Note to Certain Moslem Governments...
Look,
If you want to complain about who gets knighthoods, we should first discuss who gets fatwas! I mean, it makes absolutely no _tangible_ difference to you whether someone is called "Sir Whoosits" as opposed to "Mr Whoosits", but it does make quite a tangible difference to the guy in question whether he is called "Mr Whoosits" or "the late Mr Whoosits".
Oh, sure, we understand that you found a book the bloke wrote to be quite insulting. But do you think that, perhaps, that taking a bunch of embassy workers hostage for a year may be seen as quite insulting to us?
Still, the biggest irony is that you haven't got the concept that Maggie Thatcher learned: the _worst_ way to handle a book you don't like is to make a fuss about it. The inevitable consequence of trying to suppress a book is that the book will sell better!
[ I still found the thing turgid and dull, but I bought I copy, which would have never happened if you'd simply given it a lousy review in the Islamic Times Review of Books or whatever! ]
If you want to complain about who gets knighthoods, we should first discuss who gets fatwas! I mean, it makes absolutely no _tangible_ difference to you whether someone is called "Sir Whoosits" as opposed to "Mr Whoosits", but it does make quite a tangible difference to the guy in question whether he is called "Mr Whoosits" or "the late Mr Whoosits".
Oh, sure, we understand that you found a book the bloke wrote to be quite insulting. But do you think that, perhaps, that taking a bunch of embassy workers hostage for a year may be seen as quite insulting to us?
Still, the biggest irony is that you haven't got the concept that Maggie Thatcher learned: the _worst_ way to handle a book you don't like is to make a fuss about it. The inevitable consequence of trying to suppress a book is that the book will sell better!
[ I still found the thing turgid and dull, but I bought I copy, which would have never happened if you'd simply given it a lousy review in the Islamic Times Review of Books or whatever! ]