Comments on: I’m not a terrorist, honest guv!

By: jockstrap

jockstrap — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 19:01:21 +0000

What was missed out in the film was an area of misunderstanding that exists between an Eastern & Western perspective on ideas to do with the importance or relevance of image.

In the West surface appearance is all when it comes to making an assessmment about a person, you could argue that the terrorists made a hash of self advertising themselves – I mean cmon, a guy wearing a baseball cap, dark glasses and a rucksack looks like a fashion victim suspicious backpacker – even if he is a genuine tourist…

In the East this is less important, ie a guy with a beard is not automatically considered suspicious or worthy of mistrust – and that’s an area of cultural perspective which was never fully explored – eg “never trust a man with a beard” is a Western notion, as a beard hides the features as much as dark glasses and renders someone identityless or generic.

By: Rohin

Rohin — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 01:40:43 +0000

I saw most of the programme on the re-run in the middle of the night, but joined it late. Meeting Omar Bakri was not that interesting, but when the chap went to Bradford I found it very funny indeed. Overall quite a watchable doc.

Good timepass.

By: bananabrain

bananabrain — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 14:14:41 +0000

ah, easy now sunny. i’m a zionist too (whatever the feck that actually means anyway, but i’m definitely kind of one) and we definitely have feelings. whether we have brain cells is sometimes harder to establish but a man can dream.

b’shalom

bananabrain

By: chavez

chavez — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 10:56:27 +0000

Thanks for the proof Don, you’ve really altered my perception, how could I have thought for one minute Tony Blair and Ian Blair could lie, it’s not like the British establishment would wrongly jail people for IRA crimes.
I personally think they have been framed, please feel free to enlighten me tho.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:41:07 +0000

chavez,

There’s proof that bits of them were.

By: chavez

chavez — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 08:08:29 +0000

those Leeds bombers were framed, there is no proof any of the four accused were in London on 7/7.

http://prisonplanet.com/articles/january2006/300106london_bombings.htm

By: Siddharth

Siddharth — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 01:35:31 +0000

Sunny,
if I didn’t know you better I’d think you’re quite enjoying the attention from the burbling troll.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 01:18:15 +0000

Awwww… zionists have feelings too?

By: Shaul

Shaul — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:53:50 +0000

Suddenly Sunny you just seem too simple to tease. I almost feel tenderness for you.

By: Col. Mustafa

Col. Mustafa — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:08:21 +0000

“I am a free man and can do what I like within the law â€” or whether he was being spiteful or just winding everyone up. I could see the funny side of it because there was a crush by the doors and space around him. So I sat next to him and said â€œHello mate! Good book?â€ He didnâ€™t smile back though and got off at the next stop.”

hehehehehe.

By: Sunny

Sunny — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:00:04 +0000

Shaul – it was an analogy. I love to see people get riled up when you give examples but they don’t want to consider them because one is too big an issue, and the other isn’t. I stand by the analogy because it was made to make a point about freedom of speech, not to say which was worse (the holocaust or the cartoons). Straining your brain to think outside the box doesn’t come too easy to you does it?

By: Col. Mustafa

Col. Mustafa — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 23:58:50 +0000

“You should. I always say that the first thing a man does when he wants to become a woman is shave his beard.”

Thats brilliant Bikhair.
Next time i shave ill remember that one. hehe

By: El Cid

El Cid — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 21:24:28 +0000

Ouch. That’s not a good analogy, I concede. Still, we all make mistakes and I’ve heard enough from Sunny to indicate that he’s more liberal then me and certainly far more liberal than you. I wouldn’t read anything into it, unless of course you want to use it as smokescreen for your own prejudices and blinkered, desperate outlook.

SeanT also comes across as a 1970s bigot when he says: By contrast, the Islamofascists and the pre-Enlightenment beardies in other Asian faiths – are having quite an effect on the west’s freedom of speech already. Anyone who says that clearly doesn’t like foreign people and doesn’t have many non-white friends. It is not surprising that Sunny was riled.

In any case, what has this got to do with this thread?

By: Shaul

Shaul — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 20:30:07 +0000

Sunny: I see you haven’t responded to any of the criticisms you recieved at Harry’s Place for this vile, incoherent analogy:

“….another silly example. Would any British paper run a joke about Hitler persecuting Jews in Auschwitz? I sincerely doubt it. Why aren’t you getting angry over that?”

This “liberalism” stuff just doesn’t come too easy to you

does it?

http://hurryupharry.bloghouse.net/archives/2006/01/31/not_so_long_ago.php

By: El Cid

El Cid — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 20:20:32 +0000

I also remember getting on a train at Liverpool Street a few weeks after 7/7 and seeing a bearded Asian middle-aged man with a copy of the Koran.
He was reciting from it, and rocking back and forth. I dunno whether he was making a political statement — I am a free man and can do what I like within the law — or whether he was being spiteful or just winding everyone up. I could see the funny side of it because there was a crush by the doors and space around him. So I sat next to him and said “Hello mate! Good book?” He didn’t smile back though and got off at the next stop.
Just in case anyone think I’m being a typical Latin macho man, this is wot I wrote when I first got back on the Piccadilly.

By: El Cid

El Cid — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:55:49 +0000

Funny enough, I keep hoping that the police stop me to ask what's in my ickle rucksack, so that I can say "no probs officer" and show some solidarity with my fellow Londoners, whatever their hue. But they never do. I'm curious to know whether one has the option to say: "Don't worry about the paperwork. It's cool. I'm clean and have a train to catch." Or not. I dunno to what extent there is racial profiling at work -- I have seen white people being stopped, and some of those doing the stopping are brown/black (Community Officers). But I feel left out. Is it coz I is more than 30? As for trying to send a signal out to your fellow passengers that you're ok, there's nothing to worry about, put the rosary away... well, I like the Stella idea. But didn't the bus bomber have a a Western Imperialist Big Mac before his martyr's trip to hell? I remember reading another Asian-run blog shortly after 7/7. He suggested carrying a copy of Wired or The Economist would help reassure others of your commuting intent. Personally, I would recommend Satanic Verses

By: Bikhair

Bikhair — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:54:23 +0000

Jay Singh,

“Moderate muslims could have one saying:

DONT WORRY AND DONT BE LATE
Iâ€™M A MUSLIM BUT Iâ€™M MODERATE!”

For all those Muslims upon the Quran and the Sunnah, who know their religion and understand what is permissible and forbidden i.e. suicide bombings, etc. and wouldnt, describe themselves as moderate, which is a dubious term generally meaning that I am a Muslim but dont practice my religion which makes me safe, what kinds of shirts should they wear:

DONT TRIP, I AM A MUSLIM WHO FOLLOWS THE CORRECT PATH. I KNOW JIHAD AND IT ISNT BLOWING MYSELF UP ON A BUS, TRAIN, PLANE, ETC.

I would be insulted by those kinds of shirts because it is making a statment about Islam that is incorrect.

By: Bikhair

Bikhair — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:46:39 +0000

Sunny,

“Youâ€™re not Bikhairâ€™s husband by any chance are you?”

I am insulted! That Pounce guy is a sissy. A crying, probably upset with his parents sissy.

By: Bikhair

Bikhair — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:44:07 +0000

Col. Mustafa,

(Nice name btw)

“I grow abit of beard every now and again.”

You should. I always say that the first thing a man does when he wants to become a woman is shave his beard. All the Prophets and Messengers had beards and they were the best of mankind.

By: Bikhair

Bikhair — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 19:42:25 +0000

Sonia,

“And if you want to go ahead and say something about the Saudi Arabian authorities who should be held morally responsible for allowing dangerous conditions at the Hajj – then go right ahead. Someone should!”

Oh please. Anytime someone takes a crap on planet each and the smell happens to be unusually offensive blame Saudi. For your information the people on Hajj have to take some responsibility for the chaos that they created because for those who live in the country, they know that the government have invested alot in making the place safer for pilgrims.