This comes via Michelle and is dedicated to SF!
These stills are from a BBC comedy called “Time Trumpet” (big hat tip – Steve J). The show features a satirical “Terrorism Awards” show with nominees including a “lone gunman” who shoots Tony Blair in the head as he sleeps with his wife; a 9/11-style video of terrorists crashing an airliner into the Houses of Parliament; and a Tel Aviv suicide bombing.
We are a month away from the five-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. I still pause, once a day, to think about what happened and how it has changed my outlook on life. How it has opened my eyes to the evils of jihad. How it has changed the focus of my work. How it affects my children. How it affects us all. Every so often, when I’m in Washington, D.C., and a plane flies low on its way to Dulles or Reagan Airport, I catch my breath. And I remember. I cannot fathom how the BBC, the once-revered British network of supposedly serious journalists, could pull a sick stunt like this. The Guardian blog quotes a haughty BBC spokesperson shrugging off any criticism:
“The clips have to be seen in the context of the whole series,” said a BBC spokeswoman. The show begins on BBC2 this Thursday, with the terrorism episode scheduled for week three. “It is a satire. The scenarios are so ludicrous that anyone who complained would be making a fool of themselves.”
The Daily Mail has reaction from MPs on both sides of the aisle:
The satire is the work of Armando Iannucci, who wrote the award-winning recent Whitehall comedy The Thick of It and was the co-creator of Steve Coogan’s alter ego Alan Partridge.
Although Iannucci is known for his subtle parodies on the news and media – he produced The Day Today and On The Hour – his latest offering has provoked outrage from MPs of all sides. Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon, said it was ‘absolutely sick.’‘At a time when people are dying for real on both sides in the Middle East, to try and make fun of what’s going on is the worst thing imaginable.
‘Nothing is more sick than attempting to make a joke out of people who are dying. It’s beyond the pale.’
‘The BBC governors should do something to stop this. And the fact that it could have been given approval by the BBC’s editorial board is simply disgraceful.’
David Davies, Tory MP for Monmouth, said: ‘It shows a distinct lack of taste and could even exacerbate the suffering of the July 7th bombing victims.
‘The BBC receives a large amount of taxpayers’ money and has a duty to use it responsibly. I can’t see much comedy value in this at a time when all of us are at risk from terrorism.’
I think alot of what the arguments boil down to is that we on the conservative side feel that America is not to be blamed. The middle east is and always has been a hotbed of terror and uncertainty. Americans with their love of oil has made alot of countries rich. Because of this we are both loved and hated but always needed.
There are those in the muslim world who think we are to blame for their societies ills but Americans would be wise to overlook that blame and also not try to point fingers inward. Their societies have failed to advance because they refuse to let their culture advance. When you have laws that say a husband or other male in the household can kill a woman if she goes outside without a head covering pretty much says it all. Repressive doesn’t even begin to describe it.
After 9/11 I for one and I’m sure many others thought this would be the catalyst that would bring Americans together because we shared a common cause. That cause being the elimination of terrorist networks worldwide.
I think it is shocking for some that this hasn’t been the case and in fact has in some ways actually divided Americans even further. This, I’m sure, is considered by the radicals as a success.
Blaming America is not the answer. Blaming the President or the Congress is not the answer. The answer lies in strategies, techniques and the use of all manner of technology available.
But one thing is absolutely clear. Without the elimination of terrorism from civilized society, we will all lose.
BonBon, I think you have very good points that you stated succinctly. Well done.
This is all very interesting. I find in amazing that people in certain areas of America still think that the war of terror can (a) be won and (b) that American foreign policy is helping that.
The ‘war on terror’ is a metaphysical concept and treats terrorism like a homogeneous mass. Kill Osma Bin Laden and someone will take his place. Terrorism will always be here and as long as America keep interfering badly (Reagan playing middle east war games with Iran & Iraq in the 1980s and the CIA ousting democratically elected South American leaders are two examples which spring to mind) then it will just get worse.
I find the idea from the Iraqi PM that terrorism will be “eradicated by the end of this year” as laughable as the Iraqi WMD (found ‘em yet GWB?). If the liberating American troops hadn’t disbanded the Iraqi Army and Police once they had control, they would’ve been able to deal with the insurgents far more easily.
But with Iraq on the brink of civil war, people dying daily and Sharia law being introduced by local ‘elected’ warlords around Iraq, I dont hold out much hope. And of course there are more potential terrorists now than pre 9/11. 100,000 Iraqis have been accidentally killed by the allies since the start of the war. Not everyone is happy about this ‘liberation’. That means 100,000 angry families. The potential terrorists unwittingly recruited to fight the West is, one suspects, rather high.
Bon bon is right, though. America has a vested interest in the middle east as long as their oil is still needed. The solution? considering oil is running out, perhaps is now the time to start to switch to nuclear power, with a few wind farms thrown in?
“We had solved the problem of the enemy flying planes into buildings, but no one expected terrorists to fly two buildings into the sides of planes…”
Time Trumpet is classic satire. I’d reccommend watching the series via Bitorrent.