"Palestinians in the West Bank town revered by Christians as Jesus' birthplace have been thronging to the adjacent Aida refugee camp for a glimpse of the 11-day-old infant many are calling a "miracle baby."
The boy has gained attention for being born with a large birthmark across his cheek that roughly forms in Arabic letters the name of his uncle, Ala, a Hamas militant killed by Israeli troops after he was suspected of having planned a suicide bombing." ([url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD...]Read more[/url] )
I couldn't help but laugh as I read this. I wonder if the thousands of people who have flocked to witness this so-called miracle baby actually take this seriously. Well, I guess they do, otherwise they wouldn't bother travelling to Bethlehem to see it. I kind of wish the baby was born on Christmas day, just to add to the hype. But, as it is, the child is still being heralded as some sort of miracle, and the birthmark has been viewed as "a divine message of support for the Palestinians against Israel." Wow. Maybe it's just me, but it seems as though they might be reading just a little bit too much into this. I have a diamond-shaped birthmark on the bottom of my foot, I wonder what that means.
I feel really sorry for this baby. He will be used to encourage war and propagate religious falsity. Claiming divine action, the family of this child, as well as those who support the claim, will likely commercialize on the child's birthmark in an effort to encourage the Palestinian cause. I wish I could convince the whole world of the absurdity of this and any other claim of divine intervention, but people will choose to believe whatever they find comfort in. Obviously, seeing the birthmark that vaguely resembles the name of the baby's uncle, and the subsequent claim of divine support for their cause as seen through this birthmark, is comforting to the family and to the thousands of Palestinians who have visited the child. Perhaps this [i]is[/i] some sort of message from God in the form of a birthmark on the face of a newborn baby, but I see little good that can come of it. Poor baby, what a world to be born into.
So watch, we'll find out it's actually a tatoo and they're using this as a political ploy.
How can people be this stupid?
posted by: Kai (reply)
post date: 12.02.03 (9:17 pm)
it's still a neat story, at least :)
"Tragically, a nation that was created by intellectuals and visionaries has now been completely taken over by venal corporate gangsters, delusional Christian fruitcakes and hopelessly shallow Texas shit-kickers." -Tom Robbins
