Shire Network News #142

Shire Network News #142 has been released. The feature interview is with Douglas Murray, the Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion think tank, who joins us for a talk about the latest report from his think tank. It’s a bombshell report on the attitudes of Muslim students in the UK. Click here for the show notes, links, and ways to listen to the show; directly from the web site, by downloading the mp3 file, or by subscribing with your podcatcher of choice.

Below is the text of my commentary.

Hi, this is Doug Payton for Shire Network News asking you to “Consider This!” Last week, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri put out an official audiotape. Yeah, yeah, no big news there, he does this all the time, “death to the infidels”, yadda, yadda, yadda.

But wait, this time there was a first; he spoke in English. That’s right; he wanted to speak to the Pakistani people directly, but since he doesn’t do Urdu (do you?), English was a good second choice. But even in English, the words were pretty much the same. “Your President stinks and his mother dresses him funny.” “Please oh please stop cooperating with the Great Satan.” “How do you like the results of my Berlitz classes?” The usual stuff, all with nothing more than a stock photo of their man Ayman on-screen. It’s almost like AQTV is in summer reruns.

Hey, don’t laugh; it appears that they really are. ABC reported last month that the media arm of Al Qaeda distributed old videos to jihadist websites. And get this; they didn’t bill them as reruns. Instead, they were previously released material translated into Urdu. Sounds like they’re stealing some ideas from US television network executives.

And since they’re translating into Urdu, I guess it’s only a matter of time until the latest al-Zawahiri blockbuster gets the overdub treatment. Whoever does it, I hope they credit him for it. (“Overdubbing courtesy of a scared Pakistani store owner with a scimitar to his throat. We apologize for any nervous jittering in the voice. Listener discretion is advised.”)

And those poor jihadist websites! I hope they didn’t pay full price for these warmed-over videos. There’s got to be a cheap iTunes-like place for 2-month-old hate speech. I mean, even I can to a “dollar theater” for second-run movies. Well, I’m sure that they did get a break. Those Al Qaeda guys are nothing if not sensitive to the little guy.

So that’s my “This Week in Hate Speech Video”. Join me next time, when I review the DVD “Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger; Together Again for the First Time”. Consider that.

Technorati Tags: podcast, Shire Network News, Douglas Murray, British Muslims, Islam, Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri

Filed under: Culture • Islam • Podcasts • Shire Network News

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