Technorati Tags: rod liddle, alton towers, the spectator
Rod Liddle has dedicated his "Liddle Britain" column this week in the Spectator (free registration required, but paywalled after a week) to slagging off the upcoming "Muslim day" at Alton Towers, the leisure park in the English Midlands, organised by Islamic Leisure. Liddle obviously thinks the reason this event is taking place is because Muslims don't like rubbing shoulders with non-Muslims:
But we may have read Alton Towers wrongly; there may be mischief at work, which is why I invoked the name of Dajjal above. Because apart from setting aside a day in September for Muslims who don?t wish to mix with the filthy Kufr hordes, they have also set aside a day in September for homosexuals. Poofs ? to use the politically incorrect nomenclature ? who don?t like sharing their big dippers with heterosexuals will be allowed a whole day to themselves. And ? here?s the thing ? they haven?t yet decided which day will be allocated to the gays. What if it, too, is 17 September? A joyous, inclusive, joint event ? Buggery?n? Burkas. The muezzin wail on the PA system interrupted every so often by a quick medley from Cabaret or the Weather Girls. An area, near the waltzers, set aside for stoning the sodomites. Prayer mats and prophylactics. Amyl nitrate and Abu Hamza. Everywhere you look ? a handlebar moustache or a bushy beard, a leather basque or a chador.
The fact of the matter (as I found out by phoning the number on IL's Opening Times & Pricing page) is that the event is not restricted to Muslims only - or at least, if I wanted to bring any non-Muslim family or friends along, I'm more than welcome as brother Yaseen assured me. So it's really nothing to do with "dirty kuffar", or "kufrs" as Liddle insists on saying, at all. It's more likely to be about ensuring that Muslims, especially women, can have a fun family day out without having their boundaries infringed unintentionally, for example by being given a ride car to sit in with a totally strange man.
I suspect some may think this contrary to some goal of integration, but at the end of the day Alton Towers is a privately-owned resort, not a public space at all, and the owners (Tussauds) are perfectly within their rights to allow Muslims, or whoever else wants to, to book it if the money is right. If someone else is inconvienienced or for some other reason doesn't like it, tough - it's not their park!
(More: Harry's Place, Akram's Razor.)
Yusuf,
You know brother I was just reading some of my old post on here. Man, I was a cheeky little thing. SubhanAllah...
I think the brothers should put something on their website that says that the event isn't for Muslims only. At the moment the media is being free-rein to paint it as an exclusivist/divisive event and there is nothing out there to counter this view.
Sounds like fun. I have been to Alton Towers several times when I lived in England.
Salaam:
I think KashifN is right - in the link you've provided the wording that the day provides "exclusive access for our guests" does make it seem as though it's a Muslim-only affair.
My husband has often attended conferences and leisure activities at theme parks opened exclusively for certain companies and their employees. Nobody to my knowledge has ever complained.
'How dare Muslims have fun!'
Liddle really is an odious prick.
Thanks for doing the leg work to dig up this crucial bit of information. I've linked to your post in my own comments on the affair.
Liddle is an odious little twerp, I don't think that is a surprise to anyone who has read his twittering in the Speccie since he was sacked by the Beeb. He is another Aaronovitch - a “liberal” who has gone moved decisively to the right when he realised that it was the right which presented a more suitable vehicle for his Islamophobic rants.
What exactly is the issue with having a "Muslim only" day at a private amusement park? The park is there to make money - if it can make more of it by having "Muslim only" or "BT employees only" days, it will do precisely that!
Its not as if Muslims are getting any special funding from the state for this day. Its not even as if Muslims are recognised as a separate and distinct racial entity by the state; they are not, and hence whilst good Muslim schools struggle to raise any money, Catholic and Jewish ones are subsidised by the state. But of course, that is okay for the likes of Liddle - just as long as Muslims do not do anything that identifies them as Muslim!
Just one clarification Yusuf - the Tussauds Group (the owner of Alton Towers) was bought last year for $1.5bn by Dubai International Capital, one of the international private equity investment arms of Dubai Holding. Dubai Holding, for those who don't know, is the personal business vehicle of the Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid.
Assalaamu alaikum,
Someone should get a list of what other groups have had these kind of days at the park (besides homosexuals). This is a pretty normal thing, isn't it? A company I worked for used to have a day at an amusement park for its employees every year.
I had to laugh, though, when Abu AbdurRahman let us know that the Tussauds Group was bought by Dubai Holding...
We have a large amusement park near Toronto, and it regularly hosts events like Muslim Day. In fact, if you visit the website, you'll find there are a number of other such days organized, including a Sri Lanka day later this month. The parks aren't limited to people of a specific cultural or ethnic group, but there are special provisions made (ie. wudu facilities, prayer services, etc.) that cater to the group in question. There are also concerts and other such entertainment organized. It's basically a celebration of all things cultural, and from what I understand, it goes over well with the Canadian public.