Dhimmitude on British TV: Christians satirized, Muslims lionized

"Comedians and dramatists delight in 'pouring scorn' on Christianity but are 'timid' about mocking Muslims, a broadcasting watchdog chief said yesterday." This from the Telegraph, with thanks to Jeffrey Imm and Nicolei.

"Islam was accorded far more respect on television and radio than other religions because satirists were 'cautious' and 'self-censoring' when faced with the prospect of causing offence to Muslims, said Lord Dubs, chairman of the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

"'In portraying Muslims they have held back, they have censored themselves, they are timid,' the Labour peer said. 'I have seen them pour scorn on Christianity more than on other religions. Christianity is an easier and more acceptable target followed, to a lesser extent, by Jews and Hindus.'

"His remarks come on the eve of an announcement by the BSC that it is to impose one of the stiffest penalties it can draw on after Channel 4 re-broadcast a remark by Jamie Oliver about 'Jesus —ing Christ'.

"The BSC had already upheld a complaint that the comment, made by the celebrity chef in an episode of the fly-on-the-wall series Jamie's Kitchen, was offensive to Christians. The regulator was angry when the offending remark was aired again in an unedited repeat of the programme.

"A spokesman for Channel 4 said the repeat went out later than the original programme, at 10pm rather than 9pm, and it had been thought that the audience at the later time would not be offended. In a rare intervention of this kind by the BSC, Channel 4 will be forced to broadcast the commission's new adjudication on air and have it published in a newspaper.

"The commission is subsumed from today into the new super-regulator Ofcom. Lord Dubs admitted that the BSC had also shown bias in favour of Muslims. 'We have tried to treat the religions equally. I doubt we have succeeded. I think we have shaded a bit on the side of Islam,' he said.

"The Right Rev Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburgh and a member of the BSC board, said Oliver's remark would never have been aired had it been about the Prophet Mohammed.

"'There is much more sensitivity to disturbing Islam,' he said. 'It is partly because the Muslim community does not have a tradition of humour about religion, although Christian leaders will stand up for things that are fundamentally important.'" Christians are also unlikely to kill those who offend them.

4 Comments

Rhonda | January 3, 2004 1:15 PM

I believe that if you are a Christian, you better have a sense of humor these days. And also educate yourself in the beliefs and gods of other religions.It is only Christian societies that understand the importance of a FULL education.Not Madrassa's, which teach the koran and the hadid. Yes as a Christian I have educated myself in other religions and have known these things for many years. The Bible says as Christians will be persecuted,made fun of and therefore we should be able to tell others why we believe what we believe.I am so sick of political correctness!!!! If you don't have the guts to have a sense of humor about all religions don't speak of mine either! My husband is an Egyptian and was raised in Egypt until he was 16 years old (a Christian)but was persecuted by Muslims in his country. They tried to force feed the Koran down his throat all his 16 years but all it did was to make him hate the Koran;(it did't take very well).The prophet Mohammed had a 9 year old wife and whenever you see a Mosque;do you see any women in them? Why don't they make jokes about how the man woman thing is in Islam. Christians of the world have a sense of humor. Why not allow them some laughter? And by the way we also laugh at ourselves. I also think God has a sense of humor, HE did create me after all. ha!!!Ha!!!!!!! Thanks, Rhonda Girgis Girgis means St. George in Arabic

Dave Behrens | January 3, 2004 3:45 PM

I have just read "Affluent Genocide" on this website. I was amazed by the implications of following passage from the article:

'... Seyf al-Islam (“Sword of Islam”) Qaddafi, the son of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. In an interview, Seyf-al-Islam turned aside numerous invitations from Taheri to condemn suicide bombing. About Palestinian suicide bombers he declared: “They are acting in accordance with the holy Koran and the law of retribution.” When Taheri challenged this, invoking the Qur’an’s prohibitions of suicide and the killing of non-combatants, Qaddafi replied: “We obviously have different readings of the Koran.” He also echoed Osama bin Laden’s justification for attacks on American civilians: “There are no civilians in Israel. All Israelis are either in the army or have been or shall one day be soldiers.'

Given the fact that EVERY follower of Islam is directed by it to kill or subjugate all non-Islamic people, i.e. act as a soldier of Islam, there are also no 'civilians' in the Islamic world. That is, EVERY follower of Islam is an enemy soldier who must be killed, since EVERY follower of Islam must kill all non-Islamic people to practice his or her faith.

sreenivas | March 11, 2004 10:27 AM

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sreenivas | March 11, 2004 10:28 AM