Neither Pooh nor Aloysius
Among famous Teddy Bears, "Mohammed" will now take its place up there between "Pooh" and "Aloysius."
That Teddy Bears are freighted with broad significance can be gleaned from the number of them that crop up in English lit., and not all of them simply children's toys, like Paddington Bear, the Berenstain Bears, etc.
Of course, Pooh Bear is perhaps the most celebrated, since there is a whole collection of stories about him and his friends that are well-known to most children and that are designed as a form of life preparation. They have such themes such as tolerance, friendship, and persistance. There are in fact scholarly analyses of Pooh's meaning and importance.
Some of you may remember Aloysius as the Teddy Bear featured in Evelyn Waugh's novel "Brideshead revisited" and in the early 1980's TV series of the same name. Since Aloysius is the favorite of the "anti-hero" the rich and dissolute Sebastian Flyte, and it represents his homo-eroticism and decadence, it plays an important role in this drama.
And now we have "Mohammed" the Bear, named by some children at a school in Khartoum, Sudan. Apparently, although the children in her class voted to give the Bear this name, the English teacher involved Gillian Gibbons (54) is being blamed for a case of blasphemy, taking the name of the Prophet (may the all merciful spare me from the wrath of the towel-headed idiots) in vain. She was sentenced to only two weeks (!) in jail for this nonsense. This is part of the Talibanization of Islamic culture, every simple little event is perceived as an attempt by the great and mighty Satan of Western Imperialism, represented by this hapless middle aged English teacher, to attack/destroy/humiliate Islam. If they weren't so childishly sensitive then maybe we might be able to take them seriously. But, who cares what a Teddy Bear is named, they are two centuries behind us!
That Teddy Bears are freighted with broad significance can be gleaned from the number of them that crop up in English lit., and not all of them simply children's toys, like Paddington Bear, the Berenstain Bears, etc.
Of course, Pooh Bear is perhaps the most celebrated, since there is a whole collection of stories about him and his friends that are well-known to most children and that are designed as a form of life preparation. They have such themes such as tolerance, friendship, and persistance. There are in fact scholarly analyses of Pooh's meaning and importance.
Some of you may remember Aloysius as the Teddy Bear featured in Evelyn Waugh's novel "Brideshead revisited" and in the early 1980's TV series of the same name. Since Aloysius is the favorite of the "anti-hero" the rich and dissolute Sebastian Flyte, and it represents his homo-eroticism and decadence, it plays an important role in this drama.
And now we have "Mohammed" the Bear, named by some children at a school in Khartoum, Sudan. Apparently, although the children in her class voted to give the Bear this name, the English teacher involved Gillian Gibbons (54) is being blamed for a case of blasphemy, taking the name of the Prophet (may the all merciful spare me from the wrath of the towel-headed idiots) in vain. She was sentenced to only two weeks (!) in jail for this nonsense. This is part of the Talibanization of Islamic culture, every simple little event is perceived as an attempt by the great and mighty Satan of Western Imperialism, represented by this hapless middle aged English teacher, to attack/destroy/humiliate Islam. If they weren't so childishly sensitive then maybe we might be able to take them seriously. But, who cares what a Teddy Bear is named, they are two centuries behind us!
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:08 AM
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