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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Hard-Line Hindus Protest on Eve of Valentine’s Day
2004-02-13
Hard-line Hindus burned cardboard cut-outs of hearts on the eve of Valentine’s Day in the western Indian city of Bombay, promising to stop lovers from marking the Christian saint’s day. Radical Hindu groups across India have set fire to Valentine’s cards and threatened to blacken the faces of couples celebrating Feb. 14, which honors a third-century martyr considered the patron saint of lovers. "We condemn Valentine’s Day. Down with Western culture," shouted more than two dozen activists of the Hindu Shiv Sena party, carrying saffron flags and placards while protesting in front of a prominent city college.
"We don't like anybody, and we forbid anybody else from doing so!"
"We will not allow Valentine’s Day to be celebrated. Be warned or else wait and watch Saturday," threatened Bal Thackeray, firebrand chief of the Bombay-based ultra nationalist Shiv Sena, in his party newspaper "Saamna." Three years ago Thackeray called for a complete ban on Valentine’s Day. He has said the celebration is "cultural corruption" which offends Indian social values.
These social values, of course, disallow male-female affection. They're against roses. They're against chocolate. They're against kissing. They're against hugging. They're against full, rounded bosoms, the well-turned derriere, smooth, inviting thighs... I think I might see why they're so irritable.
Hard-line Hindu groups such as Shiv Sena, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal have in the past ransacked gift shops, burned cards and stopped celebrations. City police tightened security around several stores crowded with customers buying red balloons, cards and gifts to mark the occasion. But students at the college where the protest took place were unfazed by the threats. "Valentine’s Day is the only day you can express love. If you ban this day, then there will be no love in this world," said student Gordon Rodrigues, who plans to woo his girlfriend with a ring, a card and red roses.
‘Don’t the extremists have anything better to do than protest Valentines day.’
Posted by:Crux

#5  "Yeah! Ya gotta go strangle strangers for the glory of Kali, infidels!"
Posted by: mojo   2004-2-13 2:26:36 PM  

#4  Ptah- It's more than that.....not only is it Valentine's Day, but today is Friday the 13th. AND Monday is President's Day (a day set aside to honor all those dead white males who oppress the third world and destroy the planet, blah blah blah.)
Talk about a bad weekend for Rantburg's moonbats! (All except Faisal, who as we all know is enjoying the attentions of dozens of supermodels while living on the couch in his daddy's basement. :) )
Posted by: Anonymous   2004-2-13 1:40:34 PM  

#3  I was trying to figure out why NMM and Antiwar are out and about, since, According to the Old Patriot Theory of Troll Activity, there has been no catastrophic loss of anything Idiotarian, or any spectacular victory incurred by the Anti-Idiotarians.

Then it struck me: Valentine's day is tomorrow, and the trolls are reacting to something personal in their lives which, as we all know, in their minds far outweighs the sorrows and woes of people killed by dictators, islamists, and other unsavory characters in power...
Posted by: Ptah   2004-2-13 12:45:11 PM  

#2  Spot-on, ZF. Reminded me of this jewel...

From The Devil's Dictionary (Ambrose Bierce):

"INFIDEL, n. In New York, one who does not believe in the Christian religion; in Constantinople, one who does. A kind of scoundrel imperfectly reverent of, and niggardly contributory to, divines, ecclesiastics, popes, parsons, canons, monks, mollahs, voodoos, presbyters, hierophants, prelates, obeah-men, abbes, nuns, missionaries, exhorters, deacons, friars, hadjis, high-priests, muezzins, brahmins, medicine-men, confessors, eminences, elders, primates, prebendaries, pilgrims, prophets, imaums, beneficiaries, clerks, vicars-choral, archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, preachers, padres, abbotesses, caloyers, palmers, curates, patriarchs, bonezs, santons, beadsmen, canonesses, residentiaries, diocesans, deans, subdeans, rural deans, abdals, charm-sellers, archdeacons, hierarchs, class-leaders, incumbents, capitulars, sheiks, talapoins, postulants, scribes, gooroos, precentors, beadles, fakeers, sextons, reverences, revivalists, cenobites, perpetual curates, chaplains, mudjoes, readers, novices, vicars, pastors, rabbis, ulemas, lamas, sacristans, vergers, dervises, lectors, church wardens, cardinals, prioresses, suffragans, acolytes, rectors, cures, sophis, mutifs and pumpums."
Posted by: .com   2004-2-13 12:28:23 PM  

#1  Don’t the extremists have anything better to do than protest Valentines day.

In India, the cops are enforcing the law by protecting stores selling Valentine's Day material. In Muslim countries, the cops are enforcing the law by raiding stores selling Valentine's Day material. That's the difference - in India, private individuals express their disapproval whereas the cops protect the right of other private individuals to celebrate the occasion. In Muslim countries, the government infringes on the right of private individuals to celebrate the occasion.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-2-13 11:56:23 AM  

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