This magic moment
Monday February 06th 2006, 6:01 pm

holeeeeeee cowTim Blair and I are of the same mind at the moment about the editorial cartoons in Jyllands-Posten critical of Islam, though not perhaps for the same reasons.

I’m here because freedom of expression- a human right- trumps religious dogma every day of the week, not because I think Islam is a general and implacable enemy of the western world. Blair was a bit too heavy on the us-v-them-yay-go-team aspect for me.

-weez


7 Comments so far
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I feel sorry for the people who are continuing their almost-habitual dislike for Blair over this issue. You don’t have to hug him all the time, guys!

Still, the media reaction is half the fun. Here’s a great cartoon from the Jordanian paper Al Ghad, which neatly summarises the perceptions of many Muslims.

Comment by Flashman 02.06.06 @ 7:23 pm

Flash, I don’t have a necessarily habitual dislike for Blair- it’s just that we don’t often agree, which is what I said. Scratch that- not just ‘not often’ but more like ‘never.’

Don’t need much of your pity about it though, Flash.

Comment by weezil 02.06.06 @ 7:29 pm

Nowhaere can I find any sign of the cartoons mentioned on 104 mmm fm last night. Where excatly are they??

Comment by David 02.07.06 @ 8:25 am

Blair has published all 12. I only saw fit to run the one I thought was the most over-the-top, generalised mischaracterisation of Muslims and the one most critical of the newspaper.

Comment by weezil 02.07.06 @ 11:15 am

Weez, wasn’t trying to imply that you were in that group, or that I pity you… I was specifically referring to this post, which connotes conservatism with insensitivity.

And you can see why ‘never agreeing with’ gets confused with ‘having a habitual dislike for’ 😉

Comment by Flashman 02.07.06 @ 3:44 pm

Still, Flash, I’m fully capable of disagreement on a point- or even a lot of points- without general disdain. It is my capacity for shades of grey which inadvertently puts Blair and I in agreement on this point.

Comment by weezil 02.07.06 @ 4:40 pm

It’s a superficial criticism of my post to say that I connoted conservatism with insensitivity. In choosing the word “conservative” I failed to make some distinctions, or failed to find a term that could accurately delineate the precise group of people I was pointing at, but the verbal qualifications could go on for ever. I don’t think there’s anything to impugn in the substance of my post.

Comment by Manicboy 02.08.06 @ 7:27 pm



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