Fascislamists Murder Two for Watching World Cup

Every once in a while, it is necessary to remind oneself of just what the fight against terror (badly executed though it may be) means. Gunmen of the Union of Islamic Courts entered a cinema in Somalia where the Germany-Italy World Cup Semi-Final was aired. They left two people dead as a result of their “religious” views.

The Taliban in Afghanistan, relying on its own twisted reading of Islam's sharia law, banned things like singing and kite flying. They blew up statues that were centuries old. They kicked girls out of school. Their Somali fellow-travelers decided that the people at the cinema were violating Sharia law because the broadcasts have carried ads for alcohol. When the people refused to disband, and actually started protesting, the gunmen fired into the air. When the warning shots didn’t work, they shot the cinema owner and a young girl dead. That is the enemy – people who are prepared to kill others over a beer commercial.

Compare that to the behavior of the Saudi soccer team, who didn’t do any worse than the Americans at this year’s World Cup. The Islamic tradition of tolerance permitted the beer drinking Europeans to host the dry Saudis without any violence between them. The Saudis did decline “Man of the Match” awards because the sponsor of that particular award was Anheuser-Busch, brewers of Budweiser. “Thank you, but no” wins far more respect that shooting children.

The World Cup isn’t the most important thing in the world, not by a long way. And soccer, truly, isn’t more than a game, beautiful though the Brazilians have made it. However, it is the God-given right of every man, woman and child on the planet to watch a game if the mood strikes. If not a soccer game, then a sunset, or a rain storm.

So, as France takes on Portugal later today, one might spare a thought for those who would deny the rest of the human race the simple pleasures in life. They are jackasses who merit contempt, unless of course, they are beneath it. Next time, one hopes the soccer fans of Somalia shoot back – or better still, shoot first.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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