Andrew Brietbart has a fascinating OpEd about a film opening the precise moment India’s 9/11 was being unleashed –
On the evening of Nov. 26, the biggest names in Bollywood walked the red carpet at the Bombay premiere of “The President Is Coming,” a comedy about six 20-somethings vying to win the right to shake hands with President Bush.
Among those in attendance at the star-studded premiere Wednesday evening was Bollywood’s “new heartthrob” Imran Khan, who proudly posed for paparazzi donning a T-shirt with Mr. Bush’s face sandwiched between the words “International Terrorist.”
…At the precise moment Mr. Khan and hundreds of others making their fortunes in the multibillion-dollar Indian movie business were watching “The President Is Coming,” only a few blocks away, 10 20-something Muslim extremists began a horrific three-day terror spree.
In the ironic, postmodern world, you earn accolades by tarring a disagreeable politician with the epithet “terrorist.” By contrast, had Mr. Khan worn a t-shirt critical of Bin Laden & his supporters, and stepped out of his comfy limo at the wrong time just a few blocks away, the word “terrorist” would have taken on a considerably more literal meaning.
Agree 100%.
FAME FAME FAME vapid!
Imran Khan should be ashamed of himself, especially as someone raised mostly in the U.S. I’m sick of this ‘compare Bush to Hitler’ crap coming from liberals.
Wow! That was pretty ballsy!
He looks like Bert, from Bert & Ernie(Sesame St.)
George W Bush is responsible for the death of thousands of innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan. His foreign policies have killed many many more people than these terrorists. The US has killed more than three times that number of people than were killed in 9/11. Just because you use a military helicopter with a country’s flag on it rather than a smuggled AKA 47 doesn’t mean that you aren’t a terrorist.
Nice. Are tools like Imran still going to wear these idiotic T shirts after Jan 20 2009 ?
Not that I agree with the inane t-shirt, but how many degrees of separation before one is not called a terrorist? And what is a person’s culpability for violence on innocents by explicit commission and (intentional) omission?
And fascinating is certainly one way to describe the opinions of Andrew “drudge bitch” Breitbart, and the opinion columns of the Moon times.
But will an actor wearing a t-shirt make a difference? Is he bringing some kind of world-changing awareness with his tight,tucked-in t-shirt?
Vinod,
do you wish to test your comparison of the Mumbai terrorists with Bush? I believe that would require some quantification. BTW, I do not agree with the hyperbole but being a terrible interventionist American president, with two terms to do your damage, is far worse than being a single terrorist. I wish mr. khan had chosen a differently worded statement that might have conveyed a more accurate and damning message than what was offered.
I think this attack will change the perspective of the wealthy hate America crowd, most of whom come from families that became wealthy by embedding themselves in the socialist spoil system. There have been other attacks on Mumbai that have been just as bad but no one who matters takes public transport. See the rich artsy crowd start changing their tune just like the Guardian editorial page after the tube bombing.
Bush should be tried as a war criminal. Watch Taxi to the Dark Side, listen to Habeas Schmabeas, read the recent Harper’s article (and the book it’s based upon). I’m not necessarily disagreeing with whether this move by a Bollywood icon was in
illunfortunate taste (but purely coincidental, come on) at the time, or whether it were the right message for someone like him to send out, or if it were effective, or whatever. But come on.What do you suggest? Do you prefer him not to speak his mind?
I agree with dialectics, there is nothing fascinating about that oped!
9 · bess said
Now, now, bess, polite society demands that not everybody can satisfy your demands for the Salman Khan look all the time.
Not when if it’s just a fashion statement.
You know me too well, Rahulio. My first thought was -Ah, shut up and take your shirt off already. (cue wind machine and music)
definitely a candidate for “Worst Timing of the Year” award. Needs to start lifting too
Considering his career choice, I would be more impressed with his social commentary if he swapped Dawood’s pic for Bush.
There’s plenty of silliness going all around. And people are using these horrific events to forward their pet theories. In Brietbart’s case, it’s Bush is the best. His fascinating article claims, “Indians lean 45 percent to 34 percent in favor of Mr. Bush.†Since we’re all about stats, I’d like to see some numbers on Iraq war’s popularity in India.
19 · Amol said
Breitbart’s opinions are not worth the paper they are printed on. And this is a strong indictment given that the paper is the pretty piss poor Washington Times.
i own that shirt and love it. i would wear it often around NYC. he had horrible timing to wear that shirt when he did, but that doesn’t count against the truth of that shirt’s message.
If only he’d worn his other Bush shirt. “This act of terrorism brought to you by…”
“Disagreeable”? Bush did a tad more damage than peeing in the punch bowl at the holiday party. And who knows? Maybe Imran was referring to all the cool toys Bush bought for the ISI in its war
ofon terror against the Tolly-bawn (wink, WINK!)I just don’t get the point of these comparisons. Either you think that these international terrorists have won the war of public opinion and you envy their successful strategy that has abandoned mockery of them from the public sphere, in which case you should just man up and admit it, OR these international terrorists are so far outside the pale of admitted reasonable behavior that wearing an Osama T-shirt is about as pointless as a rubber yellow bracelet, or a Facebook group protesting the Mumbai attacks.
how is last week’s events “india’s 9/11”?
25 · No von Mises said
The only explanation I can think of is that they are referring to some sort of Gujarati lunar calendar.
well, bess and rahul…if you sponser someone who then sponsers someone who commits an act of terror…oh never mind, i’m sick of this sonal shah debate. but i do look forward to all the “obama-terrorist” t-shirts. someone’s going to owe palin an apology big time.
27 · Manju said
I guess dialectics had it right, after all.
I wish you’d stick to Bill Cosby-speak.
War is terrorism on a bigger budget.
George Bush tried to do the right thing in Iraq, but failed miserably on execution. It would have been wonderful if he had created a functional democracy in the Middle East. His was a failure of reach exceeding his grasp. To brand him Hitler is unfair. If Bush were an egotistical dictator he would not be releasing the reins of power to Obama so readily.
Actors are mostly stupid. Why should this idiot be different?
Hey, you know what? Did you ever think about it like this? That, like, the US is a terrorist just like bin Laden because we drop bombs on innocent Iraqis and sht? I mean, doesn’t that truly blow your mind? Dude. We are so totally the same. Which is why every person at my college would just as soon live in a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan or Pakistan, or whatever, as San Diego. Because they are exactly the same. Nope, no difference there. Can’t see even one. They may be bad, but we are just as bad. Which proves I, am, like empathetic and sht.
Okay, sorry, I was channeling the brainiac actor with the dummy post-modern t-shirt. I heard he’s originally a Californian? Good job there, Californian Public Schools.
brooklynbrown: where do you wear your bin Laden is a terrorist t-shirts?
32 · MD said
Was T-shirt chic popular during the times of Kissinger?
Pictures of actors trying to be “political” and “cool” are hillarious. Someone should compile a coffee-table book filled with them. And on the cover, put this douchebag as well as the photo of Ryan Gosling wearing his trendy, artificially-worn, ‘Darfur’ shirt.
Bush is way more than just a disagreeable politician.
And while Deepak Chopra may veer off into ridiculousness, he did mention some points on CNN–such as how others would see some acts by governments killing innocent civilians, or tactfully allowing for such things would also be seen as terrorism.
His main idea about the gas prices is something Thomas Friedman and others have also pointed out.
Frankly, I do get peeved at only certain type of people being classified as “terrorists.”
The fanatics going around killing Christians–they should be called terrorists as well.
And for many, a man who has caused the killing of thousands of civilians in the guise of a “government” and “war” is also a terrorist. A man who, along with many of his top officials, should be convicted of WAR CRIMES, and completely disregarded his own country’s rules about detainment and Torture–is a terrorist.
And they have every right to think that way. I’ve seen some similar shirts worn in the U.S. as well.
imraan khan is absolutely gorgeous. btown is growing some yummy hot young guys these days like imraan and ranbir kapoor.
I find “political” shirts like that, regardless of what country they’re worn in, about as insightful as a shirt with a “Racism Is Bad” slogan printed onto it.
that’s not a good picture of him, btw. he looks more like colin farrell in better pics.
Lurker wins this thread, hands down.
A coffee table book about actor-political-t-shirt chic would be hilarious. Right and Left, both. Because if there is anything with which we can all agree, it’s that actors and musicians are damned annoying, what with their carbon offsets for private jets and other such stupidities.
(Also, who are the Twilight tweenies who find that sort of young man attractive? Oh, I guess I’m just too old and it’s been awhile since I found that sort of slouchy, er, concaveness attractive…..sorry, but, if he can wear the shirt I can criticize…..)
@Rahul, Bess and Manju,
I dont even know why we all bring Bush into the picture, thus some how glorifying another country’s leader unnecessarily. At the end of the day shouldn’t we all just shut the f* up and take care of our terrorist issues on our own – in a manner we think is fit and show some decisiveness and authority for a change? As for Bush being a terrorist… well all he did was to show the world that attacks on his country wont be tolerated. Perhaps in hindsight what he did was wrong. But how many times can we proudly say that we were also that decisive about something?? Terrorism is nothing new, people have always been fighting and calling the other self interest group a bunch of villains, since time immemorial.
(http://surya2cents.blogspot.com/)
Thank you, Surya, for putting me in the middle of the sandwich ; )
oh, I know why…
Surya wins this thread, hands down.
His t-shirt also should have pictured bush & dick cheney, rove (the biggest idiot) and last but not least, bin laden.
this thread is not yet won. i want some more snark.
Well Bess … thanks for listening to my 2 cents! Isn’t that ultimately the combined wish of all blogaholics? 😉 And er, thanks for letting me win with my first every post 😀 Flattery always wins hand down I say. And and for, ” “I dont even know why we all bring Bush into the picture” oh, I know why… ” I would love to be enlightened on that.
(http://surya2cents.blogspot.com/)
Well… how do I edit my posted comments? I am that much of a blog virgin
42 · bess said
Maybe Imraan is just fervently anti second-wave?
NVM, give us some then.
Don’t touch it. Perfection is overrated except when it comes to Rahul.
at least he’s fervent.
Vinod — All SM readers love you, think you are beautiful, and have great hair. But why do you choose such inane news sources? Belmont club, Drudge, and now Brietbart? How can Vinod remain so brilliant, such a star in the firmament, while reading such garbage?
Breitbart wrote: Mr. Khan – a member of India’s Muslim minority..Mr. Khan – chose not to mock international terrorists who kill in the name of Allah. He and his co-religionists know the deadly results for those who do
Really. Imran Khan Pal, son of Anil Pal, has some greater insight into terrorism and “deadly results” because of his mother’s faith? So let’s have Salman Khan negotiate with the Lashkar-e-taibba. After a brief exposure to his perfect pecs, they will sing Vande Mataram.
(Also, MD’s comment (in paranthesis) is on the mark. Can’t the Khan clan produce someone more .. substantial?)
42 · bess said
But only Rahul is slamming bush.