Fun with Fatwahs
Goodness me, maybe it’s the time of year, but there do seem to be a lot of fatwahs flying around at the moment. Take for example Chris Byrne, over at The AnarchAngel. Chris describes himself thus:
If you ever want to get together to shoot, play games, talk about guns, and enjoy fine whisky and good beer, drop me a line.
Which all sounds pretty sensible to your humble correspondent. However, clearly the true believers have taken a umbrage to a few little comments & in the good name of the religion of peace (ho ho) …
A Fatwah has been issued against me by a known terror group. Corresponding groups have responded indicating that I will be eliminated shortly. They have my name, address, telephone numbers, and the names and addresses of my friends and loved ones. The FBI has been unable to tell me of any actionable threat, however they beleive that the threat is real. They have warned me to take the standard anti-terrorist precautions, suitable for Bogota or South Africa not Phoenix. They are also contacting the people on the list that was distributed, including my mother, my stepfather and step siblings, and the people who worked on Team Infidel with me.
& Chris’ response … (tee hee)
TO ANY WHO WOULD HARM ME OR MINE
If you attempt to do anything to me, to my friends, to anyone I care about; I WILL KILL YOU. I will not simply defend myself, I WILL kill you, and while you are dying I will p*ss on you.
I have just rolled all my bullets in pig fat. I'm going to start carrying around pieces of swine flesh with me; and I'll shove them into your wounds, then force feed them to you. Then I'll cut your c*ck and balls off and shove them down your throat.
I am heavily armed at all times, I have booby trapped my car and my home, and I am waiting for you. If you come after me or mine, you will die, and I will make damned sure you won't see paradise for all eternity you evil motherf**kers.
...which frankly strikes me as all rather reasonable. However, such things seem to be happening on this side of the pond as well. Albion's Alchemist seems to have been on the receiving end of a little flak as well
The Alchemist is pleased to announce his return the web. Readers may have noticed his absence of late - there is a reason for this, I shall stop short of calling it a good reason, because if it were I would still be absent.
It seems that an anonymous party took exception to something I wrote previously. Took exception strongly enough to discover my real name (worryingly easy to do as I discovered myself) and threaten my life and well-being.At the time I was of the opinion that one death threat was too many and closed the site forthwith, though in fact the gentleman in question did not demand I do so, he did not in fact demand I do anything.
Having had the past few weeks to think about this, I have decided to begin again. I stand by every word I wrote. I lived in Saudi Arabia for many years and feel as qualified as any to talk about the country. More importantly, I feel it is important not to allow ourselves to be threatened. I won’t say any specific recent events were the cause of my change of heart, but I will not deny it either.
Gentlemen, if you are upsetting them this much, far be it from me to say, but you have the right line & length on your comments. Some people just have no sense of humour!