Someone's Always Paying Attention Mr Mulder

A piece on Blabbermouth caught my eye this morning. The long and the short of it all is that whilst on a flight to Australia, Henry Rollins was reading a book written by a Wall Street Journal (I would guess, well respected then) contributor. The man in the seat next to him later anonymously phoned the Australian government to warn them. They tracked Rollins down and asked him what's up. Rollins' response is pretty good, not quite up to standard, but worth reading the full story through the link. The book in question was Ahmed Rashid's book "Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia" but what really struck me was the line: The man next to you does not agree with your politics and he didn't like the book you were reading.

Excuse me? He didn't like the book Rollins was reading. Now ignoring the cowardice of reporting a man like Rollins anonymously, free speech and the democratic processes we're apparently trying to protect (as well as spread like Marmite across the globe), let's just let this one stew in our bile for a while. I mean, I've just spent the past few hours trying to get through to the Metropolitan Police to complain about the millions of people who read The Sun or Heat magazine. But they kept hanging up on me after a while. There are millions upon millions of people who probably shouldn't read The Bible because they're only going to misinterpret the message for their own political ends, but the damn thing keeps popping up in hotel rooms so it's hard to surpress it.

I'd love to make sure that anyone who watches ITV for more than an hour a day is locked up for the safety of all humanity, and that little girls who watch Paul Walker movies be sterilised, the list is endless. But somehow, none of that matters. Because after all, a book detailing the history of a set of beliefs that currently pose one of the greatest threats to world safety outside of the actions of the US government is dangerous in this uncertain age, whereas a newspaper that spews brain destroying, lowest common denominator misogynist filth is utterly acceptable.

Knowledge is only dangerous if you have something to hide and if you have something to hide then how can you be acting in the best interests of the global community?

Or to quote Mother Theresa for the second time in my life (although it's the same quote):

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.



Tunes: Silence