Blasphemous Balls?

02 Sep 07

A demonstration has been held in south- east Afghanistan accusing US troops of insulting Islam after they distributed footballs bearing the name of Allah.

The balls showed the Saudi Arabian flag which features the Koranic declaration of faith.

The US military said the idea had been to give something for Afghan children to enjoy and they did not realise it would cause offence.

A spokeswoman for the US forces in Afghanistan said they made “significant efforts to work with local leaders, mullahs and elders to respect their culture” and distributing the footballs was an effort to give a gift the Afghan children would enjoy.

“Unfortunately,” she added, “there was something on those footballs we didn’t immediately understand to be offensive and we regret that as we do not want to offend.”

BBC News: Anger over ‘blasphemous’ balls

After getting over how funny I find the article’s title, I was disgusted. They couldn’t just say, ‘We appreciate the giving intent, but unfortunately we find one detail offensive and we won’t allow our children to use them’. Nope, gotta get up-in-arms, protest and make paranoid accusations.

Really, if the US wanted to piss off Muslims by purposely giving children blatantly offensive material, there are other simpler ways to go about it. They could’ve put a Mohammad cartoon on it, for instance.

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 · 6:01pm

Discussion

My first reaction to such things is to think, “of course they knew!” This is hardly the first time such an event has occurred. I’m certain they have people who vet this sort of thing. Hence, either someone did not submit this idea for vetting or this was deliberate. As a cynic I feel certain it was deliberate, yet there is a rational inner voice that insists that it was mostly a spur of the moment thing and no one stopped to think about cultural and religious difference. I.e., it was a consequence of the American tendency to believe others live, think, and do as we do, regardless of any evidence to the contrary.

Setemkia FallingTree · Thu, Sep 20th, 2007 · 2:59am · §

I think what needs judging here is not the US, but the outrageous primitivism that such examples show and how dangerous it is when we engage with the Muslim world.

“I was disgusted. They couldn’t just say, ‘We appreciate the giving intent, but unfortunately we find one detail offensive and we won’t allow our children to use them’. Nope, gotta get up-in-arms, protest and make paranoid accusations.”

Sums it up.

Being “offended” is like a political manifesto for many of these people, and its not disimilar to child’s temper tantrums trying to get their own way.

Joe · Tue, Oct 9th, 2007 · 10:52am · §

What’s funny is the assumption that they “took up arms”. It says they were offended and demonstrated because,

“The words, which include the name of Allah, are revered, and Muslims are very sensitive about where and how they can be used.”

Afghan MP Mirwais Yasini said: “To have a verse of the Koran on something you kick with your foot would be an insult in any Muslim country around the world.”

HELLO! BEEN THERE! DONE THAT!

Well known in the US. There are plenty of stories about this sort of thing but this one is a bit cuter… poor America, they just wanna be friends with everyone. =( All together… awwwwwwwwwwwwww. This kind of story is getting tired. Evil stupid muslims getting mad over nothing again, see, see!

Besides that, is it what really happened? It has to have happened just like that because it’s the BBC reporting it right? Nice pic. It looks like the whole muslim is represented perfectly. Actually, it looks to me more like they are in line to catch rice thrown off a charity bus. Ooooh me! me! over here!

You don’t care about what muslims think that is perfectly ok. I’m sure they don’t enjoy what you think either. Maybe they’ll put Jesus’ or Ezra’s head on a soccer ball or toilet tissue if they had any.

“Gotta get up in arms” LOL because they are paranoid? Paranoid like those pesky Native Americans when they met Columbus?

LOL… feel the love baby!

Ezra · Sun, Oct 14th, 2007 · 2:41pm · §

Ezra is a mite confused.

“up in arms”: ready to take action; indignant; outraged

“take up arms”: to prepare for war; go to war

Mary · Wed, Oct 31st, 2007 · 2:17am · §