Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling responded on Sunday with mocking criticism to Rupert Murdoch’s recent anti-Muslim comments on Twitter. Murdoch made the comments following the murderous jihadi attacks on the Charlie Hebdo Paris offices and the bloody hostage-taking incident at a kosher supermarket in the same city.
Following the jihadist attacks, the News Corp chairman tweeted comments on Saturday, expressing his views about the incident. He tweeted , saying that although most “Moslems” were peaceful, all must be held responsible “until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer.”
Rupert Murdoch @rupertmurdoch
Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible. 9:07 PM – 9 Jan 2015
Rupert Murdoch @rupertmurdoch
Big jihadist danger looming everywhere from Philippines to Africa to Europe to US. Political correctness makes for denial and hypocrisy. 9:10 PM – 9 Jan 2015
Although Murdoch’s first tweet and the second in which he criticized “political correctness” were retweeted and “favorited” a few thousand times, others found the comments offensive and offered criticism. But the criticism of the media mogul’s comments by Rowling is attracting media attention partly because of the author’s profile and partly because it encapsulates what many who criticized the comments found offensive about them.
In response to Murdoch’s comments, Rowling said that peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for the actions of a few radical militants anymore than she could be held responsible for Murdoch’s actions, or Christians for the irascible actions of a few fundamentalist Christians.
Rowling tweeted sarcastically, “The Spanish Inquisition was my fault… oh, and Jim Bakker.”
Jim Bakker is the American televangelist who launched attacks on Muslims in his New Year message, and declared that God told him that the U.S. was losing foreign wars because of government and popular support for policies that break God’s Ten Commandments, such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and secularization.
Rowling went on to support her argument that peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for the actions of a few militant extremists by citing recent studies that found that about “eight times more Muslims have been killed by so-called Islamic terrorists than non-Muslims.”
J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling · 7h 7 hours ago .@peeyushmalhotra Eight times more Muslims have been killed by so-called Islamic terrorists than non-Muslims. http://ow.ly/H7G2n
J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling · 8h 8 hours ago .@dom209 The Spanish Inquisition was my fault, as is all Christian fundamentalist violence. Oh, and Jim Bakker.
J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling · 8h 8 hours ago I was born Christian. If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I’ll auto-excommunicate. http://ow.ly/H7Eps
She commended the Muslim employee at the kosher supermarket in Paris who reportedly hid Jewish customers from the attackers for his “courage and compassionate actions,” adding that his action “reminds us what ‘humanity’ ought to mean.”
Lassana Bathily hid Jewish customers in a basement cold room when the attackers arrived.
[Image: J.k. Rowling, by Daniel Ogren, Wikimedia Commons ]
