Today's moral question

In light of his job, he was being a bit of a prat and his boss told him not to do anything like that again. Verbal warning sounds about right.

I supose if he said he'd gone as a Taliban fighter that may have appesed(sp?) our PC bretheren, who gives s..t about a British soldier. We truly are a bunch of wimps in this country.

Did want to got to fancy dress party as an MP but now realise that most people find that truly shocking.

Can somebody actually explain where the offence is in this guys actions? As always if his intent was to offend, I can think of plenty of far more offensive things to dress as. If it wasn't then who precisely has been offended and why?

So what about if he didn't do this, but worked for a local authority in a racially sensitive post, and was subsequently found on Facebook to be a member of the BNP? Far more offensive in my book, and probably not something they could do much about. Given that it is a legal political party with MEP's and the like.

Absolute arse the whole thing!

Dressed as a Terrorist carrying a Koran? Im surprised someone at the party didnt say something strongly. I would have. Its a tad insensitive.

I'd say he got off lightly. There will be a provision in his T&Cs to not damage his employer's reputation. Given the nature of his job, clearly he should have known better. Put it this way, would it be acceptable for the Northern Ireland secretary to go to a private party, dressed as an IRA terrorist?

It's a book, would you have said something to a bloke dressed as an IRA man with a copy of the New Testament in one hand and a plastic gun in the other?

ransos said:
…would it be acceptable for the Northern Ireland secretary to go to a private party, dressed as an IRA terrorist?

I don't know about a private party, but if it was a works do he'd fit right in over here!

hora – Member

Dressed as a Terrorist carrying a Koran? Im surprised someone at the party didnt say something strongly. I would have. Its a tad insensitive.

Falls over backwards! 😆

Really can not see what the issue is here! Moralise as much as you like guys, it is you lot who still burn the effigy of a catholic every year!

Parody of evil people is just that; Parody! It is not mocking an entire race.

Moralise as much as you like guys, it is you lot who still burn the effigy of a catholic every year!

Errr! No I don't.

Errr! No I don't.

So you've tried to get this level of religious persecution stopped then? You mean to say you haven't ever celebrated the 5th November?! Not even one bloody sparkler!? (tongue firmly back in cheek!)

The mere fact that he was carrying an effigy of the Qur’an would cause immense offence to the Muslim community as it is see as the word of god in a very literal sense – it is enough of an insult for a non Muslim to handle it – let alone appear to mock it

Sorry, pardon my weak recollection of history, but isn't bonfire night a festival celebrating the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot, not a festival promoting hatred towards Catholics?

last fancy dress party i went to one friend dressed up as a terrorist (complete with RPG launcher made from milk cartons and loo roll inners) and another went as a Zulu (with spear) it was great. No one cried or was hurt.

So you've tried to get this level of religious persecution stopped then? You mean to say you haven't ever celebrated the 5th November?! Not even one bloody sparkler!? (tongue firmly back in cheek!)

Not what you said is it. But anyway Guy Fawkes was killed for trying to blow up the houses of parliament not because he was Catholic although that was his reason for him trying to blow up the houses of parliament.

As breakneck has pointed out carrying the Qur'an can cause offence to the muslim community, I've never heard of a Catholic causing an outcry because they thought some setting off a mini rocket is offensive.

it is enough of an insult for a non Muslim to handle it – let alone appear to mock it

Nope, not seeing that one in British Law either.

It's hard to get away from the perception that they are a silly and sensitive lot, isn't it?

I am not sure how true it really is. My guess is that a huge proportion iof muslims in this country or elsewhere, left to themselves, don't care that much.

I am heading into the attic to burn dozens of pictures from my student days.

BigDummy – Member

It's hard to get away from the perception that they are a silly and sensitive lot, isn't it?

I am not sure how true it really is. My guess is that a huge proportion iof muslims in this country or elsewhere, left to themselves, don't care that much.

Common sense at last….

breakneckspeed – Member
The mere fact that he was carrying an effigy of the Qur’an would cause immense offence to the Muslim community as it is see as the word of god in a very literal sense – it is enough of an insult for a non Muslim to handle it – let alone appear to mock it

That being the case do they do taster sessions anywhere when you can find out more in case you might like to become one? I'm pretty sure I don't, because from what I hear the benefits package is not that great, but I can't really make my mind up without having a squint at the rule book first.

I'm pretty sure I don't, because from what I hear the benefits package is not that great, but I can't really make my mind up without having a squint at the rule book first.

PMSL!

Still I hear people get a might offended when you carry an RPG 7 here but that's not in any religious text I've ever come across. Dam! There's me being offensive again…..

My guess is that a huge proportion iof muslims in this country or elsewhere, left to themselves, don't care that much.

My guess is that a huge proportion of Muslims are sick of being equated with terrorists. What costume you choose to go to a fancy dress party is your own affair, but if I blacked up and went with a slice of watermelon, or did the Catholic priest idea someone suggested above, I wouldn't expect my employers, or many other people for that matter, to find it hilarious.

For clarity, my remarks were directed principally to the "effigy of the koran" issue.

I agree that that it must be quite boring to belong to a group of people who are relentlessly subjected to purely negative stereotyping. Although my hunch is that it's a large improvement over being subjected to (purely negative) lynching.

If we are playing Split the PC Hair (which is an excellent parlour game)then query whether one person dressing up a muslim terrorist is in any sense stating that all muslims are terrorists. I'm fairly doubtful that it necessarily has that implication. If it has the implication is in fact "all terrorists are muslims" then it is hard to see why muslims who are not terrorists could find that offensive. It is not strictly true, admittedly.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not an apologist for Islam, indeed as an atheist I find the social control applied by all forms of Abrahamic religions abhorrent – Islam by far the worst offender and the one that is apparently least compatible with modern industrial (and democratic) society.
However, I do have understanding of the cultural requirement of a wide range of ethnic and faith groups (its hard not to working in Bradford) and certainly know what causes offence.
To me the Qur’an is only a book as is the Bible, the Torah and Harry Potter but to a Muslim the Qur’an is quite literally the word of god in a way that the 10 commandments were handed to Abraham in flaming tablets of stone (essentially the same story)

I have no idea what an islamic terrorist looks like. If someone can point out the key identifying features that would be very useful, thanks.

You might also want to forward them on to the police as I believe they would find identifying terrorists on sight to be an extremely useful skill.

The same applies to pirates or porn-stars, but I reckon we could manage to design a fancy dress outfit nonetheless. 😉