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Convicted, 'Lyrical Terrorist' Stops Getting Inkby Zoe Strimpel
Buzz about the "lyrical terrorist" Samina Malik has quieted following her conviction last week. In the lead-up there were angry comment pieces about a silly young girl getting the heavy treatment when her ravings should just be dismissed. Shirley Dent in the Times raged: "No plot revealed. No terrorist network uncovered. Just some embarrassing and juvenile fantasies about jihad and beheadings, laid bare to the world. "Yet bewilderingly, every legal representative involved in the case — judge, prosecutor, defence — joined in the wide-eyed credence given to this idiotic young woman. They should have known better." Now, following the conviction, the general opinion seems to be that it's best to leave Ms. Malik's case alone — that she deserves neither publicity nor public condemnation. Still, this attitude is a little surprising, given the gruesome — and all too familiar — nature of her words. Interesting, then, to turn to tabloid comment forums. The following comment is indicative of a very different attitude. The following was posted in November, when the case was brought to court, on the Web site of the Sun (the British tabloid, that is, not The New York Sun): "what a "poem"!!!!! cor what a stonker eh!!?!?! ***** Heres 1 There once was a girl called Samina ***** Catchier eh? ***** This may not be the high-flown argument seen in the comment pages of the broadsheets, but it makes its point succinctly enough.
London Arts & Letters Homepage 
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