Airstrip One

Pot and Kettle

Mark Steel says that Pim Fortuyn was a racist and fascist because he described Islam as "sick and backward" (the quotes are Mr Steel's and not Mr Fortuyn's). I have a soft spot for Mr Steel since I saw a TV show on stand up comedy and his was the only footage that was actually funny. However, I think that this is a bit rich.

Isn't Mr Steel a member of the Socialist Workers Party, which is Marxist. Didn't ole Karl once say that religion was the "opiate of the people"? Now being dependent on an opiate, isn't that pretty much the definition of sick and backwards?

Mr Steel, I would hazard a guess, also thinks that Islam is sick and backwards. But he would also say the same about Christianity, Judaism and Hare Krishna. Or is he objecting to the idea that a religion who's idea of debate is whether to bury homosexuals alive or throw them off a tall building is somehow more backward than religions that hapily exist in a democratic culture?

Anyway as a Marxist (if one of the few intentionally funny ones) he would also know where this quote comes from:

The next world war will result in the disappearance from the face of the earth not only of reactionary classes and dynasties, but also of entire reactionary peoples. And that, too, is a step forward.

So all of us opiate dependents have been warned.