The Most Obnoxious Quotes of 2004

John Hawkins has compiled a long list. His blog might be called "Right Wing News", but even he couldn't leave out Alan Keyes.

Here's a few I would have included:

"That people feel this passionately about theatres is a good sign for our cultural life. It is a sign of a lively flourishing cultural life." - British "race equality" minister Fiona Mactaggart, after violent demonstrations shut down a play considered blasphemous by Sikhs.

"Foreign journalists seemed much more excited about Mr Arafat's fate than anyone in Ramallah... [W]here were the people, I wondered, the mass demonstrations of solidarity, the frantic expressions of concern? ...when the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry... without warning." - BBC reporter Barbara Plett, in Yasser Arafat's final days.

"The MR posting brings up questions about the Iraqi brothers who run the IraqTheModel site. It points out that the views of the brothers are celebrated in the right-leaning weblogging world of the US, even though opinion polling shows that their views are far out of the mainstream of Iraqi opinion. It notes that their choice of internet service provider, in Abilene, Texas, is rather suspicious, and wonders whether they are getting some extra support from certain quarters." - Juan Cole decides pro-American Iraqi bloggers must be on the CIA payroll, since everyone knows brown people can't possibly have opinions of their own.

"I'm no friend of the Syrian regime, but Syrian troops in Lebanon maintain stability and protect the country from Israel. Lebanon is an Arab country with a border with the Zionist state and that is a very dangerous place." - George Galloway

"Ironically, bloggers mostly feed off the work of professional journalists who do the legwork. But, like parasites too stupid to realize they are killing off their hosts, the pajamahadeen don't get it every time they dig more dirt for our mass grave." - Antonia Zerbisias

"Indeed, this writer believes Arafat may have been murdered by an untraceable toxin." - Eric Margolis

"So without fear of further disturbing already ravaged public sensitivities, applaud Theo van Gogh's death as the marvellous piece of theatre it was." - alleged alti-censorship activist Rohan Jayasekera.

"I'd like to say that according to my recent experience, relations and conversations with Islamic leaders are a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders." - Presbyterian Church Elder Ronald Stone, after meeting with members of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

"...if the right whingers want to cross the line between disagreement and defamation, they will be on the receiving end of a 2x4 across the back of the head. ...I say it's time to take out that 2x4 and start cracking some heads open until the right learns that disagreements can be had without defaming your opponent. The right whingers need to learn civility, even if it has to be beaten into their heads." - peace activist Rubert McClelland

"...9/11? That was his. Osama bin Laden and his fellow Afghan "freedom fighters" got their funding, and nasty weapons, from Reagan. Anyway, I'm sure he's turning crispy brown right about now." - Ted Rall (on Reagan, not Osama)

"[Saddam] Hussein is much smarter, funnier and more erudite than Bush. When Saddam pointed out that Bush was the real criminal, who could argue? He even managed to defend the invasion of Kuwait! So why not swap them out? We get Saddam Hussein as our president; the Iraqis get Bush. Consider the benefits: we get gargantuan statues and a leader capable of using language--think how fast he'll solve the Palestinian issue!" - Rall, again

"Deciding exactly who is a neocon is difficult since some neocons reject the term while others embrace it. Some shape policy from within the White House, while others are more peripheral, exacting influence indirectly as journalists, academics and think tank policy wonks. What they all share is the view that the US is a benevolent hyper power that must protect itself by reshaping the rest of the world into its morally superior image. And half of the them are Jewish." - Adbusters editor Kalle Lasn

"...the government will not tolerate statements that create dissonance in our society and disrespect for others." - Jean Augustine, Canadian Minister of State for Multiculturalism

"Maybe Jews don't issue fatwas." - British editorial cartoonist Tim Benson, when asked why anti-Sharon cartoons are more common than anti-Arafat ones.

And the obnoxious quote of the year, if not the decade:

"I just took a can of spraypaint and wrote that message ["Fuck the Jews"] on the side of a building (not owned by Jews). Have I committed an act of antisemitism and if so why? Answers of "yes, just because it is" are not acceptable. Can anyone answer this question or has everyone been so conditioned to accept, without explanation as to why, that whatever you're told is antisemitic must be antisemitic." - the one and only Rubert.

Posted by damian at January 3, 2005 01:39 PM