What Israel and Josef Fritz have in common

Balatarin
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Peyvand Khorsandi
by Peyvand Khorsandi
01-May-2008
 
  • The BBC and pretty much every outlet has, in reporting the Amstetten incest story, consistently used the word ‘fathered’ — as in Josef Fritzl has fathered seven children with his daughter. The word has irritated me all week but I thought if all of the English-language media can’t think of a better word how can I? Then I came across this story in Der Spiegel’s English service. It had found the word that eluded both the BBC and me: Fritzl sired children with his daughter. Ah, doesn’t that feel better.

 

  • The only good news about the Amstetten story is that Josef Fritzl is not a Muslim. Note how the media doesn’t report ‘Christian man keeps daughter under locks for 24 years’. Had he been a Muslim so-called expert after expert would be offering amateur dissections of the ‘Islamic’ mind and how it is predisposed to such barbarity. Had Fritzl been Muslim, consumers of Westerner media could rest assured that such barbarity belongs not to Us, but Them, the darkie orientals. But no, Fritzl is white and as far as I know, Christian. Phew.

 

  • Rightly, the people of Amstetten are reporting to be soul-searching and wondering how such horror could be going on under their noses. On the day this news arrived, news also arrived that Israel had killed four Palestinian children. Gaza, like the basement in Amstetten, is ignored by its neighbours while Israel’s policy of collective punishment carries on unchallenged, as it has done since its inception 60 years ago. How can four children be killed in one day, a people deprived of fuel for basic needs, how can they suffer zero healthcare, and poverty and how can we allow the Fritzl’s that are Israel’s spokesmen to spout their bile, while Palestine’s children pay the price? Perhaps it is their fault that they were not born in Tibet and that their cause is not as fashionable as it is morally upright. Boycott China in today’s world say Happy Birthday to Israel. It’s okay for a state to be a torturer and a murder, if not an individual.
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Point of view form an outsider

by Fernanda H (not verified) on Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:18 AM PDT

Dear writer, in fact this was a great analysis, I really enjoyed your point of view and I partly agree with you. I know things would be different if " Fritz" was a muslim. But let' s forget a bit about what kind of religion everyone has. We are 6 billion people in the world coming from different parts of the world. We have our own references, cultures and we were told and taught to believe and behave certain ways. But is my culture, religion, language a reference of how I should live my life? I guess not or I would be too pretensious. What can I learn from others? How can I evolve as a human being? We don' t have much time here. We gotta be less judgemental about where one is coming from and the bed they are born in. We did not choose the location we were born in. I could be a rich person or a poor person, black, white, yellow, etc. Who cares? What makes someone think they are better than others? One day we could be alive and the following one dead without much explanation. There are facts that people were killed inside churches, mosks, anywhere. Was their God that strong that spared them from being there? They were praying and they all died. Period. Why babies are born dead, why healthy people develop cancer? Nobody has been to the other side to know these things. Let' s pray for peace and for a better place. We have had enough wars, let' s be positive and transmit good vibes to the next instead of reprimanding and judging them. If you believe in God, Allah, Dieu, Deus, Dios, Buda whoever wants only one thing from us: we should respect and love others. Nobody has the right to hurt anyone and do whatever pleases them in the name of the God or for their own sake. I dislike fanatism and fanatic people. Let's accept others as they are. Women and man should be equal no matter what and how. I know that there are good and bad people everywhere, I feel sorry for this guy because he is messed up. I am from Brazil but live in Paris where I met wonderful Iranians, Americans, Jewish, Japanese. Fernanda


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Hey i know what u mean they

by KJ Singh (not verified) on Thu Oct 30, 2008 09:01 PM PDT

Hey i know what u mean they didnt "A Christian Man.." so on. but they mention Islamic and Muslim coz the person usually says he did it for Islam, such a honor killing they say it was for Allah. he didn't do it for religious reasons so thats why is shouldn't be mention and it should be on the Islam ones as they they do admit it was part of their religion.

just a thought hope i didnt offend anyone.


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It's frightning to know that

by n.zanincanadai1 (not verified) on Thu May 01, 2008 04:28 PM PDT

It's frightning to know that people are so distanced from each other that none of the neighbours noticed anything. In Iran, you had mehmoons and the whole town knew!


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IRANdokht

very well said

by IRANdokht on Thu May 01, 2008 03:51 PM PDT

Great analysis

Thank you 

IRANdokht


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Bahram the Iranian

well said

by Bahram the Iranian on Thu May 01, 2008 01:24 PM PDT

thanks for such fine analiysie , so few pepole here reliaze the double standard applied by big power, thanks god their power is dwindling and in decline.


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Nazy Kaviani

Reader Beware

by Nazy Kaviani on Thu May 01, 2008 09:56 AM PDT

Thank you, Peyvand. Your post was thought provoking, as usual. "Sired" or "fathered his own grandchildren" make little difference to the essence of the human travesty this was.

I agree that news is headlined and delivered in ways that set public opinion in pre-determined directions. "Reader Beware" seems to be the responsibility we each have to bear, a responsibility of which many, including us, fall short.


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