Sharia 'bout that

On the 6th of August, the Bangkok Post had an interesting item that didn't seem to get much traction in the western media. Hell, let's be blunt. Nobody in the west picked it up except for a handful of conservative blogs. In fact, I've since tried both Google and Yahoo to find references to this story, and came up empty.

It seems that in southern Thailand, where there is a Muslim majority, people were told that if they work on Fridays, they would have their ears cut off. Friday is the Muslim sabbath, you see. Needless to say, the threat wasn't just directed at the faithful, but at anybody who dared to work on the sabbath.

The story is troublesome enough in that it speaks volumes of the intolerance of the "religion of peace", but it bothers me more that this wasn't reported more widely. I mean, c'mon...can you imagine if Christians in the Christian-majority region of Lebanon threatened violence against anyone who chose to work on a Sunday? The media would be all over that like a pit bull with a t-bone.

So, what's the reason for the western media's blackout on this story? That's easy. There's nobody in the west to whom they can redirect the blame. It's got nothing to do with "Zionist oppression" of the Palestinians, or with the war in Iraq, or with infidel presence in Muslim holy lands, unless you count the Buddhists who were there more than 600 years before the birth of Mohammed.

The western media needs to set aside their hatred of BushBlairIsrael and start doing their job.