July 31, 2002

9:08 AM

"Al Qaeda Scotland"targets the Edinburgh Festival with a leaflet campaign and no-one seems to be doing anything about it. Don't like this man's chances of getting away with it in London or New York.
posted by Summer (12 comments total)

Mr Allison, a photographer and freelance computer expert, describes himself as a "political green" with Hindu religious beliefs.

Oh please. He's a Hindu promoting a radical Islamist agenda? He is advocating indiscriminate killing of innocents in order to protest the indiscriminate killing of innocents?

This guy is clearly a fruitcake whose oxymoronic thinking shows he's not the brightest bulb in the chandelier. He does know how to get attention, though! I wonder if he had the balls to print his self-portrait on his leaflets...
posted by reality at 9:20 AM on July 31, 2002

"We will be specifically targeting Americans during the Festival to let them know that there are people who are opposed to the US war against innocent people in Afghanistan," Mr Allison said.

You can be opposed to the war without endorsing the same type of slaughter of the innocents that he opposes. Pick a position and stick with it.
posted by dr_dank at 9:23 AM on July 31, 2002

Yeah, I don't think he's affiliated with AQ anymore than that kid who crashed his plane into that Miami skyscraper was last year. When a movement or phenomenon gets so much coverage in the media, it's bound to shake a few nuts loose from the tree. This guy's strictly a random variable. And while that certainly doesn't preclude his going into a public place and going apeshit, he doesn't seem to be part of any political conspiracy.
posted by donkeyschlong at 9:35 AM on July 31, 2002

If he handed me such a leaflet, I would then be forced to aggressively target his face with my fist. A sad, pathetic person who is, hopefully, a miniscule minority of those with more sensibly manifested dissenting viewpoints.
posted by evanizer at 9:46 AM on July 31, 2002

From the article: "These leaflets are offensive. I’m all for freedom of expression but this guy is clearly a lunatic."

Priceless. It's OK to say whatever you want, unless I think that you're obviously wrong or crazy.

Will people ever stop with this argument?
posted by Fabulon7 at 10:01 AM on July 31, 2002

Shut-up Fabulon.
posted by ODiV at 10:07 AM on July 31, 2002

Freedom of expression is just that. He's free to distribute the leaflets. People are free to argue with him, or ignore him. (Assaulting him, as suggested by Evan...now that would be illegal. Perhaps morally justified in Evan's mind...but against the law none the less.)

And ODiv's brilliant retort of "Shut-up" aside, Fabulon7 makes a valid point. It's the speech/expression that we despise that needs the most protection. The pamphleteer has the right to distribute this junk. Scots and tourists have the right to think he's a loonie and ignore him.

Nobody has the right to attack another individual with physical violence just because the attacker doesn't like the message of the attackee.
posted by dejah420 at 10:31 AM on July 31, 2002

Mr Allison, a photographer and freelance computer expert, describes himself as a "political green" with Hindu religious beliefs.

...who supports Al Qaeda?

and what are the names of the little people living in your head, Mr Allison?

This guy is a streetcorner nut job with access to a Kinko's, let's not give him any more worry than he deserves.
posted by jonmc at 11:01 AM on July 31, 2002

Mr Allison, a photographer and freelance computer expert, describes himself as a "political green" with Hindu religious beliefs.

Yeh ok... So how does he feel about Al-Queda, real Al-Queda targeting Hindus in Kashmir?

Bin Ladin would just as see him dead as any of us.
posted by delmoi at 11:18 AM on July 31, 2002

If he handed me such a leaflet, I would then be forced to aggressively target his face with my fist. A sad, pathetic person who is, hopefully, a miniscule minority of those with more sensibly manifested dissenting viewpoints.

The same could be said of someone who would assault a person for expressing a contrary viewpoint.
posted by rcade at 11:57 AM on July 31, 2002

If he handed me such a leaflet, I would then be forced to aggressively target his face with my fist.

And what provocation would it take, pray tell, to get you to fly an airplane into someone's building?

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.--Hari Seldon
posted by rushmc at 12:43 PM on July 31, 2002

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

Wow, I haven't heard that line since I tried to reason with the village psycho when I was 16. Just before he hit me in the face using a stapler as a knuckleduster, driving a staple into his own fist and proving Hari Seldon right. Happy days.
posted by ceiriog at 4:49 AM on August 1, 2002