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Down Under
Treat Muslim cleric as 'joke': Howard
2007-04-14
Prime Minister John Howard on Friday suggested that Australians should treat the country’s senior Muslim cleric as “a joke”. Howard made the comment after Egyptian-born mufti Sheikh Taj Aldin al-Hilali reportedly said he was “more Australian” than the prime minister – whom he likened to Saddam Hussein.
"'At's right! I can hop like a kangaroo! I got more abdomen than an aborigine! I'm infested with vegamites!"
The clash is the latest in a series of controversies to embroil Hilali, who has described scantily-clad women as “uncovered meat”.
The sheikh is a walking testament to the dangers of wearing your turban too tight...
Howard, in a radio interview, said he was not bothered by HilaliÂ’s latest comments.
"It doesn't bother me when a platypus farts, either."
“I’m tempted to say we should start treating the man as a joke and in relation to his comments about me ... well, I’ve been insulted by experts so I’m rather untroubled by them,” Howard said. He repeated an earlier call for Australia’s Muslims to sack Hilali as mufti “because he is bringing ridicule upon them”.
The fact that they haven't dumped him lends credence to my contention that they don't feel shame like we do.
Hilali told The Australian newspaper that he had spent 50 years promoting peace and accused Howard of running a dictatorship. “It’s a disgrace for the leader of a democratic country to pick on religious people, especially one who is practising a form of dictatorship that could almost be Saddam Hussein-like.”
"Wanna hear me play the didgeridoo?"
Posted by:Fred

#8  Just shoot 'em in the center of the forehead with a .45, twice. That puts an end to the problem, and costs a heck of a lot less than anything else mentioned. There is no reason to tolerate those with self-inflicted insanity.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2007-04-14 23:38  

#7  If our response to their violence is to not only hit back, but double down the amount of biting humor at their expense, they might just start to feel humiliated after a while.

Works for me. Combination shots are usually better than jabs.

If John Stewart and other liberal comedians would skewer Islamism as ruthlessly as they do Bush, one could at least have some respect for them while disagreeing with their ideology.

I suppose there's no harm in dreaming.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-04-14 23:03  

#6  Look, I think Howard is on to something. The reason Islamists resort to violence is that it works. If our response to their violence is to not only hit back, but double down the amount of biting humor at their expense, they might just start to feel humiliated after a while. And the fear of humiliation seems to be a strong motivator among many of them. At the very least, it would help turn the so-called moderate Muslims into real moderate Muslims. They won't commit to the side of Islamic reform, if they don't think that we seriously intend to win.

If John Stewart and other liberal comedians would skewer Islamism as ruthlessly as they do Bush, one could at least have some respect for them while disagreeing with their ideology. They only attack Bush so harshly because they know he's not in any way the threat they pretend to believe he is. And sadder still is the fact that they think of themselves as being "edgy", for crying out loud.
Posted by: ryuge   2007-04-14 21:57  

#5  1. Islamists respond to parody or criticism cloaked in humor with violence (see the Danish cartoon riots)

2. Either Muslim clerics who incite violence and insurrection are foreigners who must face deportation or they are members of your society who must face trial for treason, with the harshest penalty which conviction would allow.
Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723   2007-04-14 15:21  

#4  On previous occasions I've quoted Mel Brooks regarding this topic:

"If you stand on a soapbox and trade rhetoric with a dictator you never win," says Brooks, 75. "That's what they do so well; they seduce people. But if you ridicule them, bring them down with laughter--they can't win. You show how crazy they are."

While this approach may still yield some results it is important to remember that we are dealing with what is essentially an entirely unhumorous people. The Mohammed cartoons provided a stark preview of what to expect from Islam. Nazis had a sense of humor, therefore they could be ridiculed with effect.

Islam's blind assumption of supremacy makes it almost entirely immune to the same treatment. Due to having undergone such a near-surgical humorectomy any resultant self-inspection or potential laughter at oneself is translated into murderous rage.

One can see by Hilali's outrageous statements that this Islamic tyrant takes himself with absolute seriousness. There are few ways of disuading this type of self-deluded megalomaniac. This is but one of many reasons why I have begun to accept that those of Hilali's ilk must be exterminated. Few other remedies will successfully counteract such an impenetrable outlook.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-04-14 14:41  

#3   IÂ’ve been insulted by experts so IÂ’m rather untroubled by them,”

Ima liking this guy.
Posted by: Shipman   2007-04-14 06:10  

#2  SF, where this myth that Ozzies drink Fosters is originating from?

Yea, I remember the TV ad "Fosters, Oztralian for beer", but that was just a commercial. ;-)
Posted by: twobyfour   2007-04-14 00:53  

#1  I'd like to see him chug a can of Foster's and crush it on his forehead.
Posted by: Seafarious   2007-04-14 00:02  

00:00