And she notes with embarrassment that she celebrated her release by drinking an alcoholic drink in the presence of Muslims. It seems she has learned her lesson well: do not offend your overlords. And if they take offense at something you have done, it is your fault -- no matter how far-fetched and absurd the offense may be.
From IOL.co.za (thanks to Twostellas):
London - A British teacher who was jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear Mohamed said in an interview published on Sunday she blames herself for what she went through.Gillian Gibbons was convicted of insulting Islam after she allowed her six-year-old pupils to name the class teddy bear "Mohamed" - a violation under Sudan's Islamic sharia law.
While Gibbons expressed incomprehension at how anyone could interpret her actions as intentionally insulting, she told the newspaper she blamed herself for the incident.
"I shouldn't have done it," the newspaper quoted her as saying. "Ignorance of the law is no defence."
[...]
Gibbons also described moments of absurdity during the trial - including an incident in which the teddy bear was produced as evidence by a prosecutor - and how she toasted her release with a vodka and orange in her first-class cabin on her way back home.
"I'm not a drinker, but I felt obliged to have an alcoholic drink, even though I was with Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, who are Muslims," she said.
"I was a bit embarrassed about it, but I thought I deserved that vodka."
Allow for a bit of Stockholm Syndrome here. She does deserve that vodka. Of course knowledge of the law wouldn't have helped her. The law only forbade "inciting hatred of Islam," not naming teddy bears Muhammad. Why should she have connected her (really the students') conduct to that sweeping law?
She obviously needs more training. Sudan will not allow her return, but I hear that the Waziristan region of Pakistan has some vacancies. Let her continue her education there.
What she SHOULD have known, from previous and numerous high profile cases, is that living and working in Islamic states can be extremely hazardous to your 'health'. It's not as if the various Western Gov'ts. haven't published travel warnings! eg http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/report-en.asp?country=277000
"Oh well, that's obviously meant for someone else..."
"I'm not a drinker, but I felt obliged to have an alcoholic drink, even though I was with Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, who are Muslims," she said.
She might have at least had the decency to offer their highnesses a fried pork rind or two.
She should have known better in the first place. In this day, with the 24/7 media, how can someone be so ignorant in the first place? Stupid women
...It is nice to know the United States does not hold exclusive rights when it comes to employing stupid teachers....
I'm sure that Gillian Gibbons is a nice lady but unfortunatley here, she is a foolishly appeasing dhimmi. But there are plenty out there who would apologize for upsetting Muslims when they get upset about cartoons, and teddy bears even though the men seem to have no problem fornicating with a donkeys.
"Ignorance of the law is no defence." --Gibbons.
What law? Prior to this incident, as far as I'm aware, there was no specific law, Islamic or otherwise, that said you could not name a toy/doll/teddy bear Muhammad. The "Muhammad cat" cartoon was a similar case, but again where is the Islamic basis--in the Koran, Hadith, Sira--for the charges? Unlike the Muhammad cat case, here there was no lampoon intended.
Although interpretation of Islamic law pertaining to "insults" to Islam can be elastic, and can vary from country to country, the intention of the accused is a key issue, and the evidence indicates that accused had no intent to insult Islam.
Imagine the alternative scenario: Suppose Gibbons thought that the kids naming the bear "Muhammad" was an Islamically wrong thing to do, and that she did not allow them to name the bear Muhammad. It's quite possible that the same "offended" parties in this case could have responded that it is insulting to deny the honour of calling the bear Muhammad. It appears that the offended parties in this case had a pre-set agenda to get the school closed down, and were scraping for anything they could find.
Source
“Macleans.ca: First of all, can you explain why it might be a problem to name a teddy bear "Muhammad" - are there any religious laws in Islam forbidding it?
Tarek Fatah: No, none whatsoever. […]”
Fatah of course is not a jurist, but I have also read others claiming that Muslim children in many countries do give their toy animals names, including the name Muhammad.
There are also some misleading statements appearing in articles about this incident. For example:
"Gillian had not realised that although the Koran allows boys to be named after the prophet, it forbids calling animals Mohammed.
"I'd never read the Koran - why would I?" she says. "But we're talking about a teddy bear, not a real bear. Even now, it all seems so silly.""
Source.
Of course, the Quran says no such thing. In the hadith, Muhammad allowed Aisha to play with dolls (allowed up until the age of puberty), and there was no prohibition on naming them.
This is interesting in light of the reaction of cultural relativists who claim that Gibbons should have shown more cultural sensitivity (and, not spoken but implied, that the Sudanese judges need not show cultural sensitivity to Gibbons), and some Muslims who claim that Gibbons made a "mistake." It seems no one actually demonstrated a sharia basis for this particular judgment.
Yet the case has an "Islamic" impression or atmosphere about it, perhaps because it involves Muslims interpreting vague principles in order to satisfy the larger urges to subjugate and humiliate the infidel, to show the infidel who is in charge, who is dominant. Such cases also permit Muslims to achieve practical goals in the interests of making Islam more powerful or removing some non-Muslim influence. In this case, the school in question is now closed down. In addition, the Sudanese have also managed to create yet another distraction by prosecuting some foreign non-Muslim on trumped up or invented charges.
When it comes time for the dhimmi/anti-dhimmi annual awards, I think a new category should be created for this teacher.
In terms of anti-dhimmi of the year, I would once again vote for Bolton.
Excerpted from a posting put up here a week ago:
"The "freeing" of Gibbons, after what has already been an ordeal, may lead to a further unseemly spectacle. For it is not unlikely, it is likely, that she will return to England, and safely home, instead of discussing her amazement at the crazed behavior of so many Sudanese, and the Sudanese government, and the supposedly “advanced” parents – it’s the Sudanese elite that sends its children to the school at which Gibbons taught – she will tell us all, possibly selling her story to the tabloids, just how well-treated she was by her Sudanese captors, how wonderful those children and the Sudanese “in general” had been. She will even add, no doubt, that if things die down a bit, she wouldn’t hesitate to return to the Sudan and take up teaching again if she were asked to do so.
And she might even declare how grateful she was to Lord Ahmed and Lady whatshername,the two Muslims who had come to Khartoum in a noisy effort to obtain her release, hoping thereby to win points for themselves, and for Islam."
after years of brainwashing by the extreme far left, the end result is this gibbons woman, she represents the many millions of ordinary brits. a once great proud fierce nation reduced to an easily manipulated bunch of dhimmis, your typical nigel types wearing scruffy jeans and a wooly jumper moaning over a cup of tea whilst reading the guardian newspaper.
"it's all the fault of america" he would mutter under his breath and relishing in the fact that he lives in a crime ridden, open door immigrant socialist nation.
i'm suprised that gibbons hasn't converted to islam over this. give her time, the poor cow may.
surely someone can sue this gibbons woman over her name. it's insulting to the intelligence of your average monkey.
"She should have known better in the first place. In this day, with the 24/7 media, how can someone be so ignorant in the first place? Stupid women
Posted by: Sneakyzionistcrusader
Well aren't you a charmer?
Maybe 75% of people in Europe and North America are "stupid" and "ignorant" when it comes to islam, precisely because the 24/7 media - the mainstream media, that is - keeps parroting and propagating the "islam is peace" myth. Not everyone is enlightened enough to read Jihad Watch everyday, you know.
And by the way, did you mean to write "stupid women" or "stupid woman"? As written, it sounds like something a muslim man might say.
I can not stop wondering as to what happened to the teddy bear
http://illustratedpig.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-happened-to-mohammed-bear.html
"I'm not a drinker, but I felt obliged to have an alcoholic drink, even though I was with Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi, who are Muslims"
And what better time to have a drink, and enjoy some Mohamodd cartoons? After all, you've just provided Britain with two "Islamic heroes". Never mind that they negotiated your release from the same nutty cult to which they belong.
It's tempting to compare this to the Germans who helped Jews escape the Nazis during WWII. But the analogy falls apart; those Germans were risking everything to help innocent victims escape a terrifying ideology. Your Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi are more likely using you and your situation to garner respect for Britain's Islamic community and further weaken Western cultural defenses. Your "salvation" was a small price to pave the way for a larger tragedy in the future.
What a dhimmi wit.
Let's keep it in perspective here. Gibbons did not apologize, hence admitted no wrongdoing, until after she was "safely" back in the UK.
Judging from the size of the Sudanese protesting mob that was calling for her death, she might fear reprisal even though the Sudanese Sharia government suspended her "sentence".
An apology, whether empty or sincere, which she feels may keep her safe, does not automatically render her a dhimmi.
Her response is understandable, at least to me.
"...a once great proud fierce nation reduced to an easily manipulated bunch of dhimmis, your typical nigel types wearing scruffy jeans and a wooly jumper moaning over a cup of tea whilst reading the guardian newspaper." - Leon
Too true. It sounds like you actually know my wife's friend Nigel - and Dezz - and Graham - and Sean - etc ... Somehow I always manage to offend these blokes.
Hugh
lord ahmed and warsi were in the sudan for "unofficial" business. it was a coincidence that they were there during the "teddy bear" incident. has no one found out what the pair were doing in the sudan in the first place? what business were they conducting? and who is paying for this trip?
She was imprisoned by extremist Muslims in Sudan and released by Lord Ahmed and Baroness Warsi.
I think we have just seen an exercise in good cop/ bad cop.
Do you have to be gullible or weak minded to fall for this?
Gibbons did not apologize, hence admitted no wrongdoing, until after she was "safely" back in the UK.
Kind of defies logic doesn't it, to apologize then, if she does not somehow feel subordinated and "dhimmified"?
Her response is understandable, at least to me.
I could have understood it if she had apologized in Sudan, then un-apologized in UK.
An apology, whether empty or sincere, which she feels may keep her safe, does not automatically render her a dhimmi.
Of course it does. That's the very definition of it, a protected person. She feels herself "subdued".
Maybe she's saying it to make sure the kids don't get into trouble?
Of course all of us who regularly visit this site know better than to even consider going to work, or vacation, in any islamic country.
Still, some of the comments are sooo critical. Maybe you wouldn't ever get into a similar situation, but think for a minute how brave you'd be, in a horrible filthy jail, in a horrible filthy country, with a horrible filthy and bloodthirsty mob outside calling for your immediate execution?
You'd be pissing yourselves.
RalphInfidel,
You are being too critical. Gibbons was the victim here, not Islamic pride. She is a nobody, who I suspect is still frightened about repercussions.
Your responses are from one of defiance and strength. Gibbons hardly possesses those qualities. her PCMC riddled mind makes her response expected. Now if she goes out and lobbies on how great a religion Islam is, then you may have a point.
Theo VanGogh was "subdued" as well, if you recall.
Too bad Mrs Gibbons did not teach the christians in the southern sudan, they would have appreciated her help.
I have been of the opinion from the get-go that Gillian Gibbons is a very silly old lady lacking a shred of common sense. Nothing has changed my mind so far.
awake:
You are being too critical.
Maybe, we'll see. But at this point, my default position is that she is being setup to be the posterchild of the "we're not sensitive enough to Islam" crowd.
ImNoDhimmi's comments above are to the point: ".. but think for a minute how brave you'd be, in a horrible filthy jail, in a horrible filthy country, with a horrible filthy and bloodthirsty mob outside calling for your immediate execution? You'd be pissing yourselves."
You bet, and that goes to the definition of bravery. Being so scared you're knees are shaking and you're pissing yourself, yet still forcing yourself to do "the right thing" is bravery. Acting without concern for your own life in a dangerous situation is stupidity, not bravery.
In her case I think the "right thing" might have been to apologize in Sudan, and un-apologized in UK.
Theo VanGogh was "subdued" as well, if you recall.
Exactly, and that's the worry, the more you put up with, the more you'll get.
ImNoDhimmi: Not JUST Islamic countries. Hell, I won't even spend my vacation $$$ in Mexico!
There are a lot of warm sunny places that welcome tourists, and offer a level of security not unlike that which you'd expect at home.
You want quaint Arabic culture? Visit Israel.
Ms Gibbons either believes what she is saying, or is lying out of fear. In either case, she is subdued.
ImNoDhimmi
yes i too would "piss" myself with fear over there. BUT YOU REALLY THINK I'D GROVEL AND DHIMMI MYSELF ONCE BACK IN ENGLAND?????
she's a dhimmi, she sucked up to "lord" ahmed and "baroness" warsi, she even felt embarrassed to drink alcohol in front of them.
I am totally surprised that she hasn't already converted to Islam.
her family are dhimmis and islamic sycophants.
god i would have had my family print up a load of t-shirts with the teddy and mohammed written on it. had all my family wearing them at the press conference and i would stand up give 2 fingers to the press and say "up yours sudan" "islam the religion of peace?" "dont make me laugh mate". then i would have pulled a moonie and said "sit on this omar el bashir" (president of sudan).
damn, in fact i may just get myself arrested so i can literally carry this out!
RalphInfidel,
I am by no means trying to defend Ms. Gibbons for her lack of foresight. All I am trying to do is suggest that her recent experience probably has something to do with her response.
I remember when I first came to JW/DW. After a very short while under the pedagogical tutelage of Robert, Hugh and Marisol, those who enlightened me to the very harsh reality of Islam; the core texts, the views of the current schools of jurisprudence, the highly visible and influential leaders and speakers in its name.
It was absolutely horrifying.
And then, day after day and wave after wave of similar news articles depicting the words and actions of the jihadists, supported by Islamic doctrine, you become de-sensitized to it to a degree.
Gillian Gibbons is symptomatic of the slumbering West. The masses who have not or can not wrap their brain around the menace of Islam. Being fed politically correct garbage for so long, she had no fear of Islam and subsequently, no hesitation in teaching in the Sudan, a mere stone's throw from an ongoing genocide in that country.
She was initially embarassed, that this simple misunderstanding drew so much attention. When she learned of the thousands protesting and calling for her death, now realizing she was so far from the comfort and safety of home, I can only imagine what she felt.
Now back in the UK, her mind, still afflicted with PC multiculturalism, seeks some sort of justification for the events that surrounded her. She believes to a degree that she shares at least some of the blame, because to her, and so many others, the alternative is too uncomfortable to fathom.
As an EDUCATED person in this day and age with all the negative writings about said countries,she went to a foreign country expecting common sense to be applied. Got to think about that one.
She has a kind of Stockholm syndrome. Unfortunately, much of the liberal community has this syndrome, even they have never been kidnapped or imprisoned, except by their own naivete and wishful thinking.
The Mohammedans have scored an own goal over the aptly named Ms Gibbons. Given a few years she would been a hit on the Islamo-Christian circuit extolling the love she found among the cultists. She had felt no need while emoting to learn about the genocide in Southern Sudan perpetrated by the same selfsame goons in Khartoum. Truly a see no evil monkey.
Ignorance of the law is no defense. Right. Except when the government making the law is one of the most criminal regimes in history.
The teacher's self-deprecating attitude may be intended to protect people she left behind in Sudan.
May the genocidal Sudanese government be wiped off the face of the earth as soon as possible, or sooner.
The true ignorance was of the nature of the ummah, not Sudan's law. I wouldn't want to go anywhere in the ummah because being an infidel in a land of thin skinned lunatics is just not a smart thing to do. We can hope others will learn from this woman's experience and avoid the ummah like the plague that it is but there will always be a few fools who'll ignore the warning signs.
Sorry, I find her grovelling absolutely pathetic.
I'm trying to keep in mind that she seems to have just suddenly thought of working overseas somewhere and found herself in Sudan after a few weeks.
But I'm also keeping in mind that she says she used to teach about islam (though not having read the koran). So basically, she probably just picked out a few nice bits from some whitewashing text, and then told children how lovely islam is. Exactly what we don't need.
So now her story has perhaps taught a few people a bit more about islam, things they really need to know. Her grovelling should be teaching them some more...
Compare Ms. Gibbons with the leadership of the West. They have the same reaction when confronted with an opponent who is willing to use force to project his viewpoint.
This is from Hillary’s Deputy Campaign Manager, is on-topic only because it illustrates the state of the political leadership of liberal democracies, but is pretty funny. There’s plenty of ‘there’ here, it’s just that nobody with a brain would ever want to be a politician (except the crooked ones who keep their stock in Giuliani Partners, refuse to release the Client list while acknowledging it contains foreign governments, and expect to keep cashing checks through his Presidency).
Deputy Campaign Manager:
From: Bob Nash
To:
Sent: Sun Dec 09
Subject: BARACK
HOW ARE YOU ?? I AM FIGHTING HARD >
SECOND ARE YOU PEERSONALLYAWARE OF TH EWORK BARACK DID ON THE SOUTH
SIDE WITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION S , ETC ./. BOB
WHAT DI DHE DO AFORE HOW LONG AND WITH WHO ??
PLS TELL BOB HELLO BOB
Bob J Nash
Deputy Campaign Manager
Hillary Clinton for President Exploratory Committee
4420 N. Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/barackemail/
"The probable outcome of too much freedom is only too much slavery in the individual and the state. Probably, then, tyranny develops out of no other constitution than democracy--from the height of liberty, I take it, the fiercest extreme of servitude.”
-Plato
traeh lewis,
I hear your words and concur fully. If Ms. Gibbons was not released unharmed, I think the Islamists would have endured the outcome you alluded to.
That is not to say that the very same outcome does not need to happen, because I also believe it does. Islam only understands the blunt stick, always has, always will.
Lili,
I understand and share in your frustration. I just hope that your mettle is not misplaced, for in my opinion, that would be most egregious.
It is indeed the "withcing hour" here at JW/DW. All that is left is my favorite part...Marisol at midnight.
Thanks in advance.
Gibbons is the end product of a educational system that not only fills the students head with half-truths and cultural marxism but makes them incapable of learning once processed.
Whats scary though is that her kind is legion in the west.
That said, I have every confidence she'll write a book about her ordeal and blame it all on herself and whitewash Muslim conduct. There is also a chance she'll convert to Islam herself given how faulty her thinking and survival skills are.
She'd make a good Muslim too, docile, unthinking and on a permament guilt trip.
According to statistics it is MIDDLE CLASS WOMEN
who are the largest number coverting to Islam.
Should we perhaps qualify that by 'hopelessly romantic foolish women?'
Recently story in Daily Mail revealed that a 53 yr
old woman, within 3 days holiday in Morocco had taken up with a 26 yr old local Romeo & they were
'getting married.' Rather unusually[also suspicious] he did not insist she converted to ROP. Although her daughter vigorously opposed the
idea, her Mum sold the house & all of her possessions and is now living in squalor in a village in Morocco. One wonders what will happen
when her money runs out or she gets to meet younger wives...Think its going to turn out to be
a heartbreakingly expensive shag :hope her memories of liquid eyed Desert Sheiks & honied lies will compensate.
er...I'mNoDhimmi, regarding the following:
"She should have known better in the first place. In this day, with the 24/7 media, how can someone be so ignorant in the first place? Stupid women
Posted by: Sneakyzionistcrusader
He (or she) is being sarcastic!
Oops, I totally misread that! Think I confused a couple of posts. Apologies, please disregard (and if possible, delete) the above!
Morgane
"One wonders what will happen when her money runs out or she gets to meet younger wives...Think its going to turn out to be a heartbreakingly expensive shag"
It will be eventually but he will first get her to take him to the UK and stay with her for as long as necessary to establish residence. He will then dump her and bring in his younger wives or get another British dimmi. That’s what happened to a younger woman of my acquaintance and lets face it its easier than paying a trafficker for a ride in the back of a lorry to Dover.
I think she is an IDIOT and her slavish blather is embarrassing in the extreme.
That's a goooooooooooood Dhimmi...
Ignorant woman...teaching our youth values, no less...
Of course, she may be scared to death to say anything publicly, because these barbaric mongols must have instilled fear in her beyond our wildest immagination...Hopefully this statement is more true than the former..
Re DaninVan's "published travel warnings! eg http://www.voyage.gc.ca/dest/report-en.asp?country=277000 ,"
the only way to see the Sudan (or any Islamic country) is from an aircraft through a . . .
(better not go on with that thought--would draw the ire of the peace-at-any-price crowd and too many others)
To conclude, the Sudan is an Islamic cesspool. It seems inconceivable that there should be serious discussions about what is allowed by koran and what is not and how that can be extended as much as the extenders wish, until when little children call a teddy bear "Mohammed," their teacher is accused of a crime against Islam.
We have become complete idiots, sucked into the cesspool that is the "ummah." we debate with "learned" Islamic "scholars" about the babblings of a 7th century Arab--who was cunning, if not overly bright, and too concerned with his privates and what was excreted therefrom.
Despite what we all seem to be observing about the U.K.'s seemingly willing servitude to Mo's gang, I still sometimes think that this could be part of the "Appeasement" tactic. This tactic WOULD call for the about-to-be-conquered nation to continue kissing arse until the 11th hour, at which point it would blow the oppressors to high heaven. Its easy to lose perspective and this possible, potential, larger picture of a war tactic when we are seeing the daily dhimminiship of Westerners.
I also think that in the meantime, it would be wonderful for Westerners to make "Teddy" a highly popular name for newborn boys (and maybe girls too!)
can't wait to read her sycophantic "islam is a religion of peace" book, when it gets written.
probably a huge chapter on lord ahmed and baroness warsi and how they should be king and queen of england.
I'm still waiting in anticipation for a small news item that states she has converted to islam.
is "william hill's" taking any bets on this? I'm giving it 2 weeks max before she tells the world that she has finally realised she is mentally ill and has converted to islam.
yes! LTPF punches fist in the air) i knew they'd be more on this story. now the BBC are really laying into her...
"Mrs Gibbons spent eight days in custody for insulting Islam."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7139443.stm
and this from mrs monkey....
"Of her conviction, she said: "I did break the law. You accept the consequences. The problem was the consequences just snowballed out of control."
she actually believes that she broke the law.
"The Sudanese people are wonderful, warm and generous people. You can't hold a whole nation to blame for the actions of a few," she said."
did mrs orangutan see the few thousand "good natured" demonstrators demanding her death, (in a good natured way?)
""I had a wonderful time in Sudan. I adored it. "
at this point in the interview i would've expected to have screamed out "allah akhbar" and exploded a hidden explosives vest.
but, more suckitude follows from mrs baboon...
"As a teacher I feel very bad about my class because I know they were very upset. I was their teacher, they trusted me and I let them down."
let down by her actions? or theirs? or the schools? or their sharia fascist government? or the fact that the children thought they were at a christian school? or let down that she really wasn't a monkey but a poor specimen of a human being, a dhimmi in fact.
"On a more positive note, she said: "I got hundreds and hundreds of messages from people who said they were thinking of me and praying for me".
what exactly were they praying? "i pray that you meet your death" type prayers?
This gibbons woman is extremely confused.
but sadly, to my disappointment she still hasn't converted to islam.
"I shouldn't have done it," the newspaper quoted her as saying. "Ignorance of the law is no defence."
.................
But, of course, there was no law, in the sense of there being a statute expressly forbidding the naming of a teddy bear, doll or piggy bank Mohammed. This most deferential person was prosecuted under the vague concept of "inciting hatred of Islam".
Khaybar Oasis wrote:
Imagine the alternative scenario: Suppose Gibbons thought that the kids naming the bear "Muhammad" was an Islamically wrong thing to do, and that she did not allow them to name the bear Muhammad. It's quite possible that the same "offended" parties in this case could have responded that it is insulting to deny the honour of calling the bear Muhammad.
.......
Excellent point. One of the main purposes of Dhimmi laws is that they be kept deliberately vague. If the Ummah is in a good mood one day, the whole incident might have passed unmentioned. On another, howling mobs are roaming the streets calling for her death.
This caters to the supremacist whims of Muslims, and keeps dhimmis always insecure and on the defensive. What do the Muslim overloards need now--a ban on piggy banks (as in British schools), piggy banks emblazoned with the name Mohammed (as in Sweden), or a ban on naming teddy bears Mohammed (as in Sudan)? When they tell dhimmis to jump, they must not only ask "how high?", but "in which direction?"
RalphInfidel wrote:
I could have understood it if she had apologized in Sudan, then un-apologized in UK.
..........
Does anyone remember Douglas Wood, the Australian contractor kidnapped in Iraq in 2005? The case was covered quite extensively by DW at the time.
He did issue an apology in a broadcast video for the supposedly anti-Islamic acts of his government and the US while he was under threat of death. After his safe return to Australia, he recanted, expressing his regrets to John Howard and George Bush and the West, making it clear that he apologised only under fear for his life. He was also quite clear about his contempt for his kidnappers.
For his honesty and courage he was treated very harshly by much of the press. They evidently felt he should be properly grateful to his kidappers for not beheading him.
Speaking of the press, much of the media coverage of the Gibbons case was very disturbing, also.
Most pundits opined that the Sudanese response was an "overreaction", but apparently felt that arbitrary laws against giving offense to a religion are perfectly fine, as long as they are not "taken too far". Many others, including The View's Whoopi Goldberg, felt that Gibbons herself was to blame for not being more "culturally sensetive".
The San Francisco Chronicle didn't merely print a letter from a Muslim reader to the paper, but actually showcased it in a special box on the opinion page to show how grateful they were to receive a letter from a "moderate Muslim".
In part, the letterwriter opined that Sudan was not practicing "true Shari'ah". So now, in addition to all those misunderstanders of Islam, we have misunderstanders of Shari'ah. Exactly which parts of Shari'ah are Islamically correct? If not lashings or execution for this teacher, then what about stoning for rape victims? How about amputation for theft? Is cruxifiction for armed robbery OK?
Finally, Britain's paper, the Telegraph, featured an opinion piece by writer Damian Lanigan titled "Nothing is Sacred--Good". The piece posited that in contrast to Islam's "passionate" beliefs, that the West believes in nothing, and has no values at all that are worth fighting for--including, presumably, the safety of this British citizen--and that this is a good thing.
Between this and Ms. Gibbons earnest groveling, we are in deep trouble.