Click pic for a quick yodel
An Austrian court has recently fined a citizen for yodeling while mowing his lawn, according to a report in The Kronen Zeitung newspaper.
The citizen, 63-year-old Helmut G., was told by the court that his yodeling offended his next-door Muslim neighbors, who accused him of trying to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin. In Muslim tradition, the Muezzin is the chosen person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer.
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Developed in the Central Alps as a method of communication between alpine mountaineers or between alpine villages, the yodel later became part of the region’s traditional lore and musical expression.
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Unfortunately for Helmut G., his neighbors were in the middle of a prayer when he started to yodel. The Kronen Zeitung reported that he was fined 800 Euros after judges ruled that he could have tried to offend his neighbors and ridicule their belief.Helmut G. clarified that “It was not my intention to imitate or insult them. I simply started to yodel a few tunes because I was in such a good mood.”
Wow, an 800 Euro fine? Can’t imagine that he’ll be yodelling much for a while, how could he possibly be in a good mood after that?
The frak’n Muslims are living in AUSTRIA. Live with it you bearded douche bags.
A little more info from the comments:
7. Im very right-wing, but….
There is more to this story than is being reported.This was a “noise war ” that lasted a year. The Muslim stopped his noises at midday, the Austrian persisted.It was not a one-time occurence, but an ongoing noise war.The Muslim also did not sue, but rather called the Police for his neighbor making noise after the Muslim stopped for weeks.
JudeaSamariaForever, Jerusalem (12/15/10)
Not being Muslim is insulting to Islam so maybe we should be fined for that. #itm
Muslims are to Europe what Evangelical Christians are to the U.S.A.
Oh, come on now! Yodeling all by itself sucks, and bad yodeling is a crime against humanity.
I’ll give the Muslim a pass on this one.
Bobbo – first of all, congratulations on your fortitude in plowing through the comments. What a miserable system! I’ll take your word for it since I do not have the patience to open each comment and look for something worthwhile; some minuscule sign of intelligence. What gets me, though, is the statement: “…judges ruled that he COULD [my emphasis] have tried to offend his neighbors and ridicule their belief.”
Hell, I COULD have. And might. But, if a judge is going to fine me 1 Euro or a thousand, I want a guilty verdict. Not a “might have” decision!
By the way – I’ve lived in several Islamic cultures and I’ve never heard yodeling that could be mistaken for or even approximate the call of the muezzin. So, as far as the statement “trying to mock and imitate the call of the Muezzin” – I don’t buy it. On the other hand, it wouldn’t take too long for yodeling to drive me round the bend, too.
Now if someone could combine yodeling with rap I’d really have something to hate.
Animby–every once in a while its good to go thru a few other blogs comments just to compare with DU. As bad as DU is, DU is still usually better.
Another good comment was: “Only two things offend Muslims: Everything and Nothing.”
Anyhoo, I did the search because the linked article was, as all too often the case, not helpful in understanding what happened. I “hope” the “could have” standard is as wrong as the notion of “being sued” or for mocking the Muessin. A noise war makes much more sense as would a conviction for THAT.
Meanwhile, being anti-theist, yea-the Muslims should be made fun of at every opportunity=but not “in law.”
bobbo,
Thanks for filling-in the details. These ginned-up stories that get spread by bloggers RARELY are ever what they seem.
I am pro-Muslim but I have to say, the “call to prayer” is a pain in the neck.
It’s exotic in the movies when the guy climbs the minaret and calls it out to the neighborhood to come and pray. It’s a beautiful song and _that_ would be great.
But, in reality, the call is blared a disorienting distorted volume. At least where I’ve lived, the mosques invest in powerful amplifiers pumped through the lowest quality military-style announcement speakers.
If a mosque gets built next to your house, it’s enough reason to sell and move.
Greg Allen–you are a good man. I think the same way with Catholic Bell Ringing, or The Star Spangled Banner. All this noise does have its place, but it is normally a place far enough away so that it can be ignored if desired, or appreciated in the background as wanted.
Freedom: leaving other people alone. Not appreciated by the devoted nor their gods. Tyrants all.
bobbo,
Thanks.
I totally agree with your sentiment.
It’s a paradox, but for freedom to work, people need to have self-restraint (aka common courtesy.)
That being said, our church plays bells on Sunday morning.
In our defense, we are in a religion-zoned area that has a number of big and old houses of worship which, I’m pretty sure, pre-date any residences that got tucked in here-and-there.
Once, I lived in India in a split Muslim & Hindu area. The two communities would get along fine for years and then periodically erupt in horrific violence.
The two communities knew each other well — friends really — so they understood how to perfectly tick each other off.
The Hindus would loudly and relentlessly sing songs to various gods in the direction of the Muslims. The Muslims would slaughter animals in the street in front of the Hindus.
It was juvenile behavior but the violence that resulted was very real.
So the guy gets fined because his neighbors are ignorant morons? I got nothing more, this pisses me off.
# 10 bobbo, “…the Muslims should be made fun of at every opportunity…”
Change Muslims to theists. That’s better.
# 11 Greg Allen said, “If a mosque gets built next to your house, it’s enough reason to sell and move.”
I had the good fortune to inherit a program literally next to a mosque. What you say about the amplifiers is often true. I was particularly fond of the predawn adhan (call to prayer) designed to give you enough time to get up, perform your morning ablutions and be ready to pray when the sun first peaks over the horizon. Even when I was in the Army, reveille was not often before dawn!
I’ll be announcing free yodeling lessons shortly.
For confused foreigners, a yodel (n. singular) is a loud guttural melodious roar sound made by the opened mouth, used in high alpine provinces of western Europe to communicate over great distances.
Let’s see assemble a yodeler, a bag piper and a banjo player and you don’t need any religion to experience hell!
Thanks Bobbo for the real story.
I didn’t get it at first–“a very right wing Jewish person” supporting the rights of a faithful Muslim. But the third guy was Austrian.
I guess it will take another generation for memories to die.
I agree with Dr. Sam’l Johnson “Music is merely the least unpleasant noise.” (Odd but Google is NOT finding the quotation, except for me using it on a /. post)
I prefer Tuvan throat singing to Islamic caterwauling, but that’s just me…
To quote myself again (from the same /. posting) “Music is idiosyncratic and idiomatic.” All the replies I got just further proved the point.
One of my favorite bands is Britain’s aptly named “Art of Noise.”
#9, “Yo, yo, Monster’s Lawyer…” (folds arms across chest and strikes a pose.)
How about combining yodeling with rap … in Arabic, or how about in French? (I’m thinking of “Brigitte Fotaine’s “Hammam En Plein Air” from the album “Grenre Humain” 🙂
One of the backing instruments would be the saw and another would be the accordion (music in accord with the sentiments of an assassin. 🙂
(OUCH!!! Thinking about that just set off such a cacophony in my “mind’s ear”.)
My friend lived next to where they built the local mosque in the town I went to college in. He bought a grill and we had brat parties every Friday night. They tried to complain, but it is legal to barbecue on Friday evenings.
I love brats, especially the ones that have cheese squirted in the middle of them.
mpod==maybe because he said ““Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.”
I had to google, but still. I can think of a few noises less disagreeable, the sigh of a lover and so forth. something Mr Johnson had no familiarity with. He read, but didn’t believe, the romantic poets.
Hee, hee.
This European judge said the defendant “could have” committed a crime, and then the judge went ahead and “did” exactly that to the poor Euro Yodeler.
Euro-justice, isn’t, simply said.
After they got through abusing him I doubt if he’ll be in a good mood any time soon. Notice they didn’t say he was trying to offend them. It was enough that he _might_ have been trying to offend them.
Yes just forget that Yodeling is part of Austrian cultural heritage and all.
Muslims are infecting the world, and white apologetics are helping.