What makes it “more profound”?
I’m genuinely trying to understand what Andrew Bolt is getting at here. Let’s assume that the fragment of a necklace we can see and the fact that she is photographed without a hijab would be sufficient evidence to establish that Neda Soltani was a Christian – never mind that the source Bolt linked to for his “Neda the Christian martyr” post pointed out that:
To me, this does not look like the cross has been inserted through digital editing. At the same time, I am not sure that a picture of her wearing a cross, with her head uncovered, is definitive proof that she was a Christian.
…
I mention this latest example of Internet rumor for a simple reason: The Iran story clearly isn’t over. I also wonder if there is, in fact, any reportable, journalistic information that supports this claim that “the voice” of this new Iranian revolution was, in fact, a member of a religious minority.
Assume that it was a Christian rather than a Muslim woman who was killed while protesting for fair and open democracy in Iran. In what sense would that make her “an even more profound symbol”? In what sense would her “martyrdom” carry more value under those circumstances? The suppression of minority religions in Iran (including not just Christianity and Judaism, but other religions such as Baha’i) is in itself a cause for outrage and protest, but there is no credible evidence that it had anything to do with the death of Neda Soltani during the political protests. In short, in a country where freedom of expression and democracy itself are being suppressed through violence, how does the religion of the victim affect the wrongness of her death?
I reckon you’re thinking too hard, Tob. Over-intellectualizing is just as much a problem as not thinking hard enough. The “organizational problem” you mentioned on that other thread is a case in point.
He’s doing what most journalists do, provide some interesting background to a story. Is Neda’s religious belief interesting if she was a Christian.. Yea, it is. (you obviously thought so).
Is it important in the scheme of things. nope, not really. In fact not at all.
He’s providing context, Tobs in a much better way than your recent attempt by suggesting that the navy’s problem is ” organizational”.
Out of the two unimportant contexts I’d prefer Bolt’s rather than yours.
Hey, I never read Bolt before you started to obsess about him.
I don’t think you need to read anything more into it than andy’s usual anti-muslim rantings. Anything can be used as fodder, no matter how obscure or trivial.
the comment from ‘Matthew of Canberra’ sums it up: this has been apparently circulating around the interwebs for days yet nobody has provided any conclusive proof, and that those claiming her christianity are doing so for political motives. sums up Bolt perfectly really.
“In short, in a country where freedom of expression and democracy itself are being suppressed through violence, how does the religion of the victim affect the wrongness of her death?”
In short Tobias, it doesn’t – or at least it doesn’t to anyone with any sense of reality – Neda was one of thousands, (the majority of whom I suspect were Muslims), of protestors on the streets, (although I’ve read some reports saying she wasn’t actually protesting but was caught up in the crowds), her death was completely random and the bullet that struck her could just as easily have struck anyone there.
Looking at Bolt’s comment and some of the posts in the thread over there, it seems some think she was deliberately targetted — unbelievable.
If anything, the fact that Muslims — and particularly members of the clergy — are protesting against these election results and the decree of the Ayatollah is probably the most hopeful sign for democracy that we have seen from Iran for a long time.
I posted this article in the open thread, but I hope you don’t mind if I repost it here as it seems relevant to this topic and I think is a sign of hope for the democracy movement in Iran:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6644817.ece
The right-wing nutters giving publicity to this can only help undermine those protesting the elections in Iran. It’s not going to be very hard for the current rulers of that country to now start saying (on the basis of what western right wing media is reporting) that all the unrest after the election is a result of Christian elements of the popoulation that are trying to undermine the Islamic Republic and therefore we as good muslims leaders must crush them.
I think I know what Bolt is getting at. I’d ask him but his moderators don’t allow my occasional questions anymore.