mediawatchwatch.org.uk

(From Jyllands-Posten) Abu Laban, the Danish imam who touted the 12 Mo-toons (plus a few others) around the Middle East in a successful attempt to stir up Muslim outrage, has decided to leave Denmark and return to Gaza.

I’m not willing to be manipulated all the time and associated with terrorism, when I have worked day and night, tooth and nail in an honest way for this country’s welfare

Yes, he really said that. And this:

I could have created a hell here in Denmark. I could have encouraged Muslims to strike. I’ve tried to be a good guest in this country in every way. But I’ve been treated extremely poorly by the other side.

The dream of Europe and human rights has shattered for me. Islam has been a test for Western democracy, and I think Western democracy has shown that it hasn’t secured equal human rights for everyone.

Good luck in Gaza, Abu. Denmark will miss you.

Mumbai-based campaign group, the bizarrely-named Catholic Secular Forum, has come up with an excellent way to protest against the Da Vinci Code film: “fast unto death”.

Joseph Dias, the group’s general secretary explains:

It’s to show the extent that our feelings have been hurt … It’s a more Christian way of doing things rather than pulling down things and tearing them up

Stephen Green, John Beyer, all you boys on the Muslim Action Committee – are you listening?

The same group are also calling for a second film, Tickle My Funny Bone, to be banned because it “hurts religious sentiments”. It features a “naughty nun”.

Naughty nun? Surely the End of Times is upon us!

Last week the Organisation of Islamic the Conference (OIC), a Saudi-based group, was told by Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells that Muslims were committing an “act of self-denial” if they blamed the west alone for the rise of “Islamophobia”.

The OIC conference in London highlighted the Danish Mo-toons as examples of Western hatred towards Islam, and called for regulations to prevent any future examples of “disrespect for religion” in the media. It cited the violent reaction to the Mo-toons as “absolute evidence of the consequences of non-abidance with these regulations”.

Right.

Step up to the podium Kim Howells:

…the existence of anti-Western and anti-Jewish media and material in the Muslim world, some of it in state owned press, undermined as hypocritical the moral indignation that was expressed.

It did a bit, didn’t it?

He also cited some other factors which might just contribute to the negative perception of Islam in the West. Little things like:
– support for Taliban-type legal and social systems
– recent statements coming out of Tehran
– practices that segregate and subjugate women
– conspiracy theories about 9/11 being a CIA plot and polio vaccines being contaminated with viruses
– reports of raped women being punished and stoned
– restrictions on other religions, including death sentences pronounced on Christian converts
– poor human rights records
– authoritarian, undemocratic environments.

Not that these things are important when compared to a drawing of a bearded bloke with a bomb in his turban.

Howells’ entire speech can be read here.

(From The National Secular Society)

Last night saw demonstrations outside the Norwich Theatre Royal both by Christians against the show, plus a group from Norwich Anarchists and a brigade of CWACKERS (Class War Against Christian Wankers) representing freedom of speech.


Christian chants of “Jesus! Jesus!” were countered by cries of “Elvis! Elvis!” by the opposing crowd. Placards bore slogans including “BRING OUT THE LIONS”, “THE ABORTION CLINIC IS THAT WAY”, “JUDGE PEOPLE LESS – WASH MORE FEET”, and “JESUS DIED FOR HIS SINS – NOT MINE”.

The anarchists and class warriors have vowed to return to future performances – and next time they’re bringing guitars. Nice work!

(More photos at London Class War)

(From the BBC) In a documentary due to be shown in Rome, Cardinal Francis Arinze calls on Christians to take legal action against The Da Vinci Code book and film.

The conservative cardinal said:

Christians must not just sit back and say it is enough for us to forgive and to forget.

Sometimes it is our duty to do something practical

Like give Dan Brown even more publicity than he could have dreamt of by taking him to court? Good idea, cardie.

This is one of the fundamental human rights – that we should be respected, our religious beliefs respected, and our founder Jesus Christ respected.

Er, why should one set opinions on the origin of the universe, the nature of life, and the possibility of life after death be “respected” any more than another set of opions? And how do you ensure respect of a long-dead semi-fictional character?

The cardinal went on to express his deep-seated admiration for violent religious fanatics:

There are some other religions which if you insult their founder they will not be just talking.

Yes, aren’t they great? Or do you mean aren’t you great for not being like them? Or that you should be more like them, but not too much more? Do you really know what you mean?

Anyway, we really hope that they do take the publishers/film makers to court. It would be a fascinating spectacle.

(Thanks to Andrew in the comments)

UPDATE: Bartholomew has more DVC news.

The Archbishop of Wales called for the comedy musical Jerry Springer: The Opera to be banned last weekend, ahead of its opening at the Wales Millennium Centre next month.

Barry Morgan trotted out the usual arguments.

I think they’ve crossed a line here, because what they say about Jesus in this opera is likely to cause scandal and they’d never get away with saying the same things about the prophet Muhammad.

Yes, Baz. That’s because some Muslims act like barbaric morons if they think their prophet has been insulted. Are you saying this is a good thing? Should we also treat Christian like potential murderers and arsonists? Would that make you feel better?

What they say about Jesus here is blasphemous and gratuitously offensive and I think when an opera does that, then it’s time to call a halt. Why should Christianity endure this kind of offensive blasphemous treatment?

Christianity doesn’t have to “endure” anything. It’s not a person. If a Christian doesn’t want to endure this blasphemy, he needn’t buy a ticket for it. It really is as simple as that.

Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society sums it up:

The archbishop’s comments are deeply misguided. Calling for censorship of a theatrical performance on the grounds that it is ‘blasphemous’ is repressive and risks setting back free speech to medieval times.

True. If you censor one thing to save the feelings of one religious group, pretty soon you’ll have every religious group from Scientologists to Satanists getting “censorship envy” and demanding special protection too.

(From the Pink Paper) Stephen “Dog Shit” Green, the director of Christian Voice and would-be censor who has devoted over a year to trying – and failing – to prevent anyone from seeing the comic musical Jerry Springer: The Opera, has been told by Staffordshire police to close down a part of his website or “face legal action”.

The spoof True Vision web page is based on a national police initiative against hate crime. The official police web page can be found at report-it.org. Green’s deeply unfunny parody suffers from his habitual logorrhoea – it’s unlikely many have managed to wade through the whole thing, with its painfully inept attempts at ironic wit, and rationally unjustifiable bibliolatry. But we tried, and here is typical paragraph:

Police intelligence indicates that too many Christians believe that God actually inspired the Bible. It also shows that the Bible is full of homophobic passages in books such as Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Kings, Chronicles, Ezekiel, Matthew, John, Romans, Corinthians, Jude, Revelation and stuff. (3) These passages can cause mass disruption in the LGBT community. Worryingly, certain Christians believe each one of these passages is a weapon sharper than a two-edged sword. MI6 intelligence suggests that Christians can swiftly deploy these weapons of mass disruption, certainly within 45 seconds, and that they can reach right into the heart of Britain. The Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee states with authority from a sofa in Number Ten that Christians are a prime source of homophobia and a grave threat to civilisation as we know it.

Get it?

That said, Bob Hodgson of the Metropolitan Police Service’s gay independent advisory group does seem to be overreacting somewhat when he says:

It is despicable that anyone would seek to hijack the reporting of homophobic incidents for their own purposes.

We applaud any and all attempts to stop them doing so. Anything which might deter gay people reporting crime or prevent police getting information that people thought they were giving in good faith in is completely unacceptable and shows a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.

Green, to his credit, has stood his ground, saying:

I challenge them to go ahead with that legal action

And, disturbingly enough – even while permitting ourselves to enjoy a bit of Schadenfreude – we here at MWW are standing firmly behind him (No, not like that! Be quiet at the back there!). A spoof is a spoof, however clumsily executed, and the police are seriously out of order in trying to bully CV into silence.

As the good book* says, “Let the idiots speak, that they may reveal unto the world their idiocy”.

*The good book we just made up

(Thanks to Feòrag)

(From IBN Live) The leader of one of the major parties in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has added to a growing bounty by promising to give half his properties to the person who kills “the cartoonist” responsible for the Mo-toons. Beni Prasad Verma, leader of the Samajwadi Party, virtually endorsed another Uttar Pradesh minister’s announcement in February of a large financial reward to anyone who beheads “the cartoonist”. That minister, one Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, lost his job over the issue.

This is at least the fifth serious bounty offer since the furore broke in February, adding to the 100 kilos of gold from the Taliban, one from a a Pakistani cleric, and another from a Pakistani political party.

Eagle-eyed MWW contributor Andrew Nixon has noticed that John Beyer, director of Mediawatch-UK, has been tampering with his own entry on Wikipedia. Edits include: adding the word “great” to the name of Mary Whitehouse, removing the words “what it sees as” from “harmful and offensive material”, deleting the link to MWW at the end of the article, and replacing the note about his being a fan of the Black and White Minstrels with this paragraph:

Beyer is a fan of good television and he enjoys good drama, film, news and current affairs. Recent praiseworthy productions include ‘Around the World in 80 Treasures’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, ‘Elizabeth I’, ‘Coast’, ‘Grand Designs’, ‘Gardener’s World’, ‘Tonight with Trevor McDonald’ and ‘Bleak House’.

His complete edits are viewable here.

He has also removed a lot of critical material from the Mediawatch-UK entry. (Thanks again, Andrew)

(From the BBC) A group of leading UK Catholics has formed The Da Vinci Code Response Group in an effort to counter the “damaging and grotesque” account of their faith presented in the upcoming film of Dan Brown’s blockbuster.

Showing an uncharacteristic concern for truth, the group’s co-ordinator explains that they are

exasperated that many people without a good understanding of the Catholic Church and its history have been understandably deceived by Dan Brown’s claim that the Da Vinci Code is based on facts and respectable theories.

That deception is likely to be reinforced by the film because images are much more powerful than words.”

In addition, Opus Dei reiterated their demand that the film be preceded with a disclaimer:

The book is obviously trying to present fictional things as factual, and trying to deceive people in that way […]
…if you’re trying to get people to believe it’s fact when in fact it’s fiction, then that’s cheating really

Obvious irony aside, we can only imagine the outraged that would be provoked if someone made a film telling the truth about the Catholic church in all its inquisitional, wealth-hoarding, Nazi-collaborating, miracle-manufacturing glory.

Meanwhile, The Telegraph reveals John Beyer to be in his usual state of bafflement – this time at the British Board of Film Classification’s decision to award the Da Vinci Code a 12A certificate only after it ensured that Sony toned down the frightening soundtrack and bone-cracking sound effects:

You do have to wonder if just turning down the sound is going to help matters that much

quoth the Sage of Ashford.