that we therefore have no right to pass moral judgement on them. We can't even pass judgement on subcultures within our own culture. How many white politicians are willing for example to criticize the obvious pathologies in the black community? Not many because if they did they would be accused of racism, even though what they said was truth. It has simply been deemed off limits.
I will agree that there is a fear among politicians and the general populace of being called "racist". It is a powerful weapon and until people are willing to be labeled racist no matter how false the charge it will continue to be a powerful weapon.

Captain USpace said...

The so-called liberals are the real racists. They are the ones who villify conservative minorities for speaking against the so-called progressive talking points and not towing the 'liberal' line.

Great article Baron, you were very angry here and I don't blame you, it's damn maddening. It's insane.

I'm sure though, that this incident was beneficial in some ways in that it helped to wake up some more people to the insanity.

Still, most people won't speak of it yet, but more people now either finally have their doubts about Islam, or have more doubts about Islam, or finally, have no doubt at all what the problem really is. Pure, literal Islam.

However, MoTeddy would make a wonderful Ramadan, Hanukkah or Christmas gift. A New Dark Age is Dawning has a link to them for sale at the Cafe Press store.

Calling these ignorant freaks in Sudan human garbage is just too kind. Oh so peaceful, effin SICK animals...

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
give a pig a prophet's name

glorify the godly swine
and thank him for his bacon


absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
outlaw all teddy bears

before some little kids
try to honor a prophet


absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
make your population MAD

just keep them on the edge
of breaking some silly rules


absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
always create scapegoats

deflect your people's anger
punish innocent women


http://haltterrorism.com/

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
.

Unknown said...

The solution to this type of behaviour is simple - stop sending aid. But then if such a thing was threatened the likes of the idiotic Gillian Gibbons would no doubt plead on behalf of Sudan. She should have been left to stew in her own juice.