Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Tony Blair: Autism as a Political Philosophy

David Seaton's News Links
Autism could be defined as “an abnormal absorption with the self, marked by the inability to treat others as people.” How is autism expressed politically? On June 23rd, Tony Blair, who Bush has chosen to be the "International Community's" special peace envoy to the Middle East, had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. According to the Guardian, "Mr. Blair's talks in Rome were largely centered on his strategy to secure a reconciliation between Islam and Christianity.” However, on the 16th June, Blair had already recommended novelist Salman Rushdie for a knighthood, an honor which appears to have set back the reconciliation between Islam and Christianity considerably. As you probably remember, in the future Sir Salman’s 1988 book, “The Satanic Verses”, the wives of the Prophet Mohammad were portrayed as prostitutes and it seems that the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, who still take these things seriously, have taken permanent offense at this artistic liberty. Agence France-Presse quoted Egypt's parliament "To honor someone who has become famous because of his hostility to Islam is a rejection of all diplomatic principles and respect for religions". Certainly, with the death of an estimated 650,000 Iraqis already partially on his shoulders, knighting Rushdie as the opening of a diplomatic mission to the Muslim Middle East might just qualify as autistic. DS

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do I get the feeling that Blair is not going to 'fix Palestine'. IRAQ IRAQ IRAQ.
They still have a warcrime to finish.
And of course, the man more responisble than most for the war -- because of the dodgey dossier and supporting the insane neo-cons -- must go there to kkep the murder going.
We live in an Orwellian world when Tony 'war envoy' Blair is going to be a 'peace envoy'.

Anonymous said...

I think comparing Blair with autistic people is missing the point. Autistic people are autistic - as far as I know Blair is not and has no excuse for his lack of empathy or whatever. Apart from that, Blair did some good things when in power, and got some other things wrong. That is the reality. Some people liked him and others didn't. Wow.