The surprising truth about Rage Boy, America's hated poster-boy of Islamic radicalism

The Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 11/10/07 | Patrick French

[gridlock]

Don't you hate Islamic Rage Boy? 'MoBlows', writing on the Jihad Watch website, certainly does.

"I just want to put my fist down his throat," he says. The 'boy' in question rose to prominence earlier this year when he was photographed at a demonstration in Srinagar, capital of Indian-administered Kashmir.

Later, he was spotted waving his fist at another camera during a protest against the awarding of a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie.

With his straggly beard and big shouting mouth, Rage Boy certainly looks like a threat.

His scary face now appears on boxer shorts and bumper stickers, and he scores more than a million results on Google.

A regular spoof diary appears online in his name and he has come to stand for all that is most frightening about radical Islam.

(snip)

Arriving at a simple, traditional three-storey Kashmiri house, I was taken up steep wooden steps by the light of a gas lamp to the top of the building. There, standing in an empty room, dressed in a salwar kameez and zip-up cardigan, with crooked teeth and a quizzical look on his face, was Islamic Rage Boy.

Shakeel Ahmad Bhat is a 29-year-old failed militant. Over two days, sitting cross-legged at the home he shares with his mother and smiling shyly much of the time, Shakeel told me, through an interpreter, his life story and why he had come to wave his fists at the cameras

(snip)

[airborne]

“I heard that planes had crashed into the Twin Towers. I thought it was very bad that so many civilians had been killed. But afterwards I was told it was America’s own government that had arranged the attack.”

How could that have happened? “Money can make wonders.”

But why would America have wanted to do such a thing?

“There is a strong lobby in the USA that opposes President Bush. He wanted to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. He had to justify that to his own people.”

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One picture showed what looked like an American preacher holding a microphone while wearing a Rage Boy baseball cap. Shakeel stopped on an image of his face superimposed on a pig.

He looked profoundly shocked and upset by this picture. What did he feel?

“I surely get hurt when I see these pictures,” he said. “This is terrorism for me. The people who do this are showing their own culture, so why do they tell us that we are uncivilised?’

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Rage Boy is a tool and a useful idiot. Like many Americans on the left are. (Rosie and Sean Penn come to mind)

[angkor]

Conspiracy theory is an expression of a mental illness that cannot tolerate ambiguity.

[Earthdweller]

"Because they surround themeslves with other people who lack knowledge of the outside world."

This describes the audience of 'The View' perfectly.

[Hot Tabasco]

I'm left with the desire to get the boy a schoolbook and possibly some dental work

Yea, me too. I actually felt sorry for him and the pathetic life he has ahead of him....

[SampleMan]

Shakeel Ahmad Bhat is a 29-year-old failed militant. Over two days, sitting cross-legged at the home he shares with his mother and smiling shyly much of the time, Shakeel told me, through an interpreter, his life story and why he had come to wave his fists at the cameras

He's 29 and lives with his mother. That's all I really need to know.

[Earthdweller]

I actually felt sorry for him and the pathetic life he has ahead of him....

If the commie leftists capitalize on his fame first...you can bet on it. He will never change his victim-hood status.

[Doohickey]

WTF with this headline? “America’s Hated Poster Boy?” I’m American. I’m relatively well informed. Never heard of him, never seen any merchandise. And best of all, the author never actually talks to any actual Americans.

[Flintlock]

He’s still worth a bullet, I guess.

[13Sisters76]

...this looks a bit like developmental disability to me...

[Earthdweller]

Possibly..hard to tell. I wonder if this is one of those bizarre hollyweird attempts at raising up a Cindy Sheehan type “star” for the left.

[Daffynition]

Your collection of pix is OUTSTANDING! LOL

I scream!

[muawiyah]

That wasn’t an unarmed crowd ~ are you crazy? That was in Kashmir and it was a “patrol” ~ be glad you don’t live in Kashmir.

[George W. Bush]

It's kind of sad that a grown man believes such silliness and can be incited so easily.

He's a symbol of what we must overcome around the world: poorly educated young men with no real future, the prey and tool of demagogues. It is not only their Religion Of Peace™ but their circumstances in life that can turn them into terrorists.

Normally, I wouldn't think much of making Rage Boy a symbol of ridicule but it might actually be helpful over time, just like the cheese-eating surrender monkey thing was with the French, in that it might make more thoughtful Muslims consider whether the face of Islamic rage actually represents them as a religion and a culture and forces them to make a choice about how they present themselves, how they conduct their religious life, and therefore how they are perceived by the world.

[kalee]

Gag! Who in their right mind would marry him? He lives with his mother, he needs to see a dentist and he’s moslem. I could go on but I think I’ve nailed the top three reasons NOT to marry him. Of course some nut some place would probably do so anyway.

[Shooter 2.5]

Wait a couple more weeks. You can read the posts of the mentally ill Freepers as they try to explain their views about the JFK assassination. You won’t believe the idiocy.

[johnny7]

[George W. Bush]

He’s still worth a bullet, I guess.

I'd rather see some Christian missionaries take the young man in hand and teach him of the real Prince of Peace, teach him some non-slanted history, maybe help him travel to the West so he's not just some sad tool of clerical demagogues.

"Islamic, poor and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

[Earthdweller]

BTTT

[Mr Rogers]

I'm left with the desire to get the boy a schoolbook and possibly some dental work.

And a shave!

No one with a beard like that will ever be taken seriously!

[Earthdweller]

Any hair with that much curl should not be shown in public....

This is a verse from the book of ED. It's right next to the one about weighing less than your refrigerator and refraining from booger picking.