Can I Help You?

What the hell? I say hell, or rather I write hell, for the hell of it. I do not write the word hell because I am satanic. But what's the bet the CID and other power-mad loons don't see it that way? 

By now I'm sure some if not most sane individuals have heard about the travesty that was the 'Rage to the Extreme' rock concert that was held at the Palace Hotel recently. The promoters jumped through all the hoops, filled in all the forms and kissed all the ass that needed kissing - all part of the thankless task of organising events in Bahrain. 

The show went on. For a little while. Until, in their ultra-righteousness, some CID muppets climbed on stage and arrested a guitarist. Not for being untalented. Not for instigating revolution. Not for dealing drugs or starting a riot or anything. No... they arrested the poor sod because he was wearing a t-shirt that they deemed inappropriate and satanic. Seriously. This t-shirt:

What the fuck? Seriously, what the fuck? What right do the CID of all people have to judge what is and is not satanic? And do they really possess the right to arrest, confiscate, photograph and humiliate the person guilty of their subjective crime? 

The guitarist in question was Sri Lankan and was part of a group called the Mushroom Massacre. Sure, they're a hard rock outfit with a suspect name who perform self-composed 'gems' like 'Ode to a Motherfucker', but that doesn't mean they are satanic. Playing or enjoying loud and heavy music is not a gateway to the underworld, as our authorities and elected peers would have us believe. It is, like just about everything else, a matter of personal taste. 

Taste. Something CID obviously don't have. Because after being arrested and humiliated and whatnot, Bahrain's very own guitar hero left captivity wearing... wait for it... a Craig David t-shirt. Because Craig David is obviously not satanic. Sure, he sings about having sex with loads of women and his breakout hit was a song about him sneaking about with someone else's girl, but CID likes Craig, so he cant possibly be Satan's pal. 

This is how it happened, in the words of someone who was actually there:

"Someone just came on stage and said the show was over, after that there were two breaks for prayer" 

Two breaks for prayer? At a rock concert? Because we all know that if you don't pray twice after listening to rock, you're well and truly fucked. The first prayer confuses the demon. The second one suckerpunches it upside it's ugly demon head and sends it back to hell. 

The power mad CID also took it upon themselves to instruct the entire crowd to turn their t-shirts inside out. Surely they have better things to do than enforcing unwritten dress codes - y'know, like catching people who plant bombs in cars and stuff. Perhaps they have priorities. I can just imagine the list in CID HQ:

CID Most Wanted:

1) Satan

2) People who like Satan

3) Witches

4) Alcohol drinkers

5) Pork eaters

6) Black t-shirt wearers

7) Runaway workers 

8) Language abusers

9) Gang Rapists

10) Terrorists

Have they not learnt that stupidity of this magnitude gets a whole lot of international attention? Type 'Bahrain' into Google News and you'll get a combination of articles about a.) Formula Bloody One and b.) A guitarist being arrested for a really, really stupid reason. This is the impression we are sending the rest of the world. We race fast cars and arrest people for wearing mildly amusing t-shirts. 

The authorities should be embarrassed and the CID officers responsible should be disciplined - unless we want the world to believe that Bahrain's best crimefighters are also the all-new Morality Police. First we were being compared to China. Now we're the all-new Saudi too. Up next: North Korea?