Category Archives: Media

Cheney's Pickle/Katrina Commission's Redundancy

Environmentalism & Animal Rights, Film, Media

The press grilled White House Spokesman Scott McClellan over the delay in reporting the Vice President’s shooting accident. Aren’t we fortunate these intrepid men and women never lose sight of what’s important? Invading Iraq? “Misspeaking” about WMD? Dissing the Danes? Deficit spending? Get out of here! Dick Cheney’s embarrassment over spraying a pal with birdshot—now that’s a scoop. I will say this: it is clear Cheney is a hazard to his friends as well.

“US government ‘failed’ on Katrina” screeched the headlines. And we needed a commission and a 600-page document to tell us this? The reporters who covered the Katrina calamity rather well for a change are telling us, with a straight face, what was apparently inconclusive. Oh, come off it! What they should be doing is screening the best satire ever written about the state: “Yes, Minister” and “Yes, Prime Minister.” There, the delicious Sir Humphrey explains what a commission of inquiry aims to achieve. Since I can’t find the direct quote, here is a summation by someone who knows his satire:

The main function of any commission is to delay decision-making until the people, in their infinite wisdom, have moved on to the next Shane Warne/Schapelle Corby/Big Brother eviction. Then, by the time the commission hands down its findings, the people have forgotten the original issue and the politicians can safely put the report in a cupboard and get on with” other abuses.

Cancel cable; Get the series.

‘Taqiyya’ to the Sounds of ‘Tequila’

Ancient History, Islam, Media

The Greek philosophers believed that to be mired in self-contradiction was to be “less than human, less than coherent, less than sane.”

How would they have characterized the rampaging Muslim mobs, who’ve been acting as terrorists to protest that their prophet Muhammad was depicted as a terrorist.

If that isn’t the ultimate performative contradiction, I don’t know what is. To embody a contradiction is indeed a lowly state of being.

Here is the story of the deception to the sounds of a familiar ditty. It all began with a scheming Imam and ended in the riots that rive the Muslim world as I write. It errs in blaming the one for the sins of the many, but is otherwise quite neat.
A doff of the hat to David Conway of CIVITAS for sending the thing along.

Update: It turns out that raging Muslims are more coherent than I gave them credit for; their deeds are in keeping with Muhammad, peace be upon him (it’s now mandatory to offer praise each time the prophet is mentioned). But let historian Srdja Trifkovic do the explaining.
Muslims the world over have demanded that “respect for Muhammad [be] restored.” “We want him to be described as the man he really was in history,” a Danish leader enjoined. So “in the spirit of multicultural tolerance and interfaith dialogue,” Trifkovic has obliged. Read his crash course on Muhammad’s monumental life’s work.

'Taqiyya' to the Sounds of 'Tequila'

Ancient History, Islam, Media

The Greek philosophers believed that to be mired in self-contradiction was to be “less than human, less than coherent, less than sane.”

How would they have characterized the rampaging Muslim mobs, who’ve been acting as terrorists to protest that their prophet Muhammad was depicted as a terrorist.

If that isn’t the ultimate performative contradiction, I don’t know what is. To embody a contradiction is indeed a lowly state of being.

Here is the story of the deception to the sounds of a familiar ditty. It all began with a scheming Imam and ended in the riots that rive the Muslim world as I write. It errs in blaming the one for the sins of the many, but is otherwise quite neat.
A doff of the hat to David Conway of CIVITAS for sending the thing along.

Update: It turns out that raging Muslims are more coherent than I gave them credit for; their deeds are in keeping with Muhammad, peace be upon him (it’s now mandatory to offer praise each time the prophet is mentioned). But let historian Srdja Trifkovic do the explaining.
Muslims the world over have demanded that “respect for Muhammad [be] restored.” “We want him to be described as the man he really was in history,” a Danish leader enjoined. So “in the spirit of multicultural tolerance and interfaith dialogue,” Trifkovic has obliged. Read his crash course on Muhammad’s monumental life’s work.

The Cartoons and the Camel in the Room

Media, The West, The Zeitgeist

The commentariat’s response to the Danish cartoons that mocked Muhammad reminds me of the iconic scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Challenged to a duel by a scimitar-wielding enemy, Indiana Jones draws a pistol and dispatches the swordsman without further ado.
In my analogy, Indiana Jones, however, is the Muslim world. His showy opponent is the West, which has unleashed its penmen on rampaging Muslim mobs to convolute about the values of freedom of expression, enquiry, and conscience.
How have Muslims responded to these lofty disquisitions? As Indiana Jones did, lethally; by calling for the heads of the offenders. From Indonesia to Egypt they’ve kidnapped, killed, and set fire to embassies and missions, promising to visit a “holocaust” on those who pictorially depict or misspeak about Muhammad…

The complete column, The Cartoons and the Camel in the Room, is here. Comments are welcome.