Althouse: "The Pittsburgh Pirates released a strongly worded statement distancing themselves from the Islamic State..."

February 28, 2015

"The Pittsburgh Pirates released a strongly worded statement distancing themselves from the Islamic State..."

"... after a photo surfaced of Mohammed Emwazi – the knife-wielding militant known as ‘Jihadi John’ – wearing a cap with the team’s insignia."

14 comments:

tim maguire said...: Well sure, if he's a fan of the Pirates, then it stands to reason the Pirates are fans of him.; 2/28/15, 7:35 AM
Wince said...: Looks like the Pittsburgh franchise is trying to get ahead of a sticky problem that might require a name change by conjuring an ugly past.

Whereas at least some Native Americans view the Red Skins team name as an oppressive slur, can a team really view present day conduct becoming their actual namesake as a slur upon the team?

The Barbary pirates, sometimes called Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, a term derived from the name of its Berber inhabitants. Their predation extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard and even South America, and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland, but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean...

The main purpose of their attacks was to capture Christian slaves for the Ottoman slave trade as well as the general Muslim market in North Africa and the Middle East.

While such raids had occurred since soon after the Muslim conquest of the region, the terms Barbary pirates and Barbary corsairs are normally applied to the raiders active from the 16th century onwards, when the frequency and range of the slavers' attacks increased. In that period Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli came under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, either as directly administered provinces or as autonomous dependencies known as the Barbary States. Similar raids were undertaken from Salé and other ports in Morocco...

Corsairs captured thousands of ships and repeatedly raided coastal towns. As a result, residents abandoned their former villages of long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy. The raids were such a problem that coastal settlements were seldom undertaken until the 19th century. From the 16th to 19th century, corsairs captured an estimated 800,000 to 1.25 million people as slaves.

Some corsairs were European outcasts and converts such as John Ward and Zymen Danseker. Hayreddin Barbarossa and Oruç Reis, the Barbarossa brothers, who took control of Algiers on behalf of the Ottomans in the early 16th century, were also notorious corsairs. The European pirates brought advanced sailing and shipbuilding techniques to the Barbary Coast around 1600, which enabled the corsairs to extend their activities into the Atlantic Ocean. The effects of the Barbary raids peaked in the early to mid-17th century.

The scope of corsair activity began to diminish in the latter part of the 17th century, as the more powerful European navies started to compel the Barbary States to make peace and cease attacking their shipping. However, the ships and coasts of Christian states without such effective protection continued to suffer until the early 19th century. Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, European powers agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely and the threat was largely subdued. Occasional incidents occurred until finally terminated by the French conquest of Algiers in 1830.; 2/28/15, 7:51 AM
Oso Negro said...: But notice that he was wearing urban degenerate thug style. I wish Al Sharpton would issue a strongly worded statement distanced the legion of perpetually aggrieved African Americans from the killing.; 2/28/15, 7:54 AM
traditionalguy said...: Maybe the Pittsburgh pitchers throw at the head of opposing batters which is Islam 101 that removes the unbowed offending heads full of bad thoughts that Mohammed said are outdated.; 2/28/15, 8:02 AM
Phil 314 said...: I'm sure many guardian readers are wondering "Pittsburg Pirates? I haven't seen them in the Premier League."; 2/28/15, 8:43 AM
Drago said...: Phil 3:14: "I'm sure many guardian readers are wondering "Pittsburg Pirates? I haven't seen them in the Premier League."

The Pirates having long ago been relegated to the "Colonial League"...; 2/28/15, 9:06 AM
Tom said...: The Pirates got their name from stealing players from other teams. When you think about how long the Pirates, Reds, Cubs (who played in the first inter-league championship game - a precursor to the World Series - with the Reds), and the dirty-bird Cardinals have been playing each other, the rivalries are quite astounding. Had the Braves remained in Milwaukee, the National League Central Division would have an even more storied past, as the Boston Braves actually began as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, then moved to Boston and became the Braves, then move on to Milwaukee, and finally settled in Atlanta.; 2/28/15, 9:49 AM
trumpintroublenow said...: He probably is not a fan and has never heard of the Pirates. Just something to wear he picked up at Goodwill that looked cool.; 2/28/15, 11:07 AM
Anonymous said...: Yeah, the Pittsburgh Pirates claim they're not supporting ISIS. Yet, have they spoken out against the Muslim Somali Pirates? Have they?

I rest my case.; 2/28/15, 11:49 AM
Chris N said...: I guess this means no 'Jihadi John' bobble-head dolls at PNC park come spring.

Crumbs!; 2/28/15, 12:13 PM
n.n said...: I saw two terrorists bumping fists. What are the implications?; 2/28/15, 12:56 PM
mccullough said...: Now they'll have to ratchet up the security at PNC.; 2/28/15, 1:12 PM
bbkingfish said...: Testing the limits of the maxim, "There's no such thing as bad publicity."; 2/28/15, 2:16 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: A predatory, marauding killer? Well, that's hardly the image we want for the Pirates!; 3/1/15, 10:18 PM