Friday, December 5, 2008

LEGO - STYLE ITF, SPARKS OUTRAGE

A Lego-style figurine resembling an Islamic terrorist strapped with explosives and made by a small American company has caused an uproar among Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The controversial miniature figure, created by Seattle-based Will Chapman as part of his BrickArms military fighters line, is a bearded militant with a face-covering hood, a tiny toy assault rifle, a little grenade launcher and plastic bombs that can be attached to an explosives belt.
The character is called "Bandit — Mr. White" and sells for $14.
The jarring toy has outraged the British Muslim organization known as the Ramadhan Foundation, which called the figurine "absolutely disgusting," according to Sky News.
The foundation's chief executive, Mohammed Shafiq, complained that the toy is "glorifyin Terrorism."
"I don't think there's any difference between someone that shouts hatred through a megaphone and someone that creates a doll that glorifies terrorists," he told Sky."As a parent myself, I'm going to teach my children respect for the law and respect for each and every community. These are the lessons parents should be giving to their children — not lessons about weapons and violence."
Chapman, a father of three who operates the company from the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Washington., bristles at the notion that he is celebrating terrorism.
"We do not sell an 'Osama bin Laden' miniature figure," he wrote in an e-mail to FOXNews.com. "We sell a generic bad guy minifigure with a Ninja scarf head wrap, the same minifigure that we have been selling for over a year now, with no associated 'outrage.'
"It does not represent anything; it is simply a bandit — a bad guy for the good guys to battle. Attempt to assign it a 'personality' only serves to create controversy that does not exist."

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