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Well, more like posting a joke on tweeter on the untouchables.

Predictably, the joke has made him a social pariah.

Now accused of being a racist, the man not only lost his job but advocacy groups want to make an example of him as well.

Now unfortunately does this man no longer have a job, he could also face criminal prosecution over this and his life is effectively destroyed.

Brits, aren't you glad your politicians have turned your nation into Pakistan lite?

There's only one political party in the UK that is offering change from your self made hell.

A voting reform campaigner was sacked today after posting an "outrageous Islamophobic" joke on Twitter.

Ben Donnelly was dismissed from his volunteer post as a phone bank manager for the Yes To Fairer Votes campaign after his comments provoked a political storm.

The part-time music teacher could yet face disciplinary action from his employers at Kidbrooke School in Greenwich, who are looking into the matter.

The Yes to Fairer Votes campaign, which wants a switch from first-past-the-post to the alternative vote (AV), moved quickly to axe Mr Donnelly after details of his tweet were leaked to the Standard.

Posted yesterday afternoon, it read: "Says in the Holy Qu'ran Mohammad used to get his neighbours to vote by AV which of his 4 wives he'd shag each night."

Muslim groups were outraged, with Labour MP Khalid Mahmood calling for Mr Donnelly to be referred to the police. "This is outrageous and totally Islamophobic," Mr Mahmood said. "What has Islam got to do with AV?"

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of Muslim youth organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, described the joke as "disgusting".

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... m-tweet.do

Brits, aren't you glad your politicians have turned your nation into Pakistan lite?

What's the problem? It's just as bad and ing as being queenofobic or jesusofobic...

You're going to have to jog my memory, why do you think there would be a similar reaction if someone had made a joke of Jesus?

Actually, this follows other sackings in the UK for what are deemed offensive remarks.

The latest and most prominent was Andy Gray (and his co-host) being sacked for making sexist remarks about a lady football (soccer) assistant referee.

It would be a bit bizarre if insulting a founder of religion was viewed less lightly than insulting an official because they are woman.

Does that make women also 'untouchables'. What about racist remarks about black people or asian people (eg using Nigger or Paki in the UK) - does that make them 'untouchable'?

But, of course, the Islamophobic bloggers will only shed crocodile tears when some silly fool faces the consequences of their remarks.

When an American Christian fanatic hangs a dog for chewing her bible - not a peep:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/2 ... 13583.html

Cheers,
Shafique

I guess that would be a 'no', there wouldn't be calls for a man's arrest and righteous outrage from politicians and advocacy groups if Jesus were the butt of someone's joke. No call of racism or 'xenophobia' would be brandied about. I daresay, no one would lose their job either, or become the target of a mini hate campaign.

It would be a bit bizarre if insulting a founder of religion was viewed less lightly than insulting an official because they are woman.

Does that make women also 'untouchables'. What about racist remarks about black people or asian people (eg using Nigger or Paki in the UK) - does that make them 'untouchable'?

Making a joke of a long dead historical figure is on par with racist remarks.

Got it.

Great logic.

The comments are worth reading. I never expected there would be such unanimous and bewilderment left in Britain over such an incident:

I am a churchgoer, mainly choral evensong. And I say my prayers every night. Nevertheless jokes about religion are fine by me. Organised religion should be able to take the knocks, and basically there's no need for it. A discourse between the individual and God is all that's required, and that's private. There's no need for all this twaddle from the big religions. If they have no sense of humour they have no right to preach.

- Dave, Devon, 02/02/2011 17:08

Not much of a joke, Mahmoon is a bigger joke did he not fiddle some expenses? I heard better ones in the pub. What happened to free speech, should not have been sacked

- peter grogan, ,London, 02/02/2011 16:57

Fact is most other religious people don't go all stroppy when someone has a dig or joke at their expense. Some Muslims are far too sensitive and end up provoking more backlash.

Someone has started here about Aisha and her age and therein lies the problem. The idea that a holy man can marry a nine year old (consummated or not) offends them but you don't see Muslims rubbing their chins and saying 'Take your point'.

It's easy to offend so lets have a bit of give and take rather than attacking people for stupid jokes.

- Gary, Essex, 02/02/2011 16:46

The joke was not Anti-Islam and was not Islamophobic. It was Islam related.

- Are you having a laugh?, Neutral, 02/02/2011 16:21

Why is it so wrong to offend someone? It is very easily done. I am offended everyday having to get on the tube with all the smelly people, I am offended by beggers everyday,office workers,war,whatever..but so what that is what freedom entails the possibility of being offended in a free society,right? Don't bother replying I don't like you nor do I want to hear your opinion (and not because I will be offended).

- Gary, East London, 02/02/2011 15:57

What's happened? You can't crack a joke about a religion any more? Jesus Christ.

- Paul, London, 02/02/2011 15:33

I think it is the moral duty of every non-Muslim to make fun of Islam. Then the whining will stop and we'll go back to ot caring less about it.

The newspapers and media in general are to blame for all this, for not publishing the Mohammed cartoons day after day, to normalise them.

Likewise, they should have published the actual Satanic Verses, referred to in Rushdie's book, day after day after day.

Their cowardice has brought us to the situation where people are fired from jobs because of a so-called religion. The media and our pathetic politicians are the real Islamophobes. Shame on them all.

- Stephen Gash, Carlisle England, 02/02/2011 15:33

Was he talking about the same prophet who marries 9 yr old girls?

- Rob, London, 02/02/2011 14:41

It was a joke, but it wasn't funny and i am not offended in anyway. They are far more important things in life to worry about, not some joke that wasn't funny.

- Abdul, London, 02/02/2011 14:40

In a free country you can say what you like - the only proviso is incitement to religious hatred as far as I know, and this ain't that. I find it repellant that any man should have four wives. Please censor all references to Mohammed's four wives and Islam so that I am not offended.

- Ricky, London, 02/02/2011 13:40

I am fed up with the likes of Mahmood trying to make a direct analogy in people's minds between so called islamophobia and racism (or, indeed, sexism or homophobia). There is an important difference when the perceived slight is in relation to a religion itself (whether Islam, Christianity or whatever). What next, outraged socialists or fascists on the basis that Marx or Mussolini have been the butt of a joke (no matter how unfunny)?

- Alan J, London, 02/02/2011 12:43

Loons in denial

So, are women also 'untouchable' because Andy Gray got fired or not?

But why no condemnation of the American Christian who killed the dog?

Cheers,
Shafique

This is a problem that becomes bigger and bigger. Just to be safe, better to talk about Finns and Mo. For the latter one can claim its referring to Moses, and nobody will care.

Compared to other religions, Finns are certainly very touchy, at least in Europe. I think this is caused by insecurity and trying to hide the not so nice aspects of Mo's life.

^Why was Andy Gray fired then - are British men insecure about women and can't take criticism of women?


Islamophobes do like their selective version of events.

Man makes insulting comments, man is fired. Applies to Andy Gray and this numpty too. Why the selective application of your logic?

Cheers,
Shafique

I like how our loon compares calling blacks n*ggers (in a non-joke context) to a joke of a historical figure.

Rationality has long left port.

(I also see he won't comment on the reaction to all this from the Muslim community)

Andy Gray did not lose his job because he called a black person a name. Try and keep up young one. Andy Gray is in the UK, and lost his job recently - because of what he said about women.

As I said, it just goes to show that Islamophobes can only make their arguments by ignoring facts and leaving logic at home. Islamophobes have such a hatred of Islam that they jump on a snippet of news and blow it out of proportion. Indeed, Andy was sacked with a co-presenter - so more people were sacked recently for misogynistic comments than this one numpty.

Let me ask again - why the selective application of your logic? If it a guy gets the sack for insulting a religious leader and you find this wrong, do you also find the sacking of a person for insulting women also wrong?

Even if you do - it's your value systems that are out of line with the employers who chose to sack these employees.

If you have nothing new to contribute, I'll end this discussion here. (Oh, and it is 'Twitter' not 'Tweeter' )

Cheers,
Shafique

shafique wrote:Oh, and it is 'Twitter' not 'Tweeter'

LOL, I've been holding that in for sometime now

event horizon wrote:Brits, aren't you glad your politicians have turned your nation into Pakistan lite?

That'll be a no.

-- Fri Feb 04, 2011 2:24 am --

desertdudeshj wrote:

shafique wrote:Oh, and it is 'Twitter' not 'Tweeter'

LOL, I've been holding that in for sometime now

Don't hold back Munchkin. A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter.

Bethsmum wrote:

desertdudeshj wrote:

shafique wrote:Oh, and it is 'Twitter' not 'Tweeter'

LOL, I've been holding that in for sometime now

Don't hold back Munchkin. A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter.

Shouldn't you be telling young eh this fact - he's the one that is confused, not DDS (or me). We both know the difference between a tweet, Twitter and the funny 'Tweeter'.

But back to this thread - if insulting the Prophet gets one fired, and insulting women gets one fired (both in the UK) - doesn't that follow that women are also 'untouchable' in the UK according to eh's definition?

Cheers,
Shafique

Are you embarrassed after I pointed out the absurdity between making a long dead historical figure the butt of a joke to calling Blacks 'n*ggers'?

What's Muhammad going to do, climb out of the ground and lodge a complaint with Scotland Yard?

LOL

I'd be embarrassed if I mistook Twitter for Tweeter or was caught out evading questions about Andy Gray being fired for his comments. Looking back at my posts - I didn't say Andy Gray was fired for calling anyone racist names - but stated the fact that his sexist comments got him fired. Does that make women untouchable?

BTW - I would be very embarrassed at zubber's insightful comment:
philosophy-dubai/girl-lashed-death-following-court-ruling-t45290.html#p366018


Anyway - it didn't take long to realise that you are STILL 'all mouth, no trousers' and I'll now go back to ignoring your rants.

Cheers,
Shafique

Perhaps I'm unfamiliar with the story you think everyone outside of the world of kickball would be familiar with, could you please help me by letting me know if the following are accurate:

* Andy was a manager and so his comments would have been irrelevant to the interests of his employers, unlike, say, if he were a sports commentator and fans/viewers could threaten to boycott the game and companies could pull their sponsorship.

* Andy has been made into a social pariah by the female population of Britain - female politicians have vehemently spoken out against his comments in the strongest terms, branding him a racist/sexist/baby killer and female advocacy groups want him referred to the police for what he said. There's also the very real possibility that female vigilantes could harm Andy over his remarks, making this situation all that more serious, certainly raising suspicions for why female politicians and advocacy groups would choose to inflame this situation more than it needs to be (if at all).

* Andy only made a joke of one female in particular, not all women in general, thus the charge that his comments were 's@xist' would clearly have been not applicable here, just loon, victim-merchant exaggeration and rants and raves by the usual suspects to demonize someone for statements that wouldn't raise an eyebrow if, say, Jesus were to have been involved in a joke made by good ole Andy.

Let me know if all of the following are accurate so we can then legitimately compare what happened to Andy and what he said to what's happening to this poor man and the outrage felt by those still sensible in Britain expressed in the posts I quoted from the comments section of the link.

Now, for an accurate comparison, perhaps we could look at someone who made a joke of Jesus and the reaction in the press, general public, politicians and Christian advocacy groups to that joke?

LOL - sorry I couldn't resist replying to the desperate post above - Please do your own research about Andy Gray. (Hint, he's not a manager of a football team - he was fired from Rupert Murdoch's Sky Sports tv station.)

So - I repeat. 2 UK guys get fired for sexist comments, 1 UK guy gets fired for insulting the Prophet. Are therefore women in the UK as 'untouchable' as the Prophet is?

I imagine many bigots are supporting Andy Gray (and his comments) are up in arms that he's been fired for his sexist comments - but there are far fewer Islamophobes who are spilling any tears over the numpty in the OP - just a few sad bloggers, it seems.

I'd expect a right-wing Christian fanatic from the states to be in favour of employers' rights to fire staff over misconduct - not make excuses for inappropriate behaviour.

Cheers,
Shafique

LOL - sorry I couldn't resist replying to the desperate post above - Please do your own research about Andy Gray. (Hint, he's not a manager of a football team - he was fired from Rupert Murdoch's Sky Sports tv station.)

So you're basically saying that the comparison between Andy and this man wouldn't fit, one was a broadcaster and one was a manager. Two clearly different professions so the comparison is absurd. Got it.

(and they say loons aren't the sharpest tools in the shed)

So - I repeat. 2 UK guys get fired for sexist comments, 1 UK guy gets fired for insulting the Prophet.

Great, see above. One incident, an entire group of people are made fun of, in another, a historical figure is party to a joke.

Yeah, thanks for your healthy dose of logic.

but there are far fewer Islamophobes who are spilling any tears over the numpty in the OP - just a few sad bloggers, it seems.

So the impression you got from the comments section of that particular page was that there were only a few and not representative of British society?

You'd probably submit that on any given news site this story was posted, commentators wouldn't overwhelmingly come out to support this man and the ridiculous reaction of his employer and of the Muslim community, correct?

It would be interesting to test your belief to see who is actually disconnected the most from reality.

I'd hazard a guess that the vast majority of normal Brits - you know, people who you and your ilk don't represent - would totally oppose the comments made by Muslim advocacy groups in the story and the calls of 'racism' and 'Islamophobia' by a victim-merchant politician.

Andy Grey shocked never have been sacked for what he said or did. He is just a normal man expressing his views in a private conversation off air. Normal white British women will not be offended by what he said, only the lesbian feminists will be. Who cares what he thinks? He's allowed to have a view and why can't he express it? it's a free country, or it used to be. If anyone thinks that most white British men don't talk like this in the pub they are deluding themsaelves. Pesonally i don't think there is a place for women in the Premier league. I don't like women football players either. If the England womens team was playing in my back garden I wouldn't look out of the window.
That man should not have lost his job after posting on Twitter either. It's absolutely ridiculous. It just goes to reinforce my view that I wouldn't employ a Muslim. They have no sense of humour

Thanks BM - you're not alone amongst those who think Andy and Richard's sacking is PC gone mad.. I really can't be bothered about football, tbh - and the most shocking aspect was discovering he was being paid over 1 million pounds for commentating!!

Sky chose to sack him and Richard (and it may be because Murdoch was in town and trying to buy up more of the British Media) - but given that 2 people were sacked for sexist comments and 1 person for a joke on twitter, does put the hype over 'untouchables' into perspective.

(I personally wouldn't have sacked either Andy - just for his comments - or the fool on twitter - so on this point, I agree with you.)

My disagreement with the OP is that he's hyping the sacking of one numpty and ignoring other comparable recent sackings (which, I'm sure you can confirm, have received far far more coverage than this twitter incident).

Cheers,
Shafique

False analogies can be fun. I still haven't seen our desperate friend address the differences I listed above between the examples.

Perhaps he's still ashamed of comparing a joke involving a historical figure to remarks that attack entire groups of people - the comparison of a Muhammad joke to calling Blacks 'n*ggers' was really tasteless. (I wonder how any non-Muslim black person would feel about such an absurd example?)

Anyways, I'm still waiting for our friend to test his belief that most of Britain's upstanding citizenry wouldn't oppose the measure and reaction taken against this manager over what he said on Twitter. Perhaps he's now a wee bit reluctant to openly put his money where his mouth is when it comes to gauging the opinions held by the vast majority of British citizens - especially when it shows how the beliefs of the sensible majority clash with the views of our friend and his ilk.