Friday, May 11, 2007

Mickey Mouse Jihad

The moral depravity of Islamists in the Middle East and around the world has been pretty obvious for a long time but, as I noted in this blog a few days ago, you should never doubt their ability to hit rock bottom and dig harder.

News outlets around the world reported a few days ago that a TV station run by militants of the hard-core Islamist Hamas movement had aired "Tomorrow's Pioneers," a children's program that used a character almost identical to Mickey Mouse to urge Palestinian children to hate Israel and work for global Islamic domination. The Mickey Mouse-like character, named Farfour ("Butterfly") preached against the United States and Israel, and was quoted by the Associated Press as saying in one episode, "You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists. We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers." In response, according to the AP report, children called in to the show to sing Hamas songs about fighting Israel.

What sick and disgusting drivel is this? What does it say about the moral fiber of those who would corrupt the minds of children, allowing their mindless hate to poison yet another generation?

Hamas has suspended the program, at least for the moment, partly as a result of its worldwide condemnation, but the twisted and poisonous religious mindset that allows such a depraved show to go on in the first place remains. The chance for real peace in the Middle East is as remote as ever when religious partisans will sink so low as to push a message of hate and intolerance to impressionable children. If you have any human feelings, you have to be utterly disgusted.

There are, to be sure, a few weak and tentative rays of moral light in the whirling cesspool of Arab/Muslim hate. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) published a report yesterday with translations of articles by several liberal Arab authors who criticized Arab justification of and support for terrorism.

One author, an Iraqi named Riyadh 'Abd, noted that the family of Virginia Tech murderer Cho Seung-Hui had offered apologies to Cho's victims and expressed grief, embarassment, and shame for their son's terrible crime. He goes on to note that, in contrast, the families of Arab/Islamic suicide murderers glorify their heinous acts and brag of the numbers of infidels killed.

A Saudi writer, Rim Al-Salih, wrote of the Arab view that the Virginia Tech murders proved that terrorism was not a purely Arab/Islamic phenomenon. He wrote, "But without lying to ourselves, can we compare the crime commited by an individual due to madness, mental illness, depression, or even due to the desire to kill and avenge, and the death supported by organizations, fatwas, (TV) stations, websites, funding by the millions, and pledges of allegiance taken in front of the holy Ka'ba?"

You can read this report (number 1580, dated May 10, 2007) on the MEMRI website by following the link in my list at the left.

And you should remember always that those sick and twisted enough to use a beloved children's character like Mickey Mouse to encourage children to intolerance and violence are capable of much more...and much worse.

Have a good day.

I won't be posting tomorrow, as Agnes and I will be participating in a ballroom dance competition that will be occupying my attention as I try to remember our routines and not look like too much of an uncoordinated klutz. But I will be back on Sunday with more thoughts on the world around us. See you then!

Bilbo

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