I don't typically post news commentary on BitterSweetLife, feeling as I do that the demand for newsblogs/political blogs has been pretty fully exploited. However, we at BitterSweetLife are big fans of irony in all its forms, and this means, pertaining to the newsblogging embargo, that there are exceptions.
This is to say that I am caving in to peer pressure and commenting on the recent Pope vs. Muslims fiasco. Here's a quick summary to get you up to speed.
Pope (at a recent media day/authoritative pronouncement): In this ancient document, a Muslim says that Islam promotes religious murder. Murder is morally wrong.
Muslims (in varied and sundry locations): Islam is not violent! How dare you invoke that stereotype?! Rise up, fellow Muslims, and kill the infidel dog!!
It strikes me that this is a very interesting way, on the Islamic side, of disproving a stereotype. I can only conclude that:
- Islam is not a religion that is familiar with irony.
- Up until this week, Muslims had been living under the assumption that the Pope prayed to Allah in his closet.
- Religion A and religion B can't "both" be your favorite when they dramatically disagree.
- All this Islamic shock and outrage stems from a belated introduction to reality 101. (See point 4.)
- The Pope's pseudo-apology (Um, I'm sorry you reacted that way) was as unnecessary as it was unconvincing. His original take was demonstrably right on.
6 comments:
I have suspicions that point number one is profoundly true.
The aesthetic sensibility for irony is well crafted in the West.
A friend of mine pointed out that incendiary comments like those from the pope will only provoke more Muslims to move from a moderate position to a radical position. To which I say, wouldn't that be proving the pope right?
Part of me wants to make a snide comment about irony being the method used to make swords, and then segue into arguing why, given that, that Andrew is wrong, and that point number one is true.
That wouldn't be proper, though.
I do find it interesting that both you and I decided to weigh in on this issue on the same day.
Ariel said, "non-pacifist German shepherd"
Chuckles.
I wish the Pope had just said, "If you people are too stupid to read the speech and figure out what I'm trying to say about God and Reason, then I'm not going to bother trying to explain it to you." That would have been more satisfying to me.
Cheers.
You definitely want to avoid German pacifist shepherds, as well as German pessimist shepherds. The first don't bite because they don't believe in harming you, the second don't bite because they don't want to do you a favor. If I got a German shepherd I would name it Dietrich, because I want it to be a gentle and comforting dog, but willing to tear someone's face off if they broke into my house or tried to commit mass genocide. Plus, Deitrich would soothe the other dogs in the kennel if I ever went away on vacation.
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