…and this is a 
Those wacky muslims
Category: Religion • Weirdness
Posted on: September 17, 2008 4:22 PM, by PZ Myers
Now one Islamic cleric has declared that Mickey Mouse must die. He's unclean, after all.
"Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases."
Mr Munajid seems to be a little confused about what is real and what is fiction, but at least this is a step up from declaring that people should die.
And then there is this:
Last month Mr Munajid condemned the Beijing Olympics as the "bikini Olympics", claiming that nothing made Satan happier than seeing females athletes dressed in skimpy outfits.
Looks like another bit of evidence that I am Satan, then.
Comments
Posted by: firemancarl | September 17, 2008 4:25 PM
And we are happy to be your minnions master!
Posted by: Azdak | September 17, 2008 4:26 PM
The real power of Satan is that he's so damned easy to relate to!Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | September 17, 2008 4:26 PM
Satan loves rock and roll too I hear.
Posted by: Ichthyic | September 17, 2008 4:30 PM
don't forget that suicide bombers are going to blow up Paul McCartney when he plays Israel next.
http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=124&csid2=844&fid1=33532
I mean, Paul is old and all, and has lost a bit from his younger days, but to threaten to blow him up if he performs?
He's not that bad, really!
Posted by: Tom Wood | September 17, 2008 4:31 PM
I don't think mice have "satan receptors" built into their system. Not very useful on the survival scale of things to evolve. Stupid radars, that's another thing.
Die Mouse!
Posted by: Azdak | September 17, 2008 4:31 PM
So what's Muhammad Munajid's opinion of Porky Pig?
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp, KoT | September 17, 2008 4:34 PM
Dangermouse could so kick Muhammed's ass. Figures he'd pick on Mickey.
Posted by: steve_1 | September 17, 2008 4:35 PM
So what's Muhammad Munajid's opinion of Porky Pig?
Obviouthly, he'th dithpicable!
Posted by: Nick Gotts | September 17, 2008 4:35 PM
Mr. Munajid seems to be on remarkably intimate terms with His Satanic Majesty, if they've been chatting about their sexual preferences. What beer does Satan drink, Mr. Munajid? Does he have a PC or a Mac? Enquiring minds want to know!
Posted by: forksmuggler | September 17, 2008 4:37 PM
See related Jesus and Mo cartoon from a few weeks back:
http://www.jesusandmo.net/2008/08/20/satan/
Posted by: jj | September 17, 2008 4:37 PM
Do they even still make or show Mickey Mouse cartoons? This guy is stuck in 1950?
Posted by: Alex Besogonov | September 17, 2008 4:39 PM
PZ, where do you hide your horns?
We, demon hunters, need to know this :)
Posted by: Hans | September 17, 2008 4:43 PM
Oh yeah? I bet you wouldn't dare say that about Musli...
Huh.
Well, you mother wears army boots!
Posted by: RamblinDude | September 17, 2008 4:43 PM
Like to see him pick on Bugs Bunny.
Of course...chomp, chomp...you realize, this means war."
Posted by: David | September 17, 2008 4:44 PM
In other news, Catholics voting for Obama may be denied their crackers: http://tinyurl.com/6ew9vl .
Posted by: Eamon Knight | September 17, 2008 4:44 PM
I mean, Paul is old and all, and has lost a bit from his younger days, but to threaten to blow him up if he performs?
I dunno, I still haven't forgiven him for "Who's That Knockin' at the Door" -- one of the worst earworms I've ever experienced.
Posted by: Ritchie Annand | September 17, 2008 4:46 PM
An old female acquaintance of a friend of mine had the lovely experience of going onto public transportation in Saudi Arabia in modest Western dress and having a bunch of men on the bus openly masturbate at her.
I don't think a religion-based mandate for completely covering the female form is really helping men cope and grow up.
Sod Mr. Munajid and his pronouncement from a presumption of moral superiority. Such attitudes are not, I would venture, psychologically healthy.
Posted by: windy | September 17, 2008 4:49 PM
"Even creatures that are repulsive by nature, by logic, and according to Islamic law have become wonderful and are loved by children. Even mice."
Oh, but he's using logic! I wonder if it went like this:
-All mice are repulsive
-Mickey is a mouse
-Therefore, Mickey Mouse is repulsive
Posted by: Taz | September 17, 2008 4:50 PM
People need a religious reason to do this?Posted by: Bride of Shrek OM | September 17, 2008 4:50 PM
To all Catholics who may read this blog,
See.. PZ does stick it up the Muslims too.
Now would you kindly shut the fuck up and go away.
Love
PZ Henchperson # 666
Posted by: JonathanL | September 17, 2008 4:51 PM
Last night in the Islamic Olympics, female swimmers wearing burkas made valiant efforts to stay afloat. Sadly there were no survivors.
Posted by: Cris | September 17, 2008 4:52 PM
I dare Sheikh Muhammad Munajid to kill Mickey Mouse, throw his no-longer-animated corpse in the garbage, and post photos of it on the internet. Let him learn that the devout followers of the Magic Kingdom will not tolerate such blasphemy!
Posted by: Shane | September 17, 2008 4:53 PM
This evidence really seems to turn Pascal's Wager on its head. Bikini-clad women, rock 'n' roll, AND Mickey Mouse are all associated with Satan.
Why are we supposed to want to go to Heaven again? So we can sit in church for eternity doing an infinite amount of "Hail Mary"/salaat whatever the case may be?
Posted by: frog | September 17, 2008 4:56 PM
Mickey Mouse must die.
Wow, a religious zealot that I actually agree with. I guess we all can come together singing kumbaya in peace and harmony!
Posted by: Randy | September 17, 2008 4:56 PM
Mind you, I don't think anything could simultaneously be funnier and sadder than watching women in burkhas trying to play beach volleyball...
Posted by: debaser | September 17, 2008 4:57 PM
Volleyball, sport of sa-tan SA-tan SATAN
Get ready to spike your soul to eternal hell, if only allah could have created people in a way that didn't offend him.
Posted by: room101 | September 17, 2008 4:57 PM
Ahhhhh, yes....Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh - women's beach vollyball. My faaaaaavorite part of the olympics...mmmmmm-hmmmmmmmmmmmm
*snaps out of daydream*
HUH?! WHA?! Yeah, off with their heads!
Posted by: schism | September 17, 2008 4:58 PM
If deriving pleasure from seeing Misty May in a bikini is evil, then by
GodLucifer, I'm a Satanist.Posted by: skyotter | September 17, 2008 4:59 PM
so female atheletes should compete nude: no skimpy outfits to please Satan. right? right?!?
*ducks thrown boot*
Posted by: NJ | September 17, 2008 4:59 PM
Yet another cool band name...
Posted by: Joshu | September 17, 2008 4:59 PM
Well, that's odd. I wonder what the guy's position is on Hamas using a bastardized Mickey Mouse to brainwash kids?
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZEGsnWZKh8
Now, I'm afraid I only speak English, limited Spanish, and the few choice Chinese swear words I gleaned from firefly, so I can't say for certain that the captions match what's being said.
Seems there's corroborating evidence, though: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18580878/
(Also, PZ, it appears we have a problem. If enjoying the sight of "female athletes dressed in skimpy outfits" is a qualifier for being Satan, we both seem to fit the bill. Oh well, I'm sure there's enough room in the Ninth Circle for both of us! )
Posted by: pcarini | September 17, 2008 5:00 PM
He'd be in the deep shit if he depicted Mickey Mouse w/o Disney's blessing. They're worse than the Muslims about that kind of thing.
Posted by: Jonathon | September 17, 2008 5:00 PM
Munajid is to Islam what Jerry Falwell and the other clowns on the Radical Religion Right are to Christianity.
Instead of working to resolve the poverty that is ENDEMIC in Muslim countries, instead of working to make the world a better place, this guy wastes his time talking about mice.
Way to go, Munajid. Your da'wa is lacking. Those "sheikhs" who chose to concentrate on meaningless issues do a great disservice to their fellow Muslims.
Posted by: skyotter | September 17, 2008 5:01 PM
also, is anyone else remembering "Enemy, Mine" right now?
Alien: "Your Mickey Mouse eats ****!"
Human: [tries not to laugh]
Posted by: frog | September 17, 2008 5:01 PM
Shane: Why are we supposed to want to go to Heaven again? So we can sit in church for eternity doing an infinite amount of "Hail Mary"/salaat whatever the case may be?
Ever read Twain's "Letters from Earth," where Lucifer writes letters describing 19th century America in order to prove to the arch-angels that God is an incompetent buffoon? It has a great bit about American ideas on the after life, and how those ideas are in perfect opposition to everything we enjoyed doing in life.
So good, he couldn't publish it until he had died!
Posted by: Nothing Sacred | September 17, 2008 5:03 PM
"Didn't I tell you not to read this anymore? 'Mickey Mouse' is a FASCIST!"
(Anyone who can tell me what that's from is my new best friend.)
Anyway, I don't see what this guy's worried about. Mickey Mouse is dead; he was taken out by some rogue Israeli members of the International Jewish Conspiracy, as you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wiBwQ9fiho
Posted by: Ichthyic | September 17, 2008 5:03 PM
Like to see him pick on Bugs Bunny.
isn't that why W decided to invade Iraq?
Posted by: Bert Chadick | September 17, 2008 5:05 PM
Nobody screws with Disney and gets away with it.
Posted by: terry | September 17, 2008 5:06 PM
(I'm sure the following has been said above, but what the heck)
No, I'm Satan, and nothing makes Satan happier than seeing female athletes dressed in nothing!!!
HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!
Posted by: rrt | September 17, 2008 5:10 PM
So...just how happy was Satan, sheikh? Seems to me we have a testable...measurable...claim here.
Sad thing is, I doubt he saw that connotation at all.
Posted by: Sander | September 17, 2008 5:12 PM
Sure, but that was clear from the "Islamic cleric" description anyway.Posted by: extatyzoma | September 17, 2008 5:13 PM
I think its Munajid who likes to look at female athletes in skimpy outfits. B
Besides, how the hell does he know that satan doesnt prefer to look at those tight bodied wrestlers having a little rough and tumble together.
Posted by: room101 | September 17, 2008 5:13 PM
Ramblindude, Icthyic:
In the immortal words of the great, GREAT Bugs Bunny upon being provoked:
"Of course you realize THIS means war."
Posted by: Richard Harris | September 17, 2008 5:16 PM
Mickey Mouse must die
Just wait until PETA hears about this!
Posted by: raven | September 17, 2008 5:21 PM
If heaven is full of fundie xians and muslims, who in the hell would want to go there?
Posted by: Stuart Weinstein | September 17, 2008 5:22 PM
"Do they even still make or show Mickey Mouse cartoons? This guy is stuck in 1950?"
Hamas airs a kid show in Gaza that features a Mickey-mouse like character. Course, the Hamas version of Mickey isn't quite the same as ours.
Posted by: Funkstronaut | September 17, 2008 5:22 PM
I don't think this guy understands how powerful cartoon characters are.
I've seen Daffy Duck blasted in the face with a shotgun, at point-blank range. Only hurt his pride.
Wile E. Coyote? That guy has been smashed more times with an anvil than I can remember. I believe he is currently retired, but still alive.
Don't even get me started on Eastern cartoons! Ever hear of a guy named Goku?! Indestructible, I tell ya!
Posted by: Tziedel | September 17, 2008 5:22 PM
It's official - the world has gone bugfuckbananas.
Posted by: Watt de Fawke | September 17, 2008 5:29 PM
Muslims aren't the only ones with uncontrollable lust -- or outrageous arrogance.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09122008/news/regionalnews/hasid_lust_cause_128750.htm
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | September 17, 2008 5:42 PM
Looks like another bit of evidence that I am Satan, then.
This is gonna spark an "I am Spartacus" trend on this thread.
"Even creatures that are repulsive by nature, by logic, and according to Islamic law have become wonderful and are loved by children.
Even their fundamentalist Muslim parents!
Posted by: Diluted Reality | September 17, 2008 5:45 PM
Hmmm, that's the only reason I watched women's Olympic Volleyball!
Posted by: Frankus | September 17, 2008 5:46 PM
Ummm.....
He does realize he is calling for the death of a cartoon doesn't he?
I mean, it is a drawing.
He wants a drawing to die.
Is it because he is a cleric that no one tells him how not even wrong he is?
Posted by: complex_field | September 17, 2008 5:51 PM
Let's face it Satan is a cool guy, and a lot of fun. Moreover, I don't want to go to heaven anyway. None of my friends will be there.
Posted by: Kel | September 17, 2008 5:53 PM
Well I did like that the olympics had girls in skimpy outfits. Made me forget about the immense persecution the Chinese government has done on it's people over the years. Also they had handball; I love that sport.
Posted by: Sophist FCD | September 17, 2008 5:58 PM
Wow. This is the religious version of an IRC argument about whether Superman could beat up Darth Vader, only more wankily irrelevant.
Posted by: Mikke | September 17, 2008 5:59 PM
And here I thought Satan INVENTED the Olympics.
Posted by: Tim H | September 17, 2008 6:05 PM
So is there going to be a major sponsored-by-some-Islamic-government contest on how to build a better Mickey Mouse trap? And Mickey's a 'toon. The only known way to destroy a 'toon was invented by another 'toon (in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) and Disney's got that copyrighted, too.
If he succeeds, who's going to take care of Pluto?
Posted by: Alex | September 17, 2008 6:08 PM
Nah, you're just a tool of your instincts, that's all. That's nothing to be proud of.Posted by: mikespeir | September 17, 2008 6:08 PM
Don't know about Satan. Makes me happy, tho.
Posted by: Orac | September 17, 2008 6:08 PM
This is entirely consistent with Tom & Jerry being a nefarious Jewish plot, you know.
Posted by: ddr | September 17, 2008 6:19 PM
52:"Ummm.....
He does realize he is calling for the death of a cartoon doesn't he?
I mean, it is a drawing.
He wants a drawing to die.
Is it because he is a cleric that no one tells him how not even wrong he is?"
Actually, I think he is a cleric BECAUSE he can't tell what is real and what is imaginary. It's part of the job description.
Posted by: John C. Randolph | September 17, 2008 6:21 PM
I enjoy seeing women in bikinis as much as the next guy, but I can think of an awful lot of things that make me happier than that. Seeing women out of bikinis, for example.
-jcr
Posted by: SC | September 17, 2008 6:24 PM
I thought "Satan" was his name for his...little friend.
Posted by: Kel | September 17, 2008 6:26 PM
While I wholeheartedly agree with those sentiments, nudity and sport are nonoverlapping magisteria. Sport has the competition, nudity has the happy horny feel-good chemical reaction in my brain. Never the twain shall meetPosted by: John C. Randolph | September 17, 2008 6:26 PM
BTW, I wonder what the learned theocrat would have to say about this mouse:
http://the-american-israeli-patriot.blogspot.com/2007/05/jihad-mouse-is-back.html
If Mickey Mouse is bad, is the Hamas plagiarism of the character bad, too?
-jcr
Posted by: Facehammer | September 17, 2008 6:36 PM
How the hell can you expect a woman to swim with a burkha on? They would all be slowed down to Eric "the eel" levels.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | September 17, 2008 6:38 PM
O RLY?Posted by: amphiox | September 17, 2008 6:42 PM
Hmm, would this suggest that Mr. Munajid would be look favorably upon "The Simpsons" if there was a role reversal in the "Itchy and Scratchy" segments?
Although I must say the religious injunction pertaining to mice actually is among the more rational of its kind, considering the environment in which said injunction was probably invented for.
Posted by: Rey Fox | September 17, 2008 6:45 PM
"claiming that nothing made Satan happier than seeing females athletes dressed in skimpy outfits."
He's an aesthete, what can you say? And I'm sure he likes the men, too. He's an easy-going guy, you can tell because the religions invented him as their big enemy.
"Nah, you're just a tool of your instincts, that's all. That's nothing to be proud of."
Oh seriously, get over yourself.
However, I must agree that the whole beach volleyball thing is sort of a cheap thing to put in the Olympics. You got only two people one each side of a court that's about the same size as an indoor court, and the substrate is sand, so you can't move through it very well. I didn't watch much of it, but I found it slow and undynamic compared to regular volleyball. Is it really just about the bikinis then? Is there men's beach volleyball at the Olympics, too?
Posted by: amphiox | September 17, 2008 6:45 PM
#61: Not so surprisingly, really. It probably takes only a small amount of added neuronal apoptosis to go from demanding the deaths of the authors, publishers and readers of a cartoon, to seeking the demise of the cartoon itself.
Posted by: Red | September 17, 2008 7:05 PM
No, Adam Savage is Satan.
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-XbjFn3aqE
Posted by: Sir Craig | September 17, 2008 7:09 PM
Going with the "They realize Mickey Mouse is a cartoon, right?" line of inquiry, I learned from my years spent in that pit that imagery is, to many Middle Easterners, just as real as real life (which might go a long way to explain why a cartoon of Mohammed has their knickers in a bind).
Sometimes, though, they really do have problems separating fiction from fact. I recall listening to Baghdad Betty during Desert Shield and how she was trying to demoralize the US military by saying our wives were sleeping with Hollywood stars like Clint Eastwood and (here's the kicker) Bart Simpson.
Even though we were in Riyadh, I'm sure they could hear our howls of laughter in Baghdad...
Posted by: frog | September 17, 2008 7:12 PM
Sir Craig: Sometimes, though, they really do have problems separating fiction from fact. I recall listening to Baghdad Betty during Desert Shield and how she was trying to demoralize the US military by saying our wives were sleeping with Hollywood stars like Clint Eastwood and (here's the kicker) Bart Simpson.
Isn't more likely that those radio transmission were counter-prop? Sure, they might have been that stupid, but if I were in psy-ops for our side, that's exactly what I would broadcast.
It also sounds like a tale from WWII - and I know we were playing games like that at the time.
Posted by: El Herring | September 17, 2008 7:13 PM
Do the publishers of these insane fatwas ever actually think about the consequences of their nonsensical announcements? I mean, do they really want to reduce their whole religion to one of total worldwide ridicule? We are LAUGHING at you. You are a JOKE. Anyone who buys into this insanity cannot be feared, only pointed at and made fun of. Is that what you really want?
Now you tell us you want to kill a cartoon mouse? And yet you want us all to respect your beliefs? Okay, Sheikh Muhammad Munajid and all his followers - go ahead and draw a picture of Mickey Mouse on the side of your tent, then blow it up with a bazooka if it'll make you happier, but don't expect anything other than hoots of laughter and derision from the rest of the world. Your credulity is now in complete tatters.
Posted by: Tony Sidaway | September 17, 2008 7:17 PM
If you read it, it's all rather tragic, really.
This fellow is just delivering a sensible hygiene message, but he dresses it up in ridiculous religious language and comes across as completely unhinged.
It is this that will kill Islam through secularization. It is for this reason that the Islamists fight secular nations and secular people. Like Rushdie, we dare to laugh. And when you hear the sound of secular laughter, there is one less Muslim in the world. Soon the secular former Muslims may outnumber the faithful in every nation in the West. That's why they attack us.
Posted by: Kel | September 17, 2008 7:22 PM
And because it has to be done...
Why are you attacking the Muslims PZ? If they were Catholics, you won't go after them. If only we Muslims had Catholic guilt.
Posted by: Mena | September 17, 2008 7:34 PM
Well, I did hear somewhere (damn that David Bowie for this particular ear worm!) that it's on America's tortured brow that Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow.
Oh, and burkinis, people, burkinis!
Posted by: MikeM | September 17, 2008 7:34 PM
I gotta say, I really liked the concept of Beijing using cheerleaders at most events. That was quite enjoyable.
Um, why are you all looking at me like that?
Posted by: Sir Craig | September 17, 2008 7:41 PM
frog @ 73:
It is very possible that it was counter-psyops; all I know is it worked. We were growing bored and missing our families, so it is possible that CENTCOM directed something like this to give us a momentary break.
I did a quick Google on Baghdad Betty and one of the hits it returned was for Snopes, calling the whole Bart Simpson story a "hoax." Normally I have a great deal of respect for Snopes, but on this one they got it wrong. Whether it was an actual broadcast from Baghdad or something cooked up by CENTCOM, I know what I heard because we had it recorded (now lost, dammit).
Posted by: pcarini | September 17, 2008 7:53 PM
Suuure... (just kidding, I'll take your word for it.)
Posted by: AlanWCan | September 17, 2008 8:04 PM
Catholic hater! You wouldn't dare say that to a Musli...oh...err...Hindu.......[crickets]...
Posted by: JStein | September 17, 2008 8:13 PM
So, I'm confused. If a Muslim goes to Disneyland, does he stone the guy in the costume? Does he strip the guy of the costume and burn the costume?
This is very confusing.
Posted by: theinquisitor | September 17, 2008 8:14 PM
I thought they were only upset by depictions of their prophet.
Does that mean Mohammed looked like Mickey Mouse?
Posted by: Jams | September 17, 2008 8:19 PM
This is a completely unfair cherry-picked example of the most extreme of the most extreme. The average Muslim isn't remotely this backward.
(Yeah right)
Posted by: hje | September 17, 2008 8:25 PM
Hmmm. I thought I remembered seeing Satan patting Misty May-Treanor's backside.
Posted by: El Herring | September 17, 2008 8:26 PM
News just in - rumours have been circulating of a "second surge" being sent to Iraq, consisting of Mickey, Minnie and Mighty Mouse, Dangermouse, Pixie and Dixie, Jerry, Scratchy, Speedy Gonzales, Stuart Little and Topo Gigio. Said a spokesman for the hastily assembled unit, "We're ready to do our bit for peace and democracy, and cheese."
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | September 17, 2008 8:31 PM
Yes, there was men's beach volleyball at the Olympics. The men wore a lot of cloth. Really makes one wonder who makes the rules on the uniforms. (That was rhetorical.)
Comics are produced by the books, monthly. Mostly in Italy and France, however, so in the USA you probably never see them.
Posted by: Lowell Gilbert | September 17, 2008 8:33 PM
I should take a cleric's opinion as part of an argument that you're Satan? Compared to the fact that I'm fairly sure you exist, and very sure that Satan doesn't?
Well, okay. As long as you don't show up in skimpy outfits...
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | September 17, 2008 8:34 PM
the mouseketeers!
Posted by: mothra | September 17, 2008 8:35 PM
From the yet to be composed rock opera: Mickey Mouse Rodentstar
Islamic council: 'Oh Munajid, clerics do welcome you, Caliphs and Ayatollahs here for you.'
Munajid: 'Good Muslims, know why I called you here, we've too much time, must make a problem rear.'
Mickey Mouse club:
'Hail-Mickey Rodentstar'
'Hail-Mickey Rodentstar'
'Hail-Mickey Rodentstar'
Caliph: 'Mickey mouse cartoon fans, millions at least; with ink animation shows we can't compete.'
Islamic council: 'Mickey is dangerous.'
Mickey Mouse club:
'M-i-c'
'K-e-y'
Islamic council: 'Mickey is dangerous.'
Mickey Mouse club: 'We'll get Steamboat Willie diskettes by and by.'
Ayatollah 1: 'Mickey's worldwide, he does have great support.'
Ayatollah 2: 'fan clubs, amusement parks, things we'll cut short.'
Islamic council: 'Mickey is dangerous.'
Mickey Mouse club: 'Mickey Mouse, Rodentstar!'
Islamic council: 'Mickey is dangerous.'
Ayatollah 2: 'There on both hemispheres.'
Ayatollah 3: 'The Mouse club mob, and we have much to fear.'
Munajid: 'Must needs a final solution to our new problem.'
Calliph: 'How do we deal with the Mickey mouse fan club, one mouse, one hero of all the cartoons.'
Ayatollah 3: 'Suicide bombers will not get them all.'
Munajid: 'Consider carefully, or they'll think we loons.'
Calliph: 'We cannot ignore their Mousketeer legions. Militant children we do not control.'
Ayatollahs: 'How do we finish this, his fame increases, Mickey Mouse fandom exceeds our own roll.'
Munajid: 'Dis-ney Worlds are arisin, money and fairy tales, no one would ban. Con-glom-erate corporation, world domination because of one mouse, world domination because of one mouse.'
Islamic council: 'the cause, the cause, because of one mouse.'
Munajid: 'World domination because of one mouse.'
Islamic council: 'our cause, our cause, because of one, 'cause of one, cause of one mouse.'
Ayatollah 3: 'How do we deal with this Mickey Mouse phenom?'
Caliph: 'How do we behead the amusement king?'
Ayatollahs: 'How will we handle the Mouse who is great, more than Bugs, Daffy, Porky or that Martian thing.'
Munajid: 'Infidels, you cannot conceive, Tinker Bells' towers, are a great high.' We must smash them discreetly, so like Disney his maker, Mickey must die. For the sake of all Islam, Mickey must die.'
Islamic council: Must die, must die, Mickey must die.'
Munajid: 'So like Disney his maker, Mickey must die.'
Islamic council: Must die, must die, Mickey must, Mickey must, Mickey must die!
Posted by: alex | September 17, 2008 8:42 PM
this guy should be a bit more careful.
when Disney do fatwahs, they always get their man.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | September 17, 2008 8:43 PM
What I wanted to ask all the time... so they didn't censor the Olympics in Saudi Arabia??? Or does the good man get some illegal satellite channel (which would not really surprise me)?
Man, have you misundreshtmated Donald Duck!
Posted by: Longtime Lurker | September 17, 2008 8:46 PM
Re: MikeM
I gotta say, I really liked the concept of Beijing using cheerleaders at most events. That was quite enjoyable.
This'll cure you of that cheerleader fetish:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt_YcQlYxyY
Posted by: The Perky Skeptic | September 17, 2008 8:54 PM
LOL, #34, that scene from Enemy Mine is exactly what crossed my mind when first I heard about this! Let us all now go sing our lineage before the elders. ;)
Posted by: fev | September 17, 2008 9:08 PM
Oh, come on. Go watch the tape and see if it isn't pretty evident that the guy (assuming MEMRI's translation is accurate; accuracy is not usually one of the complaints about that organization) is using "Mickey" as a stand-in for "mice" -- same as lots of utterly sane English-speakers would say "you ate BAMBI?" to stand in for "you ate venison?"
Utterly unremarkable symbolic speech, unless an agenda-driven "research" organization feeds it to a right-wing British paper, which feeds it to Fox, etc. All due respect, PZ, but this strikes me as a pretty transparent bit of race-baiting propaganda.
Posted by: frog | September 17, 2008 9:22 PM
fev: Utterly unremarkable symbolic speech
Utterly unremarkable?
"Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases."
"According to Islamic law, the mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today - after Tom and Jerry?"
You think it's unremarkable that, since Islamic tradition says "the mouse" is repulsive, that it's even sane to view cartoon mice as an evil to be stomped out? You don't see that as a remarkably totalitarian world view, and we shouldn't poke fun at it?
I find that remarkable!
Posted by: ام الهول | September 17, 2008 9:24 PM
#95 Good point, Fev. Well said.
Posted by: El Herring | September 17, 2008 9:30 PM
Well after I heard about muslims complaining about being offended by a china pig in a shop window, I sto