'Nother Solent

Breaking the silence.

A little belatedly, may I draw your attention to this post by Adloyada on the dilemmas faced by a Palestinian cameraman who secretly filmed a Palestinian boy being killed for collaborating with Israel.

Narnia Blogging Central.

I am indebted to Jon Barnard, late of Room Twelve, for directing me to Andrew Rilestone's site.

This is funny. But don't do it. We need Mr Rilstone alive.

This is not as snappy as my own definitive answer ("Duh!") to the question of whether the Narnia series was a Christian allegory, but it is slightly more nuanced. I liked this post, particularly the analogy at the end, for the same sort of reasons as I like C S Lewis's writing: Rilestone isn't afraid to take as long as it takes to be perfectly clear.

This is the definitive answer to Philip Pullman's daft view that Susan is damned. Stupid-clever person, now my new standard example of someone so blinded by hate that he can't even read the words in front of him properly. (The opening of His Dark Materials is still brilliant though. No denying he can write.)

Oh, and about Note 4... No. No. I cannot speak.

Slippery slopes are a very good description of how the world actually works.

Via Instapundit I found this post in the Volokh Conspiracy by Dave Kopel. In 1999 Canadian gun owners who feared that the then new gun registry was a first step towards banning handguns were being addressed thus by a "chuckling" justice department spokesman:

"We are trying to tell (owners) go to sleep at night, because you have nothing to fear from this government. They like to invent bogeymen, and this is one of them."

Six years later the Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, has proposed a ban on handguns.

One of the things I noticed about Northern Irish politics in the eighties was that people were always chiding the Unionists for their absurd, paranoid suspicion that cross-border initiatives were the thin end of the wedge for moves towards Irish unity*. What was funny was that some of the chiders themselves would then move on, in the same speech or article, to say that this or that cross-border initiative would get the Unionist community used to working together with the Nationalists as a first step towards ... well, towards getting them to accept Irish unity, now you come to mention it.

*I'm not saying Irish unity is an illegitimate objective, or that it is illegitimate to try and persuade Unionists to drop their unionism. Just that the "paranoid" suspicions of Unionists about the underlying motives of their opponents were frequently correct.

"The rule of law has had a good day today."

Samizdata's Jonathan Pearce rejoices in the decision of the Law Lords that evidence obtained by torture is inadmissable.

He is right. But what about the captured terrorist who knows and won't tell where the atomic bomb is held? Torture him and throw yourself on the mercy of the jury.

ADDED LATER: Ticking. I meant ticking bomb. You know, like in the scenario everyone always uses. You knew that.

Quote of the Day.

Reality bites eventually. Better sooner than later.

- Joanne Jacobs

Widely applicable.

Eight Bangladeshis

were the latest to die in a suicide bombing.

A suicide bomb attack killed at least eight people in Bangladesh and wounded more than 50 on Thursday in the latest in a series of deadly blasts blamed on militants seeking Islamic rule in the country.

Police said two bombs exploded on a crowded street within the space of a few minutes during the morning rush hour in Netrokona, a town 360 km (220 miles) north of the capital Dhaka.

They said the wounded included three policemen. Many of the victims were people on their way to work at offices, colleges and markets, witnesses said.

No one claimed responsibility for the blasts, but police blamed Islamist suicide bombers fighting for the introduction of sharia law in the mainly Muslim democracy.

I keep asking myself why the Islamofascist movement has taken to blowing up Muslims so much. I knew the fanatics were that wicked - they have been killing members of other faiths for years, with the Jews, as ever, involuntarily serving as mine canaries by being the first victims of every new ideology of hate - but I did not know they were that stupid.

My guess is that there is some sort of runaway competition in purity going on within the jihadist community. Ever more frenzied displays of loyalty are required: merely killing yourself, or killing women and children no longer sets one apart. This is a reason for believing that the inner circle may be smaller than sometimes thought. OK, so "greater openess to new ideas" was never going to be the first item on the personal goals list for your average suicide bomber, but bigger groups are usually slightly more open to arguments that a strategy is counter-productive. To those in a tight-knit, self-validating group, however, the very counter-productiveness of an act is part of its appeal. They feel that only the chosen few would understand - and since they understand, they must be the chosen few.

The Daily Ablution

has more on Bush the Enviromental Terrorist. After spending yesterday stoking my misanthropy in the hellish human-infested caverns of the Grafton Centre ("When you step foot in the Grafton Centre, you leave the dreamy spires of Cambridge behind...") it is alwasy pleasant to catch up on one's missed Ablutions (readers will be so good as to note the capital A), especially when they link to oneself.

Another Ablution post that I had missed was this one from 6 December. Scott Burgess discussed Polly Toynbee's views about the coming Narnia film. I gather the movie was about as welcome to Ms Toynbee as the Second Coming would be to a person of her views, i.e. annoying on general principles and even more irritating if the rubes turned out to like it.

One of Scott's commenters, Ian, writes:

With all the attention on Narnia books, I am wondering why no-one has yet pointed at A Horse And His Boy and frothed at the mouth at its blatent stereotyping of Arabic Muslim culture and society represented by the Calormen?

"Ask and ye shall receive," says Angie Schultz later, linking to a report that the "5th Narnia book may not see big screen". All I can do* is re-post my own Daily Ablution comment from a while back. The Wharton mentioned is a chap who wrote a letter to the Guardian.

That Lewis preferred Christianity to Islam - duh! He made no bones about being a Christian apologist. In his writings for adults I can think of three brief mentions of Islam, two critical - but reasonably so - and one complimentary. But the part I've seen of Wharton's letter suggests he has not read the Narnia books at all carefully. There is nothing like Islam mentioned.

You could have a mild dig at Lewis by today's [standards] for a not-entirely respectful take on Carlomen culture (that's the fictional pseudo-Ottoman empire in the books.) But they are clearly described as polytheists.

I don't think the books are racist at all. Emeth in The Last Battle is an appealing character and when I was a kid I wanted to be the aristocratic, daring, dominant Aravis from The Horse and His Boy. (Lewis could be sexist but his sexism was taking a break when he created her.)

*"All I can do" is one of those lying phrases writers love. In truth there are quite a lot of other things I can do. Pat my head while rubbing my stomach with a circular motion, for a start. Although not vice versa.

I wish I loved the Human Race

I wish I loved the Human Race;
I wish I loved its silly face;
I wish I liked the way it walks;
I wish I liked the way it talks;
And when I’m introduced to one,
I wish I thought "What Jolly Fun!"

- Walter "Stupid Parents" Raleigh (1861-1922)

Christmas shopping does that to me. Fortunately this piece of revisionist history from Pootergeek cheered me up.

Were they at the same event?

Here is a selection of reports on the recent Global Peace and Unity conference organised by the Islam Channel and held in Docklands on 4 December.

Islam Online:

Thousands of British Muslims have turned out in huge numbers for an event promoting global peace, stressing to the world their faith is by no means a threat to any one.

Over 20,000 Muslims flocked into the ExCel arena in Docklands Sunday, December 4, for the first annual Global Peace & Unity Event.

...

Organizers of the event chose the theme of global peace in order to unite Muslims of all backgrounds, and bridge the gap between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

The amalgam of thousands of people from a multitude of backgrounds and religions helped achieve that aim, says IOL correspondent.

“When we first approached ExCel about hosting our event there, they did not agree. They thought, ‘Islam, Peace, Unity – They don’t go together,’” Mohamed Ali, CEO of Islam Channel said at a press conference. “Islam is a religion of peace and unity, and these are the teachings of our Prophet Muhammad.”

The choice of speakers and artists embodied the theme of the event, with prominent figures attending from India, South Africa, America, Kuwait, and many other countries.

...

Former Pakistani cricketers Saeed Anwar and Imran Khan drew many people to the event, as did world-renowned scholar, Dr. Zakir Naik.

Other speakers promoting peace and unity included Dr. Tariq Suwaidan, a Muslim scholar from Kuwait, in addition to national speakers such as Yvonne Ridley, George Galloway, MP, and Sir Iqbal Sacranie.

Song artists lightened up the atmosphere in the main arena with performances by Dawood Wharnsy Ali, Zain Bhika and Ahmad Bukhatir, while children enjoyed an indoor funfair of rides and games.

Carol Gould writing in Jewish Comment.com:

It was advertised as a diverse event to which non-Muslims were invited and the impression one got from the website was of a celebration of Middle Eastern culture, food, music and children’s activities in a London milieu.

To my utter horror -- and I should have written this report two days ago but my physical and emotional shock have rendered me nearly inert -- it was a seven-hour call to Jihad by a succession of ranting and shouting rabble-rousers.

The eminent barrister Michael Mansfield QC, wearing black and white keffiyah scarf, shouted into the mike about the heinous crimes of the Western coalition countries. The crowd chanted and thundered its appreciation.

The terrifying demagogue George Galloway ascended the podium and exhorted the crowd to stand up for the redemption of the oppressed Muslim world or else the nation had better get ready for ‘rioting in every street in Britain.’.

The ‘slaughter in Palestine and Iraq’ being only part of the equation, Chechnya, Bosnia and Kashmir were also mentioned all day by every speaker including a crazed, chador-clad Yvonne Ridley, who at any moment I expected to self-immolate, such was her fury at the Zionists, the Americans and her fellow Britons. To my utter disbelief, she condemned the British police force as some form of fascist brigade in ‘jackboot Britain.’

To all of these exhortations came cries of ‘Alllahu Akhbar’ from the enormous, simmering crowd of what looked to me like the angriest gathering of young men and women with whom I have ever had the misfortune to be seated in my lifetime.

It must be noted for non-British and non-Commonwealth readers that legendary cricketer Imran Khan’s arrival from Pakistan to give a speech would be the equivalent of a sporting megastar doing similar in an American arena. The crowd of some 20,000 adoring, mostly young British Muslims went mad with joy when he ascended the stage and took to the dais. What followed was a stream of invective about his own leader, Parvez Musharraf, Egypt’s leader Hosni Mubarak, and of course the ‘axis of evil’ Bush, Blair and allies. (It must be noted here that in May, when the controversy arose about American soldiers allegedly flushing a Koran down a lavatory, Khan’s power over world Islam was such that he gave one short speech and riots ensued across the globe, including the horrifying flag-burnings in London’s Grosvenor Square. )

Khan actually said we should feel the degradation of modern Muslims in the context of Hitler and the Germans after Versailles. He used this example to accentuate the reason for ‘Muslim rage’ -- there was poor Germany belittled and humiliated, like the Muslim world today. He recounted being confronted by a fellow Pakistani after 9/11 who asked, ‘Do you not feel ashamed?’ and he told the adoring crowd he did not see what there was to be ashamed of, and anyway, 9/11 was an excuse for the criminal Washington neocons to start a New Crusade against Islam.

To illustrate the level of extremism to which this event had degenerated, one of the organisers actually took the mike and said the event team wished to distance themselves from Khan’s 9/11 views.

The BBC:

The Muslim Council of Britain secretary general made his comments in a speech to an east London conference focusing on the role of Muslims in the UK.

But he added loyalty to the UK was not incompatible with the Muslim faith.

Met Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur and the Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer are among the other figures addressing more than 20,000 people at the Global Peace and Unity conference.

IsraPundit

One thing that shocked me most was Imran's comment that poor Germany was so humiliated by Versailles that they could not be blamed for their rage, hence how can we condemn the 9/11 bombers? Even the organisers said into the mike after he had finished that they distanced themselves from his remark that '9/11 was a neocon cosnpiracy to have an excuse to start a new Crusade.'

A sheikh said that the greatest atrocity of the 20th century was 'Jews from eighty countries being brought in 1947 to Palestine to drive Muslim brothers and sisters from their homes and to kill and torture them.' He added that he can barely say the word 'Israel,' as such a country does not exist. All of this to ecstatic cries from the audience of mostly British-born young Muslims.

Galloway exhorted the crowd to 'riot on every street of Britain' and Ridley defamed our fine British police force in 'jackboot Britain.'

Joanna Bale in the Times:

Ken Livingstone, Michael Mansfield, QC, and the former Pakistan cricketers Saeed Anwar and Imran Khan were among the speakers promoting "global peace and unity".

Tariq Suwaidan, a Muslim scholar from Kuwait, echoed many of those who addressed the conference when he insisted that Muslims did not support the terrorists behind the 9/ll attacks in America and the London bombings in July.

I would be interested to know Imran Khan's exact words.

Blame Bush for everything.

What's he done now? Encouraged wind power.

A global shortage of turbines and other key pieces of equipment needed by the burgeoning wind power industry is causing delays to many schemes needed by the British government to meet its CO2 reduction targets.

Part of the problem is blamed on the US president, George Bush, who has agreed on a raft of tax credits for the American wind industry, which is causing a construction boom when suppliers are already overstretched.

The Guardian is quite right to be angry. Real men burn rainforests or uranium.