Observations...

[alexpgp]

One of our clients has been expecting an "overnight" envelope for a couple of days, now, and it was at the store this morning when I got there after the ham breakfast. In looking over the package, I was struck by the whimsical contrast between the name of the company the sent the envelope - something like "Strategic Futures Outlook Investing" - and the address of the company, a number on "Yankee Doodle" street.

No kidding.

* * *Somewhere in the few days leading up to Christmas, the BBC aired a program titled The Virgin Mary, that suggested Jesus was the result of Mary having been raped by a Roman soldier. Other theories suggest her husband Joseph could have made her pregnant or that she had an illicit affair.

As one might expect, the Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth said the program was crude and offensive and disregarded the concerns and beliefs of millions of Christians. His remarks appear to be fully in character, as the Virgin Birth is one of the primary articles of faith of the Christian religion.

After the Bishop had his say, that appeared to be about the end of it.

By contrast, you will recall somewhere around Thanksgiving, some newspaper flack in Nigeria, in addressing Islamic concerns regarding the link between beauty pageants and promiscuity, wrote the following: "What would Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among them."

The following then transpired, according to an Associated Press report:

After Muslims called it offensive, the newspaper published a brief front-page apology Monday and a lengthier retraction Thursday that said the passage had run by mistake.

Muslims gathered after prayers outside the national mosque in the usually placid capital 225 miles northeast of here and then stormed through town, burning cars and assaulting bystanders.

I'll spare the rest of the details. In the end, the newspaper office was burned and something like 200 people were killed over a three-day period and the writer of the article, Isioma Daniel, found himself in the same position as Salman Rushdie, declared by fatwa to be worthy of extermination in the name of Allah. Daniel has, of course, fled for his life.

There's a lesson in here, somewhere.

* * *Yesterday's translation work was interrupted by someone from the same company who wondered if I could squeeze in another 500 words for this morning. I could and did. I am now back working on one of those kinds of documents that put you to sleep simply reading the original, but I am not complaining. In fact, I seem to be progressing faster than I expected, which is not a bad thing, either.

Which reminds me... :^)

Cheers...

Comments

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

There's a lesson in here, somewhere.


Are you of the opinion, as are some, that Islam is simply a "bad religion"?

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

To maintain that position would, I think, require a rather vast oversimplification of a subject that would not survive the attempt.

Cheers...

[vuzh.livejournal.com]

I had to ask, 'cause you never know...

that kind of cultural oversimplification seems almost as epidemic as this insane, violent rage does in certain sectors of Islam. It is not one of the best chapters in their history right now, that is for sure. Nor ours, to be quite frank.