Thursday, July 21, 2005

The AnarchAngel: Fatwah

A lot of bloggers have recently been writing about The AnarchAngel, a blogger who has offended some muslim dudes with an attitude (but I repeat myself!) to the extent that they have declared a "Fatwah" against him.

I haven't actually bothered to look up the comments which initiated this absurdity, but I've been reading a lot about it in the blogosphere lately. AnarchAngel has become something of a celebrity because of his recognition by some undocumented wannabe terrorists.

In response, there are a SLEW of RKBA bloggers clammoring to be included on the Hit List.

There hasn't been this much testosterone in the air since junior high school gym-class showers. Everybody seems to want to dare the supposed fatwah-issuing terrorists.

Ho.
Hum.

Look, folks, I know that Islamist Terrorists (have I got the terminology correct?) are the Guy to Go To if you're looking for Bad, but this is ridiculous.

Everywhere you look this week, there are bloggers bad-mouthing muslims in hopes that some bored Arab will deign to post an email or a website entry to the effect that a Fatwa has been declared, demanding their death. We see each blogger listing his qualifications for withstanding a terrorist attack, daring the imaginary Terrorist to "come and get some of this!"

Holy RPG's, Batman! Don't we have enough crap coming our way without turning it into a sideshow?

Threats are cheap. Internet threats are like a side-street whore. "Hey, sailor, wanna party?"
It doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Anybody can say anything on the net. Anonymity guaranteed, and there are are a million high-school sophomores from Pasadena lurking around, just looking for the opportunity to scare the supposed grown-ups.

Well, maybe they're not all in Pasadena. Probably half of them are in Portland, Puyallup or Podunk. The point is, the culture war isn't just a matter of bombs and bullets. It's also a matter of the mind games we play with ourselves.

I swear, I don't know what's come into folks nowadays.

There are no hat-tips to be awarded here. And there's no glory to be had in bold talk and pissing contests ... which this entire Thread From Heck is, essentially.

Fatwah.
Good Grief, Charley Brown! You can take it seriously and quit the chest thumping, accept it as a real personal threat, or you can write it off as fluff and find something better to do with your time than telling the world how your winkie is bigger than theirs.

In either case, PLEASE quit trying to build a tempest in a teapot. Imagine how embarassed you will be, in a couple of years, when (despite all of your expectant preparations) nothing happens. Will you be disappointed if there is no actual follow-up?

Betcha.

Oh, sure, I only HOPE it's all a sophomoric road show, but I don't really KNOW, do I?

Even if it's a real threat, right now all of you bloggers who are strutting and challenging look more like j-high classmates of the supposed fatwah-issuers than men.

Men don't strut. Unless, of course, they own a closet-full of Opera pumps.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fany item in my closet aside, and you can take this as just more of what you are attributing it to, but I see it as more of a show of unity between those who oppose the people who would issue a death threat.

AnalogKid

Anonymous said...

Yeah, people talk, and some people talk out their @$$. This includes Osama bin-Wannabes. If they seriously want to come get some, they're welcome to come to the good ol'USA for a down-home heapin serving of good ol fashioned whoopass. Now we all know that these Osama bin-wannabes are full of pig $#!t, but if they are serious, we are still a country of 70+ million owners of 330 million guns and 10 billion rds of ammo. They resort to cowardly bomb attacks because even more than the Israelis, we know how to shoot and even a little old grandma can put a clean double-tap into the head of some punk with a bomb belt (true story). Like Bush said, bring it on!

...Oh, and as Richard Crenna said in a famous 1980s movie, "bring a good supply of bodybags"... for yourselves.

Cowboy Blob said...

I, for one, am glad Jerry's here to provide adult supervision!