How much do I hate being right. Didn't I write only days ago that there are "signs that Turkey is finally succumbing to Islamism" (http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=25206081&postID=115880625016674991)?
Eh well, yesterday Netinfo's Web news started with a report about Pinocchio converting to Islam in Turkey. I cannot give this link (Bulgarian Web pages for news have short life span), but it was easy to find the same information in English. It will also spare me the need to translate. Below, I'm pasting from Telegraph's report Pinocchio and friends converted to Islam (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/31/wpino31.xml) by Malcolm Moore. It is in fact nearly a month old.
"Pinocchio, Tom Sawyer and other characters have been converted to Islam in new versions of 100 classic stories on the Turkish school curriculum.
"Give me some bread, for Allah's sake," Pinocchio says to Geppetto, his maker, in a book stamped with the crest of the ministry of education...
In The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan is told that he cannot visit Aramis. The reason would surprise the author, Alexandre Dumas. An old woman explains: "He is surrounded by men of religion. He converted to Islam after his illness."
Tom Sawyer may always have shirked his homework, but he is more conscientious in learning his Islamic prayers. He is given a "special treat" for learning the Arabic words."
What would you say if you open a new edition of the Arabian Nights and read how Ali Baba, while hiding from the forty thieves, prays to Jesus Christ his Savior?
I wonder, has the copyright protection of all these classics expired? And once a text is in the public domain, does it mean that every idiot can prey on it and do with it whatever he wishes? Somebody must have the mandate to do something in such a situation.
17 comments:
Hey non-blogging :)
Slightly off topic, saying aloud of which actually is a taboo even in the supposedly anti-genocidal and pro-freedom of speech United States
Not sure where you get that from, NBA. We have an estimated 700,000 Armenians in California, and we had an Armenian governor (George Deukmejian) for most of the 1980s. I assure you, we do know abut the Armeninin genocide, and we do talk about it. And we do condemn it.
The muslim Truks commited genocide on the Christian Armenians. Three quarters of all Armenians were killed. Armenians were completely driven out of their homeland.
I can say that anywhere in the US, and nobody will argue with me about.
Sometimes I wonder if Middle Eastern people are ever offended by the surprisingly blonde and blue-eyed Jesus we can see around in countries where people are blonde and blue-eyes.
I have a copy of the King James Bible that was printed over 100 years ago. It's illustrated with some beautiful paintings. Jesus looks like an arab in my Bible. He's even wearing the same kind of headscarf Saudi men wear, but it's blue and white instead of red and white.
In my experience, the blond haired blue eyed Jesus is much more common in Catholic Churches. It is silly, though. Jesus is described in scripture as being an ordincary and unremarkable man (in appearance) with nothing to set him apart from any other man. So, we don't know what he looked like exactly, but we know he looked pretty much the same as everyone else in the region, 2000 years ago.
Maya, this is silly and funny, in my opinion. If muslims want to Islamicize the "classics" it is only their own children who will suffer. No skin off my nose until somebody shows up in the US and starts trying to tell me the REAL story of Tom Sawyer :)
I'll reply later, but, Non-blogging, if you are reading this and have time - my favourite Iranian blogger needs the help of a Finnish speaker. Details at http://thespiritofman.blogspot.com/2006/09/shah-in-finland.html.
I wish to know, why on Earth is the URL truncated? Eh well, go to
http://thespiritofman.blogspot.com
and find the post "Shah in Finland" (Sept. 28).
NBA, thanks for the links. I read them. It appears that the "genocide" word became a taboo in 1994. This is interesting, from when both houses of congress were set to pass a Bill explicitly naming it genocide in 2000:
Acknowledging that the bipartisan resolution “would have enjoyed support among the majority of the House,” Hastert noted that, according to the President, “the passage of this resolution may adversely impact the situation in the Middle East and risk the lives of Americans.” These were the first few weeks of the second Palestinian Intifada.
So. It's about terrorism. You hould be blaming the terrorists for this, not America, and not your own government.
However, since the US government is no longer appeasing terrorists, I see no reason why we shouldn't officially call it a genocide.
Oh, but wait. What about our "ally" Turkey, right? Well, I persoally don't give a shit about Turkey,a dn I don't support it joining the UE anyway, so who cares about their delicate sensibilities?
Don't worry, NBA, we all know it was a genocide and it is taught that way in our schools. What diplomats say is unimportant. Diplomats are professional liars anyway :)
Sorry for all the typos! Too early in the morning for me to be typing! Only had one cup of coffee so far :)
Hmmm.... now I've had half a pot of coffee, and played a round of Golf, but I still can't type properly! Oh well! Perhaps I should try proof reading instead of caffeine :D
Non-Blogging, you did more than translate :P
You have to be careful when walking into Iranian politics, there are many different factions and they're pretty hot headed.
Winston has a good blog. My favorite Iranian bloggers are these two:
Iranian Woman
Sheema posts ona lot of different issues. Wish she had comments enabled :)
Brooding Persian
H at brooding persian just got back from a long break. You can read all about it in his latest posts.
I recommend "h" at Brooding Persian to you highly because I think you'd really like him. He takes a very cerebral approach to issues, as you do, and doesn't seem to have much a political agenda. I disagree with him on about half of the conclusions he comes to, which means (in my opinion) he's probably pretty balanced.
Non-blogging, I am sorry that you were offended at a blog where I sent you.
About the Turkish government - I think you are too optimistic. I ask, how did the crest of the educational ministry appear on the books in the first place? Once I co-authored a book meant to be a teaching material and I assure you it was much fuss until our book was confirmed to qualify for this crest. My guess: the Turkish authorities didn't think anybody outside Turkey would mention what's happening. Now they are embarassed, turned into laughing matter by Europeans while applying for the EU, so they really must say something. But even now, it seems that the Ministry of education doesn't promise to hold accountable those who islamize the Western classics, only those who use "slang and swear words".
As some Bulgarian commentors said, there is now criticism against these books, but with time it will settle down and the Turkish children will continue to read them.
There seems to be some allergy to truth in Turkey. The parallel to the much more important Armenian genocide is relevant. After so many years, Turkey still cannot admit it, puts its best writers to trial for talking about it and blackmails other countries not to "say aloud" of it. (Recently, a resolution condemning the genocide was proposed to be voted by the Bulgarian parliament but was blocked by the Turkish party.)
However, I don't think this bullying helps Turkey. On the contrary, I think the failure to confront their past has doomed the Turks to miserable present and most likely future. As Ortega y Gasset said, you must give the past its due, otherwise it will haunt you and claim even what isn't its due.
My impression is that the ordinary Turks are not bad, stupid or fanatic people. Rather, they seem to have little interest in politics and little understanding that ordinary citizens have the power and the duty to be in control of their state. And after they don't have this mindset underlying any functional democracy, the fact that they are good people becomes unimportant. I guess they were such also at the time of the genocide, but what was the use of their goodness? It didn't prevent their armed forces from exterminating the Armenians.
In a country where citizens are passive and alienated from politics, everything can happen. And of course Bulgarians are worried by any sign of bad things happening in Turkey, because it is next door.
Sometimes an artist or writer deliberately "adapts realities to the local cultural context", but in such a case he must give clear signs of what he's doing. An example is Gauguin's "Ia Orana Maria". Otherwise I, like Programmer Craig, wouldn't approve very much a blonde and blue-eyed (or black) Jesus, because he mustn't have looked like this in reality.
Christianized Ali Baba and Islamized Tom Sawyer have the right to exist as parodies, if they are clearly labeled as such and not sold to children as the real thing.
I miss the children's books of my childhood with their beautiful realistic illustrations. Now, they all come illustrated with grotesque Disney cartoons. My son at one time had such a version of "Aladdin" - I'd never imagined that somebody could draw an Arab princess walking around in a kind of bikini.
The Islamized classics reminded me a falcification I witnessed years ago. Ironically, it was anti-Turkish.
"The Golden Calf" is a well-known novel by the satirical Soviet writers Ilf and Petrov. One of its characters, Shura, is ordered by his boss to buy a typewriter. He finds one, but its "e" letter is damaged and must be replaced with "э", which codes for a similar but firmer vowel. The boss is furious and says, "You are a pig, Shura, to buy a typewriter with Turkish accent!".
After our Communist government forbade the Turkish names and language in 1984, everything Turkish became a taboo. In cafes, the expression "Turkish coffee" was avoided. In the late 1980s, I bought "The Golden Calf". I had read an older edition and wanted a copy for myself. But there was a change! The boss was now saying, "...to buy a typewriter with a foreign accent!".
I took a pen and corrected my copy but, I thought, who would correct the other copies? The event seemed insignificant but made me feel very unhappy, as if the entire truth was disappearing.
After 1989, our satirical weekly paper "Starshel" devoted a special article to this case. It was titled, "Was Shura the only one who was a pig?".
Well; I don't believe in god, but converting Tom Sawyer ... Off with their heads!!!! I mean it.
LMAO!
Maya, I am adding your weblog to my list. Ok?
NBA,
Thanks for the links. How come you ended up with somebody called "Iranian Woman" as the number one..?
What's that supposed to mean!? OK I admit it, I saw her pic on an Iranian.com article she did and she's hot! But that has nothing to do with it, man... there are a lot of pretty Iranian female bloggers :)
Believe it or not, those were the first two Iranian blogs I started reading and they remain my favorites.
I'll tell Highlander about that and a shebsheb zanouba treatment is guaranteed :P.
I think she's making a list of transgressions for both of us :O
Winston, of course you may put a link to my blog, I just warn that in a month or two blogging will became erratic, for family reasons.
Non-blogging, you mentioned the eventual admission of Turkey to the EU. As a EU citizen, what do you think - do the European politicians seriously consider this opportunity, or are they decided not to let Turkey in and now just deceive and protract because of some reckless promise given in the past? I think they deserve a good shebsheb beating in both cases.
As the end of Bulgaria's last year as an independent country is approaching, my skepticism about the EU membership is only increasing.
The passivity of the ordinary people and their alienation from politics which makes bad things possible isn't just a Turkish patent. I see much of the same in "old Europe". Bulgarians also suffer from this syndrome of "things-don't-depend-on-me" and it is expected only to deteriorate after even the formal right to decide our own affairs is taken from us and transferred to the Euro-bureaucrats.
You also know that I am concerned about WWIV (if we count the Cold War as WWIII). I don't see any use of EU in this war; in fact, it more often sides with the enemy. I recently saw on TV a newly developed European fighter jet. Instead of being glad that our guys have a new piece of equipment for the war, I thought, "Why the hell have the Europeans developed it? To sell it to Iran or Pakistan?"
I can imagine Europe dying, but I cannot imagine it fighting for the Western cause or just in self-defense. It seems to me as absurd as Bin Laden building skyscrapers.
You mentioned that European countries are ageing. This is because European women have few babies. Do you think this is because they are mutants deprived of maternal instinct? No, this is because they aren't supported by their societies and have fears for their children's future. It is easy to talk how great the EU is and to call bigots all who disagree, but if you are a woman considering whether to give life to a little "hostage to fortune", you have to face the truth.
No, we are not going to have a referendum. And there is actually no need of it, because the public opinion is well known. The majority of people are pro-EU. They think that after we become a member state, we'll receive much EU funds and the living standard will improve significantly. Bulgarian voters are so naive. Every time they see a person or party seeming to have "big money", they vote for him. They fail to figure out that even if the candidate really has the money, he has no reason to share it with them.
Yes, I have also mentioned that referendums for EU membership are held until a "yes" vote is obtained and then never again.
I am generally for representative, not for direct democracy. However, I agree that the public should have a say about important things such as the independence of the country. However, when the politicians have (1) the power to decide whether and when to perform a referendum and (2) access to opinion poll results, they just have to choose the appropriate moment when the fluctuating and often manipulated public opinion is in the mood they need. So the "will of people" is turned into a farce, like the elections won with 99% of votes.
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