March 14, 2004
HICKS FLICK SICK
Via Novacastria, news that the long-awaited David Hicks documentary (thank you, taxpayers) will screen on SBS (thank you, taxpayers) this Thursday. We may actually have gotten our money’s worth; the film apparently exposes the Aussie Taliban member as a stooge and a ghoul. Lefty Stephen Romei, formerly a Hicks supporter, found his view changed. Here’s his preview:
After watching this program Hicks, the man, leaves me cold. It will sound silly, but it repulses me to learn, from a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, that Hicks passes the time by catching mice and hanging them.
(Possibly unfair observation: if Mohamed Atta and his friends had attacked the Cuddly Wuddly Super-Cute Kitty Breeding Facility instead of the World Trade Center, the left would have demanded immediate nuclear assaults on the entire Middle East.)
Suffice it to say that Hicks comes across as a fully fledged member of the Taliban, with all the intolerance that entails.
Here's one example, from a letter dispatched from the terrorist training grounds of Afghanistan in August 2000: "If I do meet fate this is called martyrdom . . . the highest position in heaven is to go fighting in the way of God against the friends of Satan."
A highlight is the interview with the war-weary Northern Alliance commander who held Hicks before he was handed over to the US. Why, he asks, would a young man from a developed society "come here and join hands with the Taliban and announce that women have no right to go outside".
Answer: because he’s an idiot. Clare Kermond’s preview in The Age is much more Hicks-friendly:
In Afghanistan David became a member of the Taliban, writing home to tell his family how "close to perfect" life was there, with the country run according to strict Islamic law.
Whatever personal quest led David Hicks to pursue his Islamic studies overseas and throw himself into the struggles of Muslim people through the Kosovo Liberation Army, and later the Taliban, it's clear that the world changed while he was away.
See? It was all the world’s fault.
Posted by Tim Blair at March 14, 2004 12:13 AMYeah, it changed. First some of it blew up and burned. Then it woke up. Well, most of it. Not, apparently, press rooms in Australia.
Posted by: Mike G at March 14, 2004 at 12:34 AMIt all starts to fall in place. For the past few weeks, it seems that SBS news services have made Hicks their cross promotional version of Channel Ten's Guy Sebastian. Hardly an edition seems to go by without some mention of the Jihadi Idol.
Funny thing is that SBS never seem to show young David's warry foters. You know, the one's with the KLA uniform and the RPGs. Instead they find these homey snaps of a smiling git in argyle sweaters and other butter-wouldn't-melt outfits.
Almost like SBS are sympathetic - or should that be sympathisers?
Posted by: Al Bundy at March 14, 2004 at 12:37 AMOn hicks return, prepare for the sickening spectacle of SMH/Age letters to the ed containing sentiments along the line of "welcome back david", "we are sorry Australia let you down" "not in my name" etc etc ad nauseum
Posted by: max power at March 14, 2004 at 12:39 AMThe irony, Hicks supporting the Taliban, the Taliban supressing women, the left giving support.
I suppose its a lefty version of "rock, scissors, paper" Howard/West hater beats women beaters every time.
Posted by: nic at March 14, 2004 at 12:47 AMThe irony, Hicks supporting the Taliban, the Taliban supressing women, the left giving support.
Nothing ironic about it whatsoever. Medieval Islamic fascist and Western Lefties share the same ideal: creation of a global mystical man-made Utopia. The actual form of the Utopia is of secondary importance.
Posted by: iowahawk at March 14, 2004 at 12:54 AMIowahawk is exactly right. The chief characteristic of both Al Qaeda and those on the wacko left is a pursuit of purity. Once all traces of impure thought and behavior have become purged from society, it will become a paradise on Earth.
That, in my opinion, is why they often do things which actually hurt the cause they claim to defend: it's all about demonstrating (or seeking) purity.
In that way, of course, the actual cause is less important than the shining soul of the believer. This is no less true of those whose beliefs are actually hostile to religion.
Posted by: Angie Schultz at March 14, 2004 at 01:34 AMWhilst agreeing with Iowahawk,it is very much "Your enemy is my friend".The leftists see the Islamofascicts as shock troops for the Revolution and the Islamofascists regard the hard left as useful allies.But both factions are looking beyond, to a time after they have dealt with us,then each will try and annihilate the other.
I don't think that is foolish to make a point about Taliban cruelty to animals,it might bring a few more on board,"They want to kill us and our pets".There are plenty of self loathers out there who think that they personally deserve to die but would braw the line at anything happening to little "Tibbles".
What do you suppose SBS is getting at by specifically referring to Bush in the title? Your tax dollars at work (and I wonder how much SBS earned from all those Michael Moore ads they kept running ad nausuem).
Posted by: TokenModerateGuy at March 14, 2004 at 08:31 AM"Toxic communist knob-wipe" "Such sewers of filth as Indymedia" "Super cuddly-wuddly cute-kitty breeding factory"
Doing a nice line in vitriol today, Tim. Last line nearly made me splutter masticated remnants of my croissant and coffee all over the keyboard!
Posted by: TimT at March 14, 2004 at 10:01 AMIslamofascists regard the hard left as useful allies.
Didn't Lenin use the expression "useful idiots" for such people?
Posted by: peggy sue at March 14, 2004 at 02:09 PMTimT: Maybe you shouldn't be masticating while on-line. It's a filthy habit.
Sorry, I can't resist a silly joke . . . .
Posted by: Dr. Weevil at March 15, 2004 at 03:46 AM