22 November 2015
Reaction
After the horrendous attacks in Paris, this is how British political commentator Andrew Neil opened his late night "This Week" show:-
I would be interested to know how you react to it.
29 comments:
Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.
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Wow!! I was quite impressed. I loved his list. I showed it to my husband, and he led me to a link that he had read about, also with a list, but a bit 'stronger' language. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/16/john-oliver-paris-terrorists-fk-these-holes/
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of John Oliver Nan - even though he is English. But I feel that Andrew Neil's tirade was more powerful.
DeleteJohn Oliver is one of my favorite comedians. He was awesome on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Both brilliantly funny men!
DeleteAndrew Neil's tirade was straight out of Fox News. I am surprised he fell out with Murdoch.
DeleteIn Edinburgh we have few ladies in burkas , tonight when a lady got on with an escort in full black clothing only eyes peeking out
ReplyDelete, 99 percent of people got of at the next stop. Scared. Me included. irrational perhaps, my lodger is a born against n Christian, I,m an atheist but I don,t live in fear she is going to blow me up!,.
I know it is illogical but my hackles rise whenever I see a niqab Jacqueline.. This medieval headgear seems like an affront to women's liberty. Tolerance is not always admirable or right.
DeleteI think we have become too tolerant to other cultures needs. When I go to Greece a history geek me. I need to adapt. Never put loo roll in the toilet, take bath mats , Greek bathrooms are treacherous, marble showers and floors, never ever cross at a zebra crossing or green man, you will be mowed down quickly. Wait until 10 locals want to cross then make sure you are in the middle. We are all doing the best we can, don't let terrorists rule our life's, sure we need to risk assess. A life lived is better than one lived in fear indoors.
DeleteBravo! President Obama remains silent on the subject.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama isn't the presenter of a late night politics show.
DeleteGood on Andrew Neil! I'll echo his sentiments any moment of the day and night!
ReplyDeleteMy hackles rise, too, when I see a hijab, niqab, burka...how bloody ridiculous they look. I don't think it's illogical for me to feel this way, in any way at all.
Stay in the Middle East if they want to get around dressed that way; don't come here to our wonderful Land of Oz and try to change us into their way of thinking...and dressing! We have our own way here...and if they don't wish to conform then they can stay in their own countries.
I'm sick of the lot of them. We're a freedom-loving, sun, surf and beach-loving Aussies...we put our sheets on our beds and our tea towels on a rack in our kitchens!
And it's about time Obama stop mumbling saying absolutely nothing at all! Who's pulling his strings, I wonder...who is his ventriloquist?
(I did comment on your wonderful poem in your previous post, Yorkie...I think you may have failed to notice that I did. Well done...for your poem....not in not noticing that I responded! ) :)
Lee - I did read your comment on the poem and I appreciated it but it seemed to speak for itself and didn't require a response. Sorry that I didn't at least give a nod of acknowledgement.
DeleteThat's okay then, Yorkie. I was hoping I'd not offended you in some way.
DeleteIt is true that Paris gave us all of those things. We have also benefited over the year from Arab civilisations. Their contributions to mathematics, science, horticulture and gardening. And architecture. And more. And civilised they were and most are.
ReplyDeleteThose who attack the innocent and the powerless don't belong to any religion or culture. Murderers.
And while I would not wear the niqab, neither will I refuse others the right to do so.
I feel a bit on the outer here, but so wish that we didn't tar a whole religion/culture/race with the actions (however vile) of a few.
My sentiments exactly.
DeleteMine too.
DeleteWe still have grown men dressing in bowler hats and wearing orange sashes. We had grown men wearing black berets and balaclavas. Both very silly but deadly.
Elephant, Meike and Uncle Adrian. Thank you for putting another spin on this. Neil's tirade was powerful... but also more than a little disturbing. It does seem like an attack on Arabs in general.
DeleteThere's something I've thought about in reference to this - Hasidic Jewish women wear wigs and have certain ways of dressing, as do the men. It is their business, not mine. I way prefer their dress and the Muslim women's dress to scantily (for lack of a better word) dressed women. I also hate makeup. But, again, it is their business, not mine. Live and let live is a phrase that seems sorely out of date these days.
DeleteYes , what a good monologue. I was happy to hear that.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly grabbed my attention too Leishy.
DeleteIt'd simplistic and chauvinist. Not what I want to hear; it is just a tirade that is guaranteed to appeal to emotion but offers no solution, I can understand it's appeal on a superficial level.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this well-considered perspective Adrian.
DeleteI'm sorry Neil, but it is tirades like this that incite racial hatred and exacerbate the problems. Spoken by someone in the public eye and who is fully aware that his views have a perceived authority by certain sectors of listeners is absolutely shameful. As Adrian has intimated, the reasons and results are complex, do not encompass all who follow one religion and do not reflect the position of many peace loving people.
ReplyDeleteThank you Elizabeth. I take you well-considered observations on board.
DeleteOverly dramatic
ReplyDeleteI am sure law abiding syrians love the historic and cultural history of their country just as much
Damm these dreadful men , but less is more... Remember that beautiful comment by one of the husbands of concert victims ....a quiet non hating statement afainst stupidity and fanaticism
Yes John... but towardst the end of his noble response there was surely a dollop of thinly veiled bitterness..."we will find each other in heaven with free souls which you will never have!"
DeleteThis is more in response to the comments about clothing. I, too, hate those things that make it seem like women are a shameful, dirty things, to be covered like a cat turd. A hoodie evokes similar feelings, if someone covered that human so you can't see what's going on in there, you don't trust it. On the other hand, women from India also wear head scarves and long dresses and it's beautiful. I believe in cause and effect. If you're a Kardashian and you dress like a whore, you should be treated like one. If you wear antisocial costumes, prepare for the response you're going to get. Miley Cyrus' costumes are disgusting as they come, but so far no one dressed like that has bombed innocent people. Actually, I guess they couldn't, no place to hide the explosives.
ReplyDeleteSometimes people think that every reaction should be justified through reason but some reactions are purely instinctive. As someone who is anti-religion, I find myself intolerant of the veil. I think it challenges the hard fought freedoms that women in the west have struggled to achieve.
DeleteThis response will be a stream of consciousness.
ReplyDeletePart of any culture is the way those in that culture dress, act, sing, dance, relate to others, eat, read, etc., etc. I do not subscribe to intolerance of the hijab or the veil or the turban or the necklace in the shape of a cross or the orange robe or any clothing or decoration that humans may see fit to adorn themselves with. We westerners really ask for trouble (as seen in the past) when we refuse to respect the trappings of the culture of others and think that everyone in the world should act and think and be as we are. We do not have all the answers. Most others really do not want to be us. They just want peace.
There are a great many cultures who embrace the idea and teaching of Islam. Those cultures make up all parts of the world including the Middle East, Africa, China, the Americas, India and Russia. It is the second largest religion in the world. As you all know by now, I think belief in any fantasy is just stupid. But, that other people do have their fantasy and faith is just their right as human beings.
The Quran, which is the holy book of this faith, does say that if you kill one innocent person, then you have killed humanity. Look it up. So, those young men and women that have, are, and will assault the whole of humanity with their killing sprees and their gross disregard for human life are just murderous thugs. That's all. The fact that they do so in the name of Allah is just their fantasy.
What bothers me greatly is that we do not hear the voices of true, devout Moslems everywhere decrying the horrific behavior of a few of their brothers. Why not? Why do they stand for the bastardizing of their faith? Eh?
It's all very sad and scary and disheartening.
Never had any time for Andrew Neil since the 1980s when he was editor of the Sunday Times. He mounted an orchestrated media campaign to discredit a witness of the SAS killing of IRA bombers in Gibraltar. I have no sympathy for the IRA, but I was disgusted at the way Neil was allowed to fabricate stories to smear an innocent bystander whose version of events discredited the official version. After this bit of blatant black propaganda could not see how any of his colleagues could take Neil seriously or how was allowed to appear on TV or in print as a 'serious journalist.' Now, as then, he's an enabler for the establishment. Wouldn't trust a word he says.
ReplyDelete