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Monday, March 27, 2006
I'm Confused!
Hmm...Now let's see if we can sort this out. Months ago, some mildly insulting cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) appeared in a Danish newspaper. Some time later, some Muslims threatened the lives of the cartoonists and the newspaper's editor, rioted, burned and generally went bonkers and behaved shamefully. Now, it seems some people in India are planning a protest about the appearance of a cartoon depicting George Bush as the Lord Shiva (many arms be upon him). The political party of one Raj Thackeray, nearly a month after the offending cartoon appeared in the International Herald Tribune on March 3rd (they were going to protest earlier but the regional police were busy with bandobast duty and asked them to wait), are going to burn effigies of the American president. Yes. You read that right. They are going to BURN EFFIGIES OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT...to protest a cartoon that said American president had nothing to do with creating. They have made no mention of killing the cartoonist or torching any consulates. Whaaaaa????? I'm confused. But I'm also thinking I wish the outraged Muslims had behaved like the outraged Hindus, and a) cooperated with local police to make sure the latter were able and willing to control the flames, and b)burned effigies of Mohammed in order to vent their considerable spleen, rather than torching embassies and threatening to bring about the "real" Holocaust (as opposed to that fake one we all learned about in school).
Read the wacky story.
(Note: I sometimes think it would be nice to have extra arms. I could get my housework done more quickly, and type faster. I already type 100 words a minute, so imagine what I could do!)
Cross-posted at Wonkitties.
Posted by wonkitties on March 27, 2006 | Permalink
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Comments
Kinda makes the nukes for mangos deal seem like a bad idea, eh?
Posted by: Howard Roark | 2006-03-27 3:57:06 PM
"(Note: I sometimes think it would be nice to have extra arms. I could get my housework done more quickly, and type faster. I already type 100 words a minute, so imagine what I could do!)"
Shame on you and your blasphemous desires. I think you should burn either yourself or your effigy. Or perhaps Shiva's effigy, or maybe Bush's. Well, you should burn something anyways, that's what you do in these cases isn't it?
Posted by: Jon | 2006-03-27 4:37:11 PM
Let me unconfuse you.
Islam is just another word for insane!
Now you know.
Posted by: Duke McGoo | 2006-03-27 5:28:52 PM
Whadda' ya' want? See Alan Funt, "People are Funny".
If you're in favour of extra arms, support the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. I do.
We all have the right to bear arms. The question is: Black, Brown, Grizzly, Polar, or Panda?
Yeah I'm just havin' fun, somebody here has to, what with so many folks yellin' at each other all the time.
Pamphleteering is an art, not a bludgeon. Catch the wave.
Posted by: Vitruvius | 2006-03-27 8:03:02 PM
Okay Vit.
How about a break from tradition and allow me to post the joke de jour.
"Well son , we Irish celebrate when things are good, and we Celebrate when things don't go well. In this case, things aren't Well. I have cancer. Let's head to the pub and have a few pints." After 3 or 4 pints, the two were feeling a little less Somber. There were some laughs and more Beers. They were eventually approached by some of O'Malley's old Friends, who were curious as to what the two were celebrating. O'Malley! Told his friends they were drinking to his impending End. "I have been diagnosed with AIDS."The friends gave O'Malley Their condolences, and they had a couple of more beers.
After the friends left, O'Malley's son leaned over and whispered, "Dad, I thought you said you were dying of cancer, and you just Told your friends you were dying of AIDS."
O'Malley said, "I don't want any of them sleeping with your Mother After I'm gone." -- Gotta love the Irish.
Posted by: Duke | 2006-03-27 8:22:18 PM
Fair enough, Duke, yet I feel there is a degree to which you have failed to integrate your selection of joke into the topic at hand (sorry to sound negative).
Now I'm not saying I don't get carried away by the thrill of the post as much as the next human, just, like I said, it's an art that I'm trying to learn, and that I'd like to try to weave that into these conversations as a meta-thread. It's certainly meta-relevant.
All right, you say, enough with the whining Vitruvius, how 'bout a productive contribution? Hmm... (sound effects of machinery), how 'bout:
Some Shivas see too many arms. Some Shivas see to few arms. Zoologists see that the number of arms is inappropriate for the species.
Posted by: Vitruvius | 2006-03-27 8:47:39 PM
Arma virumque cano. (Good thing you can't hear me)
"busy with bandobast duty" What the heck is bandobast duty? Apparently it means careful preparations, leaving nothing to chance, according to a hasty search.
Search for meaning continues...
Posted by: Halfwise | 2006-03-27 9:04:56 PM
Good call, Halfwise. Mine eyes glazed over it on the first pass (it's a bad habit I have), but I really had no idea in respect of bandobast. I'm still trying to recover from the joy of learning antejentacular.
So, like all the rest of you probably, I looked it up. I used answers.com, associated with Google, which gave me "practical, detailed organization; settlement", but also took to me Wikipedia...
"Raja Todar Mal was the Indian Mughal emperor Akbar’s finance minister, who overhauled the revenue system in the kingdom. He succeeded the eunuch Khwaja Malik I'timad Khan in 1560. He introduced standard weights and measurements, revenue districts and officers. His systematic approach to revenue collection became a model for the future Mughals as well as the British. He was also responsible for replacing Hindi with Persian in government accounts. Raja Todar Mal was also a warrior who assisted Akbar in controlling the Afghan rebels in Bengal. Raja Todar Mal had learnt his craft from another able administrator Sher Shah. In 1582, Akbar bestowed on the raja the title Diwan-I-Ashraf. Todar Mal died in 1586, the same year as Akbar's other nau-rathan Raja Birbal. He was famous for his Land reforms, popularly known as 'Bandobast System.'"
So, eh, he was a taxman. To arms I say, to arms! (How many is technically up to you.)
Posted by: Vitruvius | 2006-03-27 9:31:34 PM
I guess it makes as much sense as black people, pissed-off because white police officers weren't convicted of certain crimes against a black person, rioting and burning down black-owned businesses, thus making life a lot harder for the other black people living in their overwhelmingly black part of town.
Posted by: David Crawford | 2006-03-27 9:35:11 PM
Ha! Should have seen the mess the Capitalist Piglet in the University of Saskatchewan Sheaf newspaper caused.
Still awaiting MSM news on the building and car burings and beheadings over this..
Posted by: tomax | 2006-03-27 9:46:18 PM
Aha! Further research indicates that Bandobast is originally a Persian word (that would be Iran, Iraq is Messopotamian as I understand it, modulo the Kurds), that later came into common use as a Hindi term. That would explain all the links to Indian newspapers that use it in various contexts.
My source for that is Merriam-Webster On-Line, but it's access controlled; my research consisted of going from my office / the living room, to my walking-dictionary friend's office / the dining room, and it turns out she has a login to said site. She's great!
Posted by: Vitruvius | 2006-03-27 9:54:45 PM
Well Vit,
I found the topic of the post a bit boring and your comments confirmed it.
I like straight humour. What you suggested requires a wit level that is not usually available here. This is the Agora not the Star Chamber.
Gotta luv those straighten talke Irish
Posted by: Duke | 2006-03-27 9:57:16 PM
If you found the topic boring, Duke, then why did you comment on it in the first place? Are you trying to bring everyone down? Is there a shortage of topics you don't find boring, on the World Wide Web?
I'm sorry, I'm picking on you. I know, sometimes I get into all the bitching and carping and kvetching too. But I'm not into it right now, so that's what I'm talking about instead. Just like everyone else is talking about what they're into right now.
Anyway, you want straight humour:
"The way my luck is running, if I were a politician I would be an honest man."
--
Rodney Dangerfield (2 arms)
Posted by: Vitruvius | 2006-03-27 10:21:02 PM
aw crap now I'm confused...at 100wpm think of all the vaccuming your missing out on
Posted by: kelly | 2006-03-27 10:23:18 PM
I'm confused also. In the March 13 issue of Time magazine Trey Parker Of South Park fame states "We had an animated Muhammad five years ago. But people say "oh, yeah, that's just South Park."
Did the radicals miss that cartoon or have they just become that much more radical in the last five years? My guess would be the latter.
Posted by: Polly | 2006-03-27 11:12:56 PM
The CBC will publish the cartoon. If they haven't already...
Posted by: Knight of Good Mr. Iron Man | 2006-03-27 11:20:27 PM
Hehe, gotta love Indian politics. One of the few places in the world where 'effigy burning' is a profession.
Raj Thackeray, like his famous uncle, is a few lentils short of a curry. Bad joke, I know :'(
While the Thackerays and their cadre make a point of speaking for Hinduism (or atleast 'hinduness', whatever that is...), it is important to realise that they are into politics first, power second, and then when the dirty work needs to be done, they turn to religion.
The Thackerays like to preach Hinduism and like to act on behalf of 'Hindus', but mind you only for Hindus in the State of Maharashtra, and those who speak the state languge, marathi. All the other 'Hindus' could go to hell for all they care. Indeed they had a whole campaign to kick out non-marathis (Hindu/Muslim/Whatever) out of their state into a neighbouring state.
So while they create this rally to burn Bush effigies for 'Hinduism', it is important to note that they are being led by an MD named 'Ahmed'.
A rally for 'Hinduism' led by a guy named Ahmed, organized by a group that is driven by regionalism (which they call religion) to burn effigies of President Bush after getting police permission over a cartoon.
Really gotta love Indian politics. : )
Posted by: Spit | 2006-03-28 12:49:46 AM
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