Memo to Pakistan: Get. A. Grip. It’s a cartoon, and it didn’t even appear in Washington’s number one paper. Granted, it lacked sensitivity to your, er, sensitivities, but it seems a feeble reason to topple your leader.
Of course, as Oprah always says when something ostensibly picayune elicits this kind of overblown reaction (my reworking of Oprah—I’ve never actually heard her use the words “ostensibly picayune”), clearly, something else is going on. And in this case that something else is this: the Islamists are looking to oust Musharraf any way they can. They want to install their own totalitarian Salafists in office and turn Pakistan into yet another Islamist dystopia (as opposed to what it is now: a barely-functioning secular dystopia trying to fend off the Islamists)—only one without all the oil. And if a cartoon in a Washington newspaper can help them do it, then, dammit, that’s what they’ll use.
Sidenote: There’s an article to be written about the accidental humour of spell-check. I should start keeping track of its hilariously inappropriate suggestions. For example, it just encouraged me to change “Musharraf” to “mascara”.
Now that really is an insult.
Article comments
1 - SFC SKI
Good points, good article.
Of course, you know that being up in arms is a popular pastime in that part of th world.
2 - scaramouche
LOL! And thanks for the compliment.
3 - Charu
Where can one see the offending cartoon? And is it true that Garner has been earlier criticised for his right wing proclivities?
regards
4 - scaramouche
Re: the offending cartoon--I haven't been able to find it online. And I don't know anything about Garner's supposed "right-wing proclivities", but I'm pretty sure if the accusation was made, it was by someone with "left-wing proclivities". In any case, most people know where the Washington Times, as opposed to the Washington Post, falls on the political spectrum, so I think your query may be moot.
5 - Maqsood Kayani
Its people like yourself and Bill Garner who make us want to believe "Osama is right".
6 - scaramouche
Magsood Kayani--I have a feeling you'd be inclined to believe it even if people like Garner and I weren't around
7 - Vaqas Asghar
It's pure politics
doesnt anyone rember the freedom fries fiasco in the US? This is Pakistan's version of it. The real problem is that even if it was intentional there is nothing wrong with the cartoon. Garner simply called a spade a spade. Pakistan is America's B!T(H and theres nothing we Pakistani's can do about it because it serves our self interest or at least that of the politicians. the "uproar" in parliament is meant to distract attention from the sorry state of affairs the country is in because of musharraf and his cronies, nothing more, nothing less.
8 - chengez K
Every body has right to his views but the fact is showing any nation as a dog is hardly the best way of complimenting some one for nabbing Al Qaeeda #3.Even if we take Washington's Time editorial logic that dog represents the closest feelings of association , then the question is how many times has Israel been termed as a dog or a bitch(just to cover gender discrimination). Or has Mr Ariel Sharon ever been lovingly addressed as our 'beloved son of a bitch'.The fact is that despite Israel being closest to U.S never it has been bestowed with such prestigious titles.No
U.S newspaper dare move in this direction with its choice of metaphors...
9 - Arun
Calling someone a dog - a "kutta" - is a very common (relatively-minor..) insult in India (and, I'm guessing, Pakistan). "Saala kutta" - bloody dog, "kuthiya" - bitch, "kutte ki aulad" - breed of a dog, and so on. What ruffled Pakistani feathers was the blunt implication in a major American newspaper that Pakistan was America's kutta - a description that, to many people within Pakistan and without it - does in fact ring true!
10 - Arun
While we're at it, a group of extremely patriotic Indians took out a procession in my neighbourhood protesting Bush's naming his dog India.
11 - harry
It is the greatest insult for the dog to be compared with Pakistan.