Enemies of Reason Poundshop potshots at the media moral maze.

The right kind of fundamentalist fruitcake

What you have to remember is that there are two kinds of funamentalists in this world: brown ones and pink ones.

The brown ones can be dismissed by the Mail and its chums as evil, loony, dangerous and bad. The pink ones can have their views represented as rational, spiritual, insightful and decent.

Imagine if a bunch of Muslims had demanded that Starbucks be boycotted - you can picture the whirlwind of foaming frenzy. No matter how much of a minority these people were, they would be portrayed as representing the entirety of Islam. Littlejohn would get out the green crayons; Mad Mel would scribble her poisonous words in blood. The Express would probably implode under the strain of sheer anti-Muslim hatred. Commenters would froth and gibber about how terrible these brown folk are, trying to dictate to US what we can and can't do.

But... what if a bunch of Xtian wingnuts were to demand that Starbucks be boycotted? Do you think they would be laughed off, ridiculed and attacked - or would their views be portrayed as reasonable, intellectual, spiritual and important, rather than the minority whoop-whoop strand of their faith they really are?

No need to guess! It's happened!

Yes, Starbucks are polluting our children with pictures of breasts! Real female breasts, like the ones you see on the Daily Mail's website all the time?* Er no, cartoon breasts on a fictional half-woman, half-fish. Get your fins out for the lads!

‘The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” complained Mark Dice, founder of the group Resistance.

Let's forget for a moment the anatomical complexity of a mermaid 'spreading her legs'. Resistance are, let's say, catching the bus from the bonkers side of the street. But their somewhat bizarre views and opinions aren't dismissed as a few nutters with a ridiculous agenda; oh no. These are the right kind of nutters.

* As I've said before, the Mail isn't shy about the terribly corrupting effects on our poor children of the female body when it comes to its website, though it steers clear of anything other than the most 'artistic' nudey shots in the dead-tree version.

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