Too much to bear

November 27th, 2007 Written by Biz

It’s hard to find words to describe my feelings upon reading the story of the British teacher Gillian Gibbons, who is today facing 40 lashes and/or imprisonment in the Sudan for allowing her class of six and seven year old pupils to name a teddy bear, Mohammed. 

 

I’m certainly not surprised, as the lunacy so prevalent worldwide has long ceased to cause any measure of amazement; I think that probably my feelings are overwhelmingly ones of anger. This anger, however, is aimed not only at the Sudanese people, but also at the Sudanese school where Gillian worked, her friends at home and perhaps in larger measure, at the British Government, because whatever the ostensible façade of this whole episode appears to be…it is actually a story about weakness and therein lies the origin of my rage. 

 

The Sudan is a very poor country and as in most poor countries people have little else to empower themselves except war and religion. Extreme religion enables the disempowered ego to feel some sort of elevation by association with God and through this imagined elevation; it fools itself into ignoring its true enfeebled state. A by product of this is that the more godly one is perceived to be by others, the higher the esteem one is held in and the more control ones opinions have over others; thus religious leaders can cancel out their own inadequacy by foistering their own extreme version of religion on others. This is how the kind of interpretation of religion that has persecuted a teacher for an innocent oversight, can hold sway. People are generally weak though and so if one person interprets the naming of a bear as blasphemy, then stupid, simple and unthinking people will follow, thus causing the furore that has taken place. 

 

If one believes in a God who created the universe, runs it on a daily basis and likewise keeps the Devil in check all at once; one might imagine him to be too busy to be bothered with the irrelevance of a puny mortal naming a teddy bear after a man in the 16^th century; so I say to the Sudanese…get a life…get a brain…and don’t be so ungrateful to someone who was there to help your children make something of themselves (good job Gillian never said Jehovah!!). 

 

The next object of my ire is the school that employed Gillian Gibbons; in an interview, the Headmaster of the school expressed his regret that Gillian had got into the situation, but was very careful not to show any overt support for her. What spineless behaviour…if you can’t even show a modicum of support for your staff, how many Western teachers do you think will bother to turn up in future to teach your children Mr Headmaster? 

 

Onwards to an interview with Gillian’s ex-colleagues; yes, they need to be diplomatic, but as well as proffering their opinions that Gillian would never have knowingly insulted Islam, they went into simpering grovel mode. “We are sure that Gillian would be mortified to think she had been so unknowingly insulting”. Well stow it! Don’t you realise that many non-western cultures don’t have the same social mores as we do, and being thus unaccustomed to polite and conciliatory behaviour, they almost always mistake it as a sign of weakness. Don’t cut these morons any slack, ex-colleagues; if you have to, say it was a mistake, but don’t give the impression that we’re in a position of weakness…or Gillian will really get it! 

 

Finally, my greatest anger is aimed at our Government. Why is Gillian still a prisoner? Whilst it seems that we can launch wars in Afghanistan to delude ourselves that we are a global power, it also seems that we just can’t be bothered to look after our own citizens. No doubt, the Foreign Office has made attempts at a diplomatic solution to this situation, but once again I say…don’t be so noncy. Why haven’t the Foreign office told the Sudanese that if they harm Gillian Gibbons, we’ll send a battery or two of cruise missiles their way? 

 

If we are a major world player, then we need to act like one and show some backbone and not let stupid countries take the p*ss…otherwise everyone will rightly think of us as no more effectual that a bunch of gay boys skipping along in a flowery meadow! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entry Filed under: Rants & Views