Posted on 10/09/2004 11:03:24 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
This was Billy Connolly, speaking this week about the British hostage Ken Bigley:
"Perhaps I shouldn't be saying this... aren't you the same as me, don't you wish they would just get on with it?"
The Yinster's word clearly carries a fair weight with Islamic extremist groups, because reports have come in this afternoon that Ken Bigley's captors have finally killed him.
Or rather - Billy Connolly killed him. The terrorists just held the knife. Unwitting pawns in Connolly's ongoing campaign of terror.
For years the west has suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of Connolly; and to make it worse, we have had to watch him stand there hooting and cackling with ill-disguised glee as we writhe in pain and torment.
The man is a monster. He must be stopped, before anyone else dies.
And yet, to brand Connolly a "monster" is perhaps to suggest that he is acting without rationale - that he has no motive beyond the raw desire to cause suffering in others. Whereas, if we look closer, we can see what drives Connolly to inflict such pain, and what drove him, in his latest act of cruelty, to insist upon the beheading of Ken Bigley...
The reason is simple: Billy Connolly hates our freedom.
He sees our civil liberties, our way of life, our Democracy, our freedom of speech, and it burns him up inside. Nothing short of the death of Ken Bigley would quench his fury.
For how long this will satisfy him, it is impossible to say. With luck, it'll last him till Christmas - when he'll probably lash out at our freedoms once more, with a vicious 2 hour special from the Palladium.
God help us all.
I've never heard of Billy Connolly
For that alone, I'm willing to give him a pass.
I've never heard of Boondock Saints.
Maybe that explains why I have never heard of Billy Connolly.
You'd STILL give him a pass, even though he could care less about the victim who was beheaded, and was anxious for the terrorists to just get on with it? I guess the poor man's suffering & lingering & pleading for his life were boring Billy. Oh, it's Bigley again, pleading for his life. Can't the terrorists just get on with it? Do I have to hear this man Bigley's name every day? I'm going to go bloody bonkers if I have to hear Bigley's name one more time. /heavy sarcasm
When someone's life was on the line - and we all knew that Bigley would eventually be murdered - it was extremely cruel and callous and heartless for Billy to say "I wish they'd just get on with it". I find no humor in that at all. Not black humor, not gallows humor, not twisted humor - just the absence of a soul. Sorry to be so sensitive, but I cried when Bigley was murdered. I wonder how Billy reacted. Did he say "Well, finally! Now we can all rest easier"? I wonder what he actually said and thought.
It made me cry also. I can't imagine the horror that man endured for all that time, just waiting.
Then to escape, but be caught again. It's just awful.
The existence of people who can be intimidated by such demonstrations is the reason they happen. Bill Connolly is not among the intimidated. This particular victim was totally intimidated, and a perfect candidate for the role assigned to him by his murderers: stirring up the emotions of fear and despair among their adversaries.
Several of these posts provide good examples of the terrorist's hopefully limited success in achieving that goal. Connolly's statement was imprudent, but it would have been good if the victim said it to his captors (as one or more of the Italian hostages did - - at least the substance of their response to the murderous threats was equivalent to the sentiment expressed in that statement).
I would say it went a good deal farther than that. Connolly had no atrocity of an execution waiting for him, but his odious performance was a lesser atrocity in its own right.
It is one thing to sit safely in front of a computer and suggest bold statements from a hostage and quite another thing to do it.
From tv reports yesterday, Connolly did apologize profusely to the family. It seems also that Bigley escaped his ten captors and hid out in the town overnight, only to be recaptured the next morning and then beheaded. Horrible.
OK, you changed my mind. I regret standing up for him. I think what he said was wrong, but he still shouldn't be trashed too badly given the nature of his work and his apology. I'd have to lsiten to what he actually said to decide how bad it was. Did he say "I hope he gets killed because he deserves it"? That would be absolutely unforgivable. Or did he say, "The islamist terrorists killed his two friends already, it's obvious they have every intention of killing him too and stringing this out to demoralize us as much as possible, just get it over with."
My prayers for the departed victim and his family.
Just for the sake of honesty and accuracy – topics close to Mr Connolly’s heart (where do you find an emoticon for ‘derision’ when you really need one?)
His service in the Parachute Regiment consisted of a (short) spell in the Territorial Army (National Guard for US Freepers). Specifically, he was in 15th ( Scottish) TA Battalion. He did his eight qualifying jumps before getting summarily canned – for being as big a dickhead then as he his now.
No active service and certainly no combat, followed by a lifelong, Kerry-esque career of mocking and vilifying the armed forces. Other than that, he was a terrific soldier.
Fortunately for him he’ll get over his little gaffe with the help of his wife, Mrs (oops, I should say Doctor) Pamela Stephenson-Connolly, a sometime, thirdrate comedienne and part-time public voyeusse, currently licensed to practice Californian psychobabble.
I can't find that at all. All I found was a brief article stating that Billy is refusing to apologize for his "jokes":
In another article, he says that the remarks were falsely attributed to him:
Yet, in another article, people were in the audience when he made those remarks:
"..Connolly's statement was imprudent.."
I would say it went a good deal farther than that. Connolly had no atrocity of an execution waiting for him, but his odious performance was a lesser atrocity in its own right.
It is one thing to sit safely in front of a computer and suggest bold statements from a hostage and quite another thing to do it.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
I suppose Mark Steyn's editor would agree with you. In this post, Steyn says in somewhat greater detail, what I was trying to say.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1241903/posts
Steyn Online
October 11, 2004
Mark Steyn
THE QUALITY OF MERSEY
Today, for the first time in all my years with the Telegraph Group, I had a column pulled. The editor expressed concerns about certain passages and we were unable to reach agreement, so on this Tuesday something else will be in my space.
I’d written about Kenneth Bigley, seized with two American colleagues but unlike them not beheaded immediately. Instead, sensing that they could exploit potential differences within "the coalition of the willing", for three weeks the Islamists played a cat-and-mouse game with Mr Bigley's life, in which Fleet Street, the British public, governments in London and Dublin and Islamic lobby groups in the United Kingdom were far too willing to participate. As I always say, in this war the point is not whether you’re sad about the dead people, but what you’re prepared to do about it. What "Britain" – from Ken Bigley’s brother to the Foreign Secretary – did was make it more likely that other infidels will meet his fate.
I suppose the Telegraph felt the column was a little heartless. Well, this is a war, and misplaced mawkishness will only lead to more deaths. In The Face Of The Tiger, I wrote as follows about the first anniversary of 9/11, when coverage was threatening to go the way of Princess Di and mounds of teddy bears:
(see the link for further details)
Thanks for the update and your comments.
Never heard of him.
he doesnt need to give an apology,i'm sure over half of britain think like this. people love making a fuss over so smaller matter. its just a chance for the papers to have a go at him and make money.what a waste of time. booeing somebody is just childish , if u dont agree with the joke,dont do anything.
just because he was honest about what he thought, doesnt give anyone the right to hinder him
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.