Mickey Mouse tweet by Egypt's Sawiris angers conservatives

[Gerald]

One of Egypt's richest men has been accused of mocking Islam after tweeting cartoons of Mickey and Minnie Mouse wearing conservative Muslim attire.

Telecoms mogul and Coptic Christian Naguib Sawiris apologised for re-posting the images on Twitter a few days ago, saying he meant no offence.

Naguib Sawiris is a leading secularist and recently formed a political party.

But several Islamic lawyers have filed a formal complaint and there are calls for a boycott of his businesses.

The outcry comes at a time of tension between Egypt's Christians and Muslims.

There are also concerns about the growing influence of the ultra-conservative Salafists in Egypt. Salafists take their inspiration from the early generations of Muslims who were close to the Prophet Muhammad and his message.

The tweeted images showed Mickey Mouse wearing a traditional Islamic robe with a full beard, while Minnie Mouse is wearing a niqab - a full-body veil - with just her eyes showing.

She is identifiable by her large ears and trademark pink hair ribbon.

The cartoons were already widely circulating online, but when Mr Sawiris re-posted them last week, he received an immediate angry reaction from people who said they were offended.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13944231

Note: 28 June 2011 Last updated at 12:40 GMT

[MH]

He should had known how sensitive insecure and fragile muslim feeling are.

[Gerald]

[Penguin]

(from the film "Mickey in Arabia")

[Gerald]

Mickey, have real turbans on their heads, so they are probably true

[mookiemookie]

They never had a problem with Muslim Mickey before:

[Gerald]

Hmmm....He sounds like Hitler, I wonder if the translation is true

[MH]

Originally Posted by Vendor

Hmmm....He sounds like Hitler, I wonder if the translation is true

Its true...that's what they do but you will not hear about it on BBC

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

They never had a problem with Muslim Mickey before:

I've seen this before, but I thought it was from Hezbollah TV - can anyone read the logo of the station?

I wonder how many naive european supporters of the upcoming "freedom flotilla" have seen this...

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by MH

Its true...that's what they do but you will not hear about it on BBC

No, I can understand that!

[MH]

Originally Posted by Penguin

I've seen this before, but I thought it was from Hezbollah TV - can anyone read the logo of the station?

I wonder how many naive european supporters of the upcoming "freedom flotilla" have seen this...

Its Hamas Al Aqsa TV.
Europeans don't know twat about whats going on here.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by MH

Its Hamas Al Aqsa TV.
Europeans don't know twat about whats going on here.

I wouldn't say that, especially in today's media age, most infos are just one click or one walk to the library away. So people choose to stay ignorant of facts.
It's more something like selective perception. See only the things you want to see and mute the stuff you don't want to hear. That's were stuff like "Hamas is a organisation that helps the poor" (heard by myself) comes from.

[MH]

Originally Posted by Penguin

I wouldn't say that, especially in today's media age, most infos are just one click or one walk to the library away. So people choose to stay ignorant of facts.
It's more something like selective perception. See only the things you want to see and mute the stuff you don't want to hear. That's were stuff like "Hamas is a organisation that helps the poor" (heard by myself) comes from.

Hamas and many organisations alike use double language.
One for the westerners telling them what they want to hear and another for locals.
When something is made public(like lets say some Ahmadinejad or Nasrallah speeches or whatever)its regarded naturaly as some crazy talk in the west.
Its doesn't matter that millions of locals may take it seriously.
In particular the ones that grew up in the regime.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by MH

Hamas and many organisations alike use double language.
One for the westerners telling them what they want to hear and another for locals.

Yes and it sadly works as it had worked before. I am old enough to remember old people sayingstuff like "Oh yes the war and the thing (sic!) with the jews was bad, but at least we all had work..."
That's why I am not too optimistic, when I see how children are indoctrinated through channels like hamas tv.
The only good thing is that people of today have much more possibilities to get informations, I hope for the Palestinian children that they receive and watch other channels, some without hate.

Originally Posted by MH

When something is made public(like lets say some Ahmadinejad or Nasrallah speeches or whatever)its regarded naturaly as some crazy talk in the west.
Its doesn't matter that millions of locals may take it seriously.
In particular the ones that grew up in the regime.

The exile Iranians who live here are much more committed to educate the public about the Iranian regime than our toothless government is. Good people who value freedom!

Its true...that's what they do but you will not hear about it on BBC

It is well reported, it is frequently well reported. But don't let simple facts stand in your way
It was also reported when MEMRI had supplied lots of western news outlets with some very dodgy translations from terrorist TV and they foolishly had run it as news without checking if the translation was bull.
Silly western media, publishing propoganda without question eh

It's more something like selective perception. See only the things you want to see and mute the stuff you don't want to hear.

That fits MH very well, he is very selective in what he wants to see. It is a bunker mentality which is unfortunately all too common in the region