'Blasphemous' balls anger Afghans

[ProSense]

'Blasphemous' balls anger Afghans

By Alastair Leithead
BBC News, Kabul

A demonstration has been held in south- east Afghanistan accusing US troops of insulting Islam after they distributed footballs bearing the name of Allah.

The balls showed the Saudi Arabian flag which features the Koranic declaration of faith.

The US military said the idea had been to give something for Afghan children to enjoy and they did not realise it would cause offence.

The footballs were dropped from a helicopter in Khost province.

Some displayed flags from countries all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, which features the shahada, one of the five pillars of Islam - the declaration of faith.

The words, which include the name of Allah, are revered, and Muslims are very sensitive about where and how they can be used.

<...>

Afghan MP Mirwais Yasini said: "To have a verse of the Koran on something you kick with your foot would be an insult in any Muslim country around the world."

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Stupid After All These Years

[annabanana]

1. Even I know that the bottom of the shoe is not supposed to even

be visible to someone you don't wish to insult... And a designer got in trouble for using sacred script in a dress pattern... To put the text on footballs is remarkably stupid or astoundingly provocative. .

[EST]

2. Not only is that stupider than even I imagined, but

to give them something commonly referred to as a "pigskin" because it was once an inflated pig bladder, covered with pigskin, seems a double whammy. So now, we write "Allah" or a koran verse on a piece of inflated pig skin made to be kicked by the filthiest, most insulting part of the body and are suprised that it might appear offensive.

Could this be exactly what it appears, a deliberate attempt to infuriate people and show the US up as the stupid ass bunch of inconsiderate boors (or boars) it actually is?

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. No-one refers to a soccer ball as 'pigskin'

that's only for American football. The ball is covered in the flags of various nations, as the picture clearly shows, and I think many people wouldn't have known, or remembered, that the Arabic writing on the Saudi flag is in fact from the Koran. There's no reason this think this was a deliberate insult. There are, of course, some Christian crosses being kicked on the same ball.

[EST]

13. Thanks.

Senior moment-brain fart. I'd forgotten that in that part of the world a "football" is a soccer ball instead of that sharply elliptical thing we refer to with that name.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

3. NOTHING is safe

from politicking or marketing. Orwell predicted video cams everywhere, which at least implied human interaction (subject and viewer). Instead our society is awash in advertisements and the hieroglyphics of market and propaganda, which are strictly and intentionally one-way metaviruses, "infecting" the viewer's mind with whatever idea they choose. Don't even think that whoever put these little charity items together didn't have any idea about the way it would be received.

[GliderGuider]

4. a plug for Fair World Sports -- fair trade balls

(this is a copy of my post in LBN on this story in response to where the balls were made)

There's a local guy named Dave Hall who manufactures fair trade, child-labour-free sports balls. Proceeds go to support youth related projects in poor and war-affected countries.

If anyone out there has contacts with the bozos who pulled this one, or of you're in the market for sports balls yourself, please point them to Fair World Sports.

When you buy Fair Trade Certified Sports Balls -

* You get top quality, hand stitched, long lasting sports balls, including soccer balls, volleyballs, beach volleyballs, rugby balls, soft balls and baseballs. (ed: They've recently added basketballs to their product line.)
* The price is competitive with part of the proceeds used to help the people who make the balls.
* The workers receive a decent wage and enjoy better than average working conditions.
* There are no children under 15 employed, they can go to school.
* Most balls are no longer made of leather, which helps eliminate another dangerous type of work where children are often employed.
* Children who work, have limited hours so that schooling is unaffected.
* Any profit will be used to send school and sports supplies and equipment to war-torn countries like Sierra Leone, where sports and education are important tools in building a culture of peace.

[NoPasaran]

5. Jeez, they didn't have to go ballistic

[seriousstan]

6. IF it is a "ball" then LET'S DAAAAAANCE!!!!!!

Mo' you dancing fool, you'll bring a fatwa down on all of us.

[emilyg]

7. I just realized I have a dirty mind.

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. Alas, I, too, clicked on this link expecting to find the answer to my first question:

"Whose?"

[emilyg]

12. See - now you did it to me - LOL

Buns_of_Fire Think I'll just stay in the gutter today.

[alofarabia]

8. It's a soccer ball...

not an American football. My son has one similar or just like it. In each of the panels on the soccer ball there is a different country flag. I know a while back there was an issue because Israel was one of the countries represented. All in all I don't think this is a big deal.

[Warren DeMontague]

10. Time for a little AC/DC. One, Two, Three!

Well I'm upper class high society
God's gift to ballroom notoriety
And I always fill my ballroom
The event is never small
The social pages say I've got
The biggest balls of all

I've got big balls
I've got big balls
They're such big balls
And they're dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
But we've got the biggest balls of them all!

[SoCalDem]

14. Gen. Les Nessman strikes again..n/t