MUCH AMUSEMENT HAS BEEN forthcoming this week involving the media feeding frenzy over the fleeting visit of bouffant-haired, “freedom fighter” Geert Wilders (above, static), responsible for a little light cinema entertainment called “Fitna”, which details his personal view of the end of the world as we know it; in Wilders’ tanned Dutch head, the Koran is “directly responsible for terrorism”, in the sense that the book itself is going around blowing up buildings and hijacking airplanes.
DOUBLE DUTCH HAS LONG BEEN a common expression in the English language to suggest that something makes very little sense, or sounds like gibberish, and thus Mr Wilders will no doubt find a warm reception when he returns with a copy of his film, co-written and co-directed, I note, with one “Scarlet Pimpernel”, and presents it in the House of Lords, where they have been listening to gibberish and drivel for centuries. My Lords may find Dutch comfort in knowing that the work is only seventeen minutes long.
WHILE THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT THAT THE KORAN moves the faithful to hatred, fear, loathing and even murder, one finds it rather difficult to believe that the effect of its clumsily written verses is still present in the minds of well-fed, happy, young, sparkly-toothed Muslims we see on our streets nowadays – they would no more take it literally as would most Christians pull out their eyes if they distract them from God, or cut off their hands, or cut out their tongues. One imagines.
BUT A GREAT DEAL SHOULD BE SAID for banning books (and even films), particularly if they lead otherwise decent chaps into the sad realms of religious hatred. Perhaps we could start out with Dan Brown.
DOUBLE DUTCH HAS LONG BEEN a common expression in the English language to suggest that something makes very little sense, or sounds like gibberish, and thus Mr Wilders will no doubt find a warm reception when he returns with a copy of his film, co-written and co-directed, I note, with one “Scarlet Pimpernel”, and presents it in the House of Lords, where they have been listening to gibberish and drivel for centuries. My Lords may find Dutch comfort in knowing that the work is only seventeen minutes long.
WHILE THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT THAT THE KORAN moves the faithful to hatred, fear, loathing and even murder, one finds it rather difficult to believe that the effect of its clumsily written verses is still present in the minds of well-fed, happy, young, sparkly-toothed Muslims we see on our streets nowadays – they would no more take it literally as would most Christians pull out their eyes if they distract them from God, or cut off their hands, or cut out their tongues. One imagines.
BUT A GREAT DEAL SHOULD BE SAID for banning books (and even films), particularly if they lead otherwise decent chaps into the sad realms of religious hatred. Perhaps we could start out with Dan Brown.
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