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The Regensburg address: reason amid certainty : Comments
By Michael Walsh, published 10/10/2006The key themes of Pope Benedict's recent speech will outlast the furore provoked by his comments on Islam.
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Whilst I am in general agreement with what you say I suspect that you might be reading too much into the reaction.
The illiterate Muslims who protested had been exposed to BBC reports indicating that the quotes from the Emperor were in fact quotes from the Pope. They live in a culture that expresses outrage quite freely. People from other religions in their culture also act in a similar way.
The fact that they cling to the idea that the Pope did something offensive is an understandable rationalisation of their initial reaction. People don't like to admit that they got tricked. At least one person in this discussion seems to have taken a similar approach looking for new angles to find something wrong with what the Pope said so what chance did the poor illiterate peasants have? The other factor besides illiteracy, and consequent inability to read the speech, handicapping the mobs is that some of their leaders would use the emotion as a tool to gain personal power and obscure the fact that the Pope was quoting someone else in a speech or attempt to persuade them that that doesn't matter. It may be a case of culture, human nature and politics rather than a powerful lobby.
Great article Michael.