Ordinarily one may be wary of Mustafa Akyol, but in this article he cannot be faulted.
Millions of Americans rushed to stores all across the United States Nov. 24 to take advantage of Black Friday, the day when most retailers offer promotional sales. Back in Turkey, some major department stores in big cities tried to emulate this foreign tradition, declaring major sales for “Kara Cuma,” as Black Friday translates in Turkish. In return, however, they received an unexpected tsunami of condemnations for insulting Islam. To many Turks, the term sounded like a rude term for Friday, Islam’s holy day.
The storm began with the hashtag #KaraCuma. “Friday is blessed. Black is only the color of those whose hearts are deprived of its sacred light,” wrote one angry Twitter user, condemning the “heretics” who brought the term into use in Turkey. Another declared, “The crusader mentality that calls Islam’s holiest day #BlackFriday is apparently filled with fear. But fear will not save them.” Then he quoted the Quran: “God will perfect his light even if the unbelievers dislike it.”
Thousands of similar messages filled the Turkish social media scene in just a couple of hours. Angry protesters began to share lists of the Turkish companies running Black Friday ad campaigns. These companies were imagined to be involved in an effort to “ban their employees from [Friday] prayers.”
The anger turned physical. In a shopping mall in the central Anatolian town of Bolu, a small group walked into a department store and demanded workers remove the Black Friday posters, telling them to do so “if you are a Muslim.” The video of the scene was posted online and went viral.
The pro-government media either remained silent on the frenzy or joined it happily. The daily Yeni Safak announced, “Black Friday made Turkey angry,” and shared social media messages against the “intentional” campaign. “They especially chose the day that Muslims have declared as sacred,” read the story, referring to some undefined enemies of Islam.
Hamza Yerlikaya, an official adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, joined the choir. “What is this Black Friday? Why Friday? Friday is light, peace and blessing,” he tweeted, asking, “What operation is this? What perception is being built on this special day?”
The bewildering part is that none of these Turks who condemned Black Friday bothered to learn what the term really means — that it has nothing to do with Islam’s holy day, let alone “insulting” it or carrying out an “operation” on Turkey and its Muslim-ness.
A few commentators tried to explain. Baris Esen, an economist writing for Bloomberg Turkey, tweeted, “Black Friday means companies in the United States moving from loss to profit in their balance sheets. Loss is signified with red and profit is signified with black. Do not forcibly invent other meanings.” [this is a more recent explanation of the term’s origin; the earlier one, which appears to have the weight of greater authority, apparently refers to all the congestion, vehicular and pedestrian, caused by shoppers on that day].
Yet those already angry at Black Friday seemed uninterested in such facts or simply preferred not to read the the writers who offered them an explanation.
What must one make of all this? Well, on the one hand, the anti-Black Friday frenzy is a tragicomical story rather than a serious one. It has already calmed down, and it will probably be all forgotten soon. The only lasting affect may be that next year Turkish companies will find another way to promote their sales.
On the other hand, however, this incident is just one of the countless manifestations of the anti-Western mood that has dominated Turkey in the past couple of years. So many people are now so sure that Western powers are cooking up conspiracies against Turks and other Muslims that when they hear a term like “Black Friday,” they can imagine only something sinister.
This anti-Western attitude has deep roots in Turkish society, as various political camps from nationalists to Marxists to Islamists have long believed in covert Western schemes to weaken, destabilize and divide the nation. Still, the Turkish affinity for conspiracies has never been as cultivated and orchestrated as it is now under Erdogan.
Since he ostensibly became convinced of a Western plot to topple him during the Gezi Park protests of June 2013, Erdogan has interpreted every obstacle on his path as part of a coordinated scheme by a mysterious “mastermind.” This view has been relentlessly promoted by his giant propaganda machine, which now makes up the majority of Turkish media. Worse, the propaganda seems to reflect genuinely held convictions of the new ruling elite.
The sheer craziness of minds on Islam can be seen in this fury over “Black Friday.” First, let’s keep clearly in mind where the modern use of the term comes from. At history.com we find this:
Back in the 1950s, police in the city of Philadelphia used the term to describe the chaos that ensued on the day after Thanksgiving, when hordes of suburban shoppers and tourists flooded into the city in advance of the big Army-Navy football game held on that Saturday every year. Not only would Philly cops not be able to take the day off, but they would have to work extra-long shifts dealing with the additional crowds and traffic. Shoplifters would also take advantage of the bedlam in stores to make off with merchandise, adding to the law enforcement headache.
By 1961, “Black Friday” had caught on in Philadelphia, to the extent that the city’s merchants and boosters tried unsuccessfully to change it to “Big Friday” in order to remove the negative connotations. The term didn’t spread to the rest of the country until much later, however, and as recently as 1985 it wasn’t in common use nationwide. Sometime in the late 1980s, however, retailers found a way to reinvent Black Friday and turn it into something that reflected positively, rather than negatively, on them and their customers.
Nothing to do with insulting Muslims, though I’m sure Recep Tayyip Erdogan would disagree. It’s“Black Friday,” of course, because Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday. And the day after Thanksgiving signals the start of the Christmas shopping season. Had Thanksgiving fallen on any other day of the week, there would never have been a Black Friday. Nothing sinisterly anti-Islam about it. But once the hysteria about an anti-Islam “Black Friday” started in Turkey, appeals to common sense were in vain.
Turkish Muslims, are now ruled by a man who is given to fits of hysteria — Erdogan has described the Germans and the Dutch as “Nazis” because they forbade his men from campaigning among Turks in Germany and the Netherlands, has repeatedly called Israel, for its Gaza campaign, as “even worse than Hitler,” has predicted a European war coming between “the cross and the crescent,” and continues to denounce the United States for failing to hand over Fethulleh Gulen. Erdogan himself did not wade into the discussion of “Black Friday,” but with all around him doing so, we can assume he shared their suspicions of an anti-Muslim conspiracy. After all, as a major newspaper, Yeni Safak, put it, “they [the Infidel] especially chose the day that Muslims have declared as sacred.”
That “Black Friday” might be an intentional attempt to link the Muslim holy day with the powers of blackness is just the sort of thing Erdogan, with his over-the-top attacks on Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, and the United States, might well believe, but allow others, in this case, to speak for him.
His senior adviser Hamza Yerzlikaya certainly sounds as if he is channeling Erdogan:
“What is this Black Friday?” “Why Friday?” “Friday is a holy day of light and blessings.”
Yerlikaya suspected there was more to the U.S. post-Thanksgiving retail fest that meets the eye.
“What perception is being created on this special day?” he asked. “What operation is being carried out?”
The ludicrousness of the charge, given the history of when and where the term first came to be used, is telling. Apparently no Turkish journalist, or retailer, thought to spend a minute to research online the origin of the phrase “Black Friday.” No political figure in Turkey stepped forth to patiently answer Erdogan’s senior adviser’s dark suspicions.
There were calls for the removal of “Black Friday” ads by merchants. Turkish social media had many thousands expressing their alarm over this insult to Muslims. There were groups of protesters entering stores, ripping up “Black Friday” posters. What was notable was how over the top was the reaction of so many to this perceived slight to Islam. But Muslim societies are particularly prone to hysterical reactions. After all, if your faith discourages skeptical inquiry, and encourages the habit of mental submission, it is more likely that you may be more easily swayed by rumor and falsehood about imaginary “insults” to Islam. Which is exactly what happened in Turkey.
No doubt next year, Turkish merchants will be careful to avoid the term “Black Friday,” and either move the shop-till-you-drop day to “Black Saturday,’’ or not move it, but rename it as “White Friday.” This episode is one of so many that show the hypersensitivity of Muslim populations whenever they detect the slightest possibility of insults to Islam. These volatile populations are quick to take offense, slow to try to discover the truth, and not always mollified even when they do. Think of the Muslim mobs in Pakistan, for example, that are routinely whipped up by rumors of blasphemy by Christians, or by rumors of Ahmadis who may be trying to pass as Muslims. Think of those Muslims in Egypt who become inflamed over posts by Christians expressing their faith in God, posts that they interpret as “insults to Islam” — as here, and take out their fury by attacking Christian villages. Think of “moderate” Indonesia, where Muslim mobs, enraged at the news that elsewhere in the country, Christians have fought back against Muslim attackers, attack other Christian enclaves closer to home, as here.
But even if Turkish merchants, chastened by this year’s outcry, promise to abandon any “Black Friday” plans for next year, Erdogan can still use the perceived insult as part of his rhetorical war on the West. Why shouldn’t he, at the next meeting of the O.I.C., ask its members to share his outrage and take a pledge never to allow the observance of “Black Friday” in their own lands? And to take it one further step, he might ask that the members of the O.I.C. collectively demand that the Western countries stop using the term “Black Friday,” because, he claims, it is demeaning, wherever it is used, to Islam and to Muslims worldwide. I can hear Erdogan now: “Why should we allow others to link our holy day to blackness? Even if we were to believe, and I am very doubtful, their story that “Black Friday” was never meant as an insult, what counts is surely how we experience it. Why must Muslims suffer for the sake of what is nothing more than an ad campaign? Why can’t those who in do not share our faith, are unable to be nourished by it, in Europe and America, at least cease to be indifferent to our feelings? Is it really asking too much, after centuries of colonialism, to ask our crusaders to choose another day of the week to offer their own peoples, whipped up into a frenzy by non-stop advertising, in some cases waiting all night outside stores so as to rush in first when the doors open and grab what they can, finding the summit of their happiness not in spiritual matters, as we Muslims do, but in ‘getting a bargain.’ We Muslims do not mock or insult them; we have no ‘Black Sunday’ and never will, but then, in Islam we respect all religions. And that same respect is all we ask of them.”
When put that way to fellow Muslims — especially with that appeal to the supposed superior “spirituality” of Islam — it might work. As for Infidels, I can see them willing to make all kinds of sacrifices to placate Muslims, but there are limits. When shopping is involved, I can’t imagine anyone in the Western world giving up Black Friday, just to please the likes of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Benedict says
Soon we’ll see a new movement in the Muslim World: “Black Fridays matter” – which indeed they do.
Westman says
Imagine the cries of racism by Muslim Turks if the shopping day was changed to “White Friday”. Islam ties up human minds so completely that all life and information revolves around it; leading to ignorance of other cultures and an easy acceptance of rumor as legitimate information.
Islam’s injection of a binary world into the minds of its captives – us versus them – and the constant din of accusations that Islam’s glory is only held back by wicked and scheming unbelievers, directed by cunning Jews, creates a paranoia that must be answered at the first suspicion.
There is another personality-cult-religion that creates similar ignorance and paranoia in the population – and Islam is a personality-cult-religion built on Muhammad – and that is found in North Korea. Similarly, no one dares criticise the Icon and the price of apostacy is death.
History has shown that lockstep societies never avert the war that comes when introspection is lost and supremacy is assumed. It happened to Japan and Germany. It will likely happen soon to North Korea, and then Iran.
elee says
There is a form of sociopathy characterized by constant hypervigilance for perceived slights and hair-trigger asaultive response. It mostly leads to a lot of fights, head injuries, and serial imprisonments.
Islam is of this persuasion. Oh and did I mention that……given that they tend to start out stupid and then bash their brains around a lot……these are not bright people?
carpediadem says
They’re narcissistic, insular and xenophobic, not to mention members of societies that inflict injuries on every possible set of person.
Of course they’re suspicious and hypervigilant, wouldn’t you be?
I just don’t see why we’re supposed to subsidise them.
Blurb1000 says
TGF… here where I live (Norway) Friday is end of a hard working week and most of us want to get drunk, get laid, and other holy things like that.
Shopping is not on my list but to get angry over this… you have to be a muslim.
Bodega says
Not being Islamophilic, I am happy to find another way to irritate Muslims here in the States. All they have to do is educate themselves into our culture and it would all be clear. Poor little Muzzies.
Keys says
Would these make the Turks teeth-grinding mad ?
Black Friday to honor the flag of ISIS.
Good Friday.
Friday the Thirteenth – to honor the 13th immam.
Friday Night Lights.
Friday fasting.
Casual Friday.
POETS Day (Piss Off Early Tomorrow’s Saturday in the UK and Australia).
Joe Friday, Dragnet Detective, Maam.
Freaky Friday.
TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday)
“Girl Friday”, a 2003 song by the Beat Crusaders
Michael Faraday (close enough), English scientist
___________ Friday
maghan says
Crusoe’s boy–“Man Friday”.
LeftisruiningCanada says
maghan, that would probably be acceptable
carpediadem says
What about that excellent song “Friday On My Mind” by the Easybeats?
Guaranteed to induce paranoia! 😉
Benedict says
Maybe merchants all over the world and Muslims could agree on “Green Friday”?
Anyhow, One could wish that Turkish Muslims would react the same way to the black flag of ISIS, as they do to “Black Friday”.
gravenimage says
Yes–it is very telling what Muslims actually become enraged over.
Frank Anderson says
Mentioning Friday the 13th, I think, subject to correction, the first Passover of Exodus happened Friday the 13th day of the 13th month in the Jewish lunar calendar, according to some. Which also means the “Death Angel” took the first-born of every household that was not marked. Great day for freedom and black day for tyrants.
balam says
IGNORANCE—THY NAME IS ISLAM1111
Don McKellar says
I was unaware that Friday as the moslem “holy” day. This makes sense — it would be placed on the day before the days of Jews and Christians in a show of superiority of some sort. No surprise there. That’s the way these maggots think.
gravenimage says
Friday after prayers is also the most hazardous day for Infidels in Dar-al-Islam, as Muslims so often go on violent rampages.
Pnina says
Indeed, every Friday is black Friday for the kuffar in Muslim land.
SAM says
As a person originally from Turkey, I will not visit that country again. They really had a chance to have a free secular country after Ataturk. The Muslim flavored culture did not allow that. Now they are back to Sharia dictated Muslim hell hole.Another Muslim enemy of USA. Paranoid Erdogan will go to hell
ElderlyZionist says
“The sheer craziness of minds on Islam can be seen in this fury over ‘Black Friday.'”
A-yep. They are showing the whole world that they really are that stupid, ignorant and bigoted. “Paranoid Erdogan will go to hell”, I suppose so, and I’m okay with that. But he will take a vast number of Turks, Kurds, Syrians and others with him.
Frank Anderson says
Honored Elderly Zionist, sure they may all go to Hell, unless God’s mercy exceeds all human understanding. But is not the issue what damage we will allow all you mentioned to do now before facing Judgment?
mummymovie says
“What is this Black Friday? Why Friday? Friday is light, peace and blessing,”
Yes, light, peace and blessing, indeed…
as well as riots, mayhem and murder.
Friday is well known as the day that advocates of the Religion of Peace -worked up, and you guessed it; ANGRY (seemingly the only emotion you ever hear about associated with islam’s one-dimensional brand of piety) from high-intensity Friday prayers at the mosque- often end up taking to the streets to… say, light cars on fire, break non-muslim-owned shop windows, gang-attack and murder non-muslim and non-sharia-compliant pedestrians, etc. etc. etc.
A sacred day, indeed; much like the “holy” month of ramadan, during which jihad murder attacks spike tremendously around the world, and taper back off to the normal amount after the holiday ends.
Sacred stuff, for sure!
Tom says
It never even crossed my mind, as I’m sure it didn’t in the vast majority of logical common sense thinkers minds, that black friday could possibly be construed to insult Islam.
This just shows how illogical and hysterical the muslim mind is that takes such an event as an insult to their faith.
Some muslims are poised to jump at every opportunity, no matter how illogical, to claim victim status, that they themselves tar all of their fellow muslims with the brush of insane behaviour as being the norm for Islam.
How can one take seriously anyone who thinks so illogically as to transpose a simple shopping gimic into an insult to their religion.
Max Publius says
More proof Islam has a particular aversion to the color black and is inherently racist, even to the point that black African and slave are the same Arabic word (abed).
gravenimage says
They do love the black flag of Islam, though…
Billy Chickens says
But…but…but ISIS wears black and their flag is black and the deeds they do are black and since Friday is Islam’s Holy Day it all fits. What’s there not to understand about Black Friday?
And it’s called “Black Friday” because it’s the day after Thanksgiving, Stupid, which makes it FRIDAY since Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. It’s an AMERICAN thing…sales, shopping, discounts, Land of the Free, Home of the Brave type of thing where people are FREE to take advantage of sales which most people shop for CHRISTmas. Get it? It’s an AMERICAN CHRISTIAN thing. So get over it. Go to your mosques and pray with your fannies in the air and forget about what Christians are doing in their FREE SOCIETY.
You Islamists have to complain about EVERYTHING because you think the world revolves around you because of your fanatical relationship with the Religion of Evil.
jewdog says
Actually, I think the West bought something on Black Friday that it urgently needs to return: Turkey’s membership in NATO.
gravenimage says
+1
LeftisruiningCanada says
““What is this Black Friday?” “Why Friday?” ”
Because islam isn’t the most important thing in the world
“Friday is a holy day of light and blessings.”
Yeah right, and Monday is an evil day of early mornings and back to work, who cares?
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Erdogan says, “We Muslims do not mock or insult them; we have no ‘Black Sunday’ and never will, but then, in Islam we respect all religions. And that same respect is all we ask of them.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sunday_(1977_film)
Here’s a clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xknWZIAzBCc
gravenimage says
What an idiot.
LeftisruiningCanada says
If you believe that guy, ive some ocean front property in Alberta to sell you.
Muslim 2017 says
Why should Muslim countries import activities that are non Islamic in their lands? Allah said in the Holy Quran, “This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favors upon you and gave you Islam as your religion.” Surah 5:3.
There is no need for this shopping frenzy as Allah has called the wasters as ‘brothers of Satan.’ Surah 17:27
Ataturk has already destroyed Turkey with secularism, it is time to undo this and rule by what Allah has revealed, this is the Holy Quran and sunnah.
We have special holidays and days in Islam and Friday is one of them. We are not concerned about the history of “black Friday” in western culture. Why must Muslims follow this standard? It has no basis.
gravenimage says
The ludicrous “Muslim 2017” wrote:
Why should Muslim countries import activities that are non Islamic in their lands?
……………………….
“Muslim 2017” claiming that shopping is non Islamic? I guess it is not violent enough to be really Islamic. It can’t compete with raping children or slaughtering Infidels, that’s for sure.
In any case, no one forced shops in Turkey to try Black Friday sales.
More:
Allah said in the Holy Quran, “This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favors upon you and gave you Islam as your religion.” Surah 5:3.
……………………….
Shopping is not really about religion–but I suppose that for Muslims, everything is either Islamic or un-Islamic. And given how often Muslims blow up markets, perhaps shopping really is something they hate…
More:
There is no need for this shopping frenzy as Allah has called the wasters as ‘brothers of Satan.’ Surah 17:27
……………………….
Note that “Muslim 2017” in all the time he has posted here has not condemned Muslims enslaving, raping, and murdering–but he considers shopping for bargains ‘Satanic’. *Very* telling.
More:
Ataturk has already destroyed Turkey with secularism, it is time to undo this and rule by what Allah has revealed, this is the Holy Quran and sunnah.
……………………….
Turkey is a mess by the standards of the West, but is still too civilized for truly pious Muslims. I’m sure he’d prefer it was more like a truly devout part of Dar-al-Islam–hell holes like Afghanistan, Yemen, or Somalia.
More:
We have special holidays and days in Islam and Friday is one of them. We are not concerned about the history of “black Friday” in western culture. Why must Muslims follow this standard? It has no basis.
……………………….
No one in the West asked Muslims to have Black Friday sales.
No one here cares if they do or not.
Muslim 2017 says
No one says ‘shopping’ is unislamic. It’s the concept of ‘Black Friday’ and what it entails is the disagreement. Additionally, why should Muslims waste all this money on clothes and consumer goods whilst we have brothers and sisters who are poor and need at least 3 meals a day?
So in Islam we are commanded to do things in moderation.
Secondly, the topic has nothing to do with enslavement, rape etc so there is no reason to talk about these things. Dar-al Islam does not have to be a “hell hole” if non Muslims stay out of our affairs. Let the Muslims rule by sharia rather than forced secularism on the Muslim world.
Likewise, Muslims who move to western countries should not force sharia on a population who do not want it, but Muslims who settle there should create an Islamic space for themselves so that they can earn good deeds, draw nearer to Allah and resist or stay away from moral ills that are dangerous to our faith and relationship with Allah subhana wa ta’ala – Glory be to Him the Most High.
gravenimage says
More from “Muslim 2017”:
No one says ‘shopping’ is unislamic. It’s the concept of ‘Black Friday’ and what it entails is the disagreement. Additionally, why should Muslims waste all this money on clothes and consumer goods whilst we have brothers and sisters who are poor and need at least 3 meals a day?
………………………………….
Americans are the most charitable people in the world, closely followed by other Westerners.
Muslim countries rate dead last in charity.
What “Muslim 2017” *really* means is that Muslims need to fund violent Jihad. Hard to do that if you are maxing out your credit cards on consumer goods.
More:
So in Islam we are commanded to do things in moderation.
………………………………….
Well, that is *just hilarious*! As though threatening shopkeepers who hold Black Friday sales is “moderate”.
I’m actually not much for Black Friday sales myself–I don’t usually shop at malls, and I don’t like crowds.
But this does not mean that I threaten the stores that hold such sales.
I just skip the sales. Of course, I am a civilized Infidel, though.
More:
Secondly, the topic has nothing to do with enslavement, rape etc so there is no reason to talk about these things.
………………………………….
“Muslim 2017” has had numerous chances to condemn his coreligionists raping and murdering. Of course, he has never once done so. Intelligent people may draw their own conclusions as to his views on such matters…
More:
Dar-al Islam does not have to be a “hell hole” if non Muslims stay out of our affairs.
………………………………….
I suppose this means that “Muslim 2017” considers pre-Black Hawk Down Somalia and Taliban-era Afghanistan to be ideals. He could attend a stoning of a rape victim rather than a Black Friday sale. So much more festive!
More:
Let the Muslims rule by sharia rather than forced secularism on the Muslim world.
………………………………….
Amputations, stonings, beheadings, crucifixions–what’s not to like?
More:
Likewise, Muslims who move to western countries should not force sharia on a population who do not want it…
………………………………….
That is the only reason Muslims come to the West, as “Muslim 2017” well knows. Will he do anything to convince his coreligionists that this is so very wrong? Don’t count on it…
More:
but Muslims who settle there should create an Islamic space for themselves so that they can earn good deeds, draw nearer to Allah and resist or stay away from moral ills that are dangerous to our faith and relationship with Allah subhana wa ta’ala – Glory be to Him the Most High.
………………………………….
In other words, they have to create violent “No Go Zones” terrorized buy Shari’ah patrols. Why we should have to hand over our lands to this barbarism is never explained.
And “good deeds” in Islam include such horrors as mutilating children, marrying young girls, raping Infidel women, and plotting the Jihad slaughter of anyone who has not submitted to Islam.
Gerry says
That History dot com “history” is complete nonsense, created after the fact. There were days called “Black Friday” and the historians who are all liars, decided to randomly connect one to Black Friday.
Our Black Friday has nothing to do with those. Our Black Friday was a very recent thing, and solely means, profit, or the economic term ‘black’ for retailers. It had nothing to do with an Army/Navy game, nor would tourists have even thought of going to an Army/Navy game in Philadelphia.
It is connected to the American reinvention of Christmas (which I’m sure too has already been credited to another country). The historians always lie. America and America alone, any other country was imitating the US, reinvented Christmas around the business of America and what America is: business. Business people kept making Christmas earlier and earlier in America solely to extend the shopping season. And it was just as often Jews as Christians doing it. History dot com’s ‘history’ of it is inferior to mine in every way. History dot com’s history of it in fact makes no sense. We know they had been extending the shopping season, and then they added a name for it, that’s called history. A lie about an Army/Navy game is called lies, because, use your brain, it has nothing to do with Black Friday whatsoever. It was about connecting America’s two favorite holidays, the secular one of Thanksgiving with the even more secular one of Christmas.
Karen says
What??? No mobs screaming “Blasphemy!!!”. I’m disappointed. That would be icing on the ignoramous-cake.
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: In Turkey, “What Is This Black Friday? Why Friday?”
…………………..
Well, this is hilarious. Black Friday has *nothing* to do with Islam.
This just shows up Islam’s paranoia.
Of course, it immediately descended into threats of violence–but we would expect nothing else from pious Muslims.
Eric says
Erdogan must go!
Eric
Guest says
Black Friday has been around for a while it’s not intended to hurt Islam in any way, we have better things to do than just fighting our enemies. Also aren’t most burkas black?
Alain says
Not only is the chief turkey paranoid, but he also suffers from an acute case of “westphobia”. A very common disease amongst leftist and muslim circles, odd eh?
George says
Black Friday? Obviously a crusader plot.
Charles says
Love that photo of Erdagon.
He has the face of a RAT!
And the soul of a NAZI prison guard!
He will soon get his “reward”!
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
His face is not particularly ratlike, but observe his thumb gesture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gestures calls this gesture the
“Clinton thumb. The gesture dubbed the “Clinton thumb” after one of its most famous users, Bill Clinton, is used by politicians to provide emphasis in speeches. This gesture has the thumb leaning against the thumb-side portion of the index finger, which is part of a closed fist, or slightly projecting from the fist. An emphatic, it does not exhibit the anger of the clenched fist or pointing finger, and so is thought to be less threatening. This gesture was likely adopted by Clinton from John F. Kennedy, who can be seen using it in many speeches and images from his political career.”
Robert John Bennett says
This “sheer craziness of minds on Islam” as the author calls it may be a result of creeping, half-conscious doubts about Islam that is taking hold among many Muslims.
People become very defensive – to the point of violence sometimes, along with outbreaks of hysterical behavior – when a belief is threatened that makes up an integral part of their identity. This is so well known that it hardly deserves mentioning.
Ethel Mertz says
These people are insane. But honestly, who cares? Obviously they don’t want to be influenced by Western culture. How is that any different than those of us in the West that are virulently opposed to Muslim influence in our nations?
gravenimage says
You consider “Black Friday” says the moral equivalent of raping women and children and blowing up Christmas markets? In what way?
And it was Turkish shop owners who tried out “Black Friday” sales–this was not imposed by the West as you imply.
wtd says
Now that is quite an anomaly of a characterization given the fourteen centuries of Islamic bloodletting. Why, just this year, 2017, Islam has proven how murderous that “light (explosive), peace (death), and blessing (promises of more of the same)” was – as is illustrated by this lengthy list
of jihad events picked up at The Religion of Peace which documents some (not all) jihad events
which took place on each Friday during this current year of 2017 thus far:
January 6th & January 13th
January 20th, 27th and February 3rd
February 10th and 17th
February 24th and March 3rd
March 10th, 17th and 24th
March 31st and April 7th
April 14th, 21st and 28th
May 5th and 12th
May 19th and 26th
June 2nd, 9th and 16th
June 23rd
June 30th and July 7th
July 14th and 21st
July 28th
August 4th
August 11th and 18th
August 25th and September 1st
September 8th and 15th
September 22nd, 29th and October 6th
October 13th, 20th and 27th
November 3rd, 10th and 17th
November 24th and December 1st
December 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th are yet to determine just how much more unwelcome “light, peace and blessings” mankind will endure from the followers of Islam.
Frank J. Verderber says
Ok, Islamic Turkey wins. No more “Black Fridays”! Instead you can use “Black Flag Day.” That should make you happy, and American Entrepreneurial Marketing can sell a lot of insect spray to kill off off your cockroach infestation of Islamists!
andra says
The bewildering part is that none of these Turks who condemned Black Friday bothered to learn what the term really means — that it has nothing to do with Islam’s holy day, let alone “insulting” it or carrying out an “operation” on Turkey and its Muslim-ness.
——————————-
Why is this bewildering? Muslims never ask for explanations or reasons, they never accept other cultural behaviour than their own. For them everything that is not Islam-conform is an Insult.
For them it is insulting that St. Nicolaus wears a cross in Europe´s traditional St.Nicolaus celebrations. For them it is insulting that St. Martin is celebrated in Germany, only because he was an outstanding Christian. For them it is insulting that the kuffar in Europe still have not converted to Islam.