Tensions rise in Mideast over Cartoons

[Curiosity]

http://www.nationalreview.com/editorial/editors200602080801.asp

February 08, 2006, 8:01 a.m.
Culture War
Did you hear the one about the priest, the rabbi, and the imam? You won't, if Islamist goondom has its way.

Last fall, Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, ran twelve satiric images of the prophet Muhammad. They were a response to the climate of fear created by European Islam: The author of a Danish children's book had been unable to find artists willing to draw illustrations of Muhammad, lest they provoke Muslim iconoclasts. On a continent where the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a jihadist, and Dutch politicians, including the Somali-born Hyann Hirsan Ali, must live in protective confinement, such fears were well-grounded.

The idea that Muhammad may not be represented is only one slice of the spectrum of Muslim opinion; Quakers do not express the Christian consensus on religious art. The image-less Quakers, of course, have never threatened anyone with murder. This is the sanction that Islamists invoked against Jyllands-Posten, which was deluged with death threats, and Denmark itself, whose flag and consulates were burned throughout the Muslim world.

Decent men normally go out of their way to avoid giving offense, especially where religion is concerned. Piss Christ, the Dung Madonna, Lenny Bruce are countercultural phenomena. If public money is used to sponsor desecrations, then taxpayers have a legitimate gripe. Demonstrations aimed at tangible communities, as when American Nazis threatened to march through the Jewish neighborhood of Skokie, Ill., a quarter-century ago, may raise questions of public order. But no free society concerns itself with opinions that one may read or not, as one likes. The pious honor the freedom that allows them to worship, and welcome it as the political expression of the respect due to men made in God's image.

“How many Danish flags
are normally available
in Gaza, or Jakarta?”

The "outpouring" of Muslim wrath was the deliberate pouring of radical activists. How many Danish flags are normally available in Gaza, or Jakarta? Islamists magnified the offense by circulating the Danish cartoons with three truly gross, but invented, ones (e.g., Muhammad as a pig). In order to protest blasphemy, the Islamists committed it. Evidently it was these cartoon ringers that prompted Bill Clinton, conference-hopping in Qatar, to condemn Jyllands-Posten. "So now what are we going to do?" Clinton said. "Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice?" Clinton's evocation of anti-Semitism was particularly inapt, since Arab media regularly churns out floods of anti-Jewish filth, including TV series based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. In the Muslim world, everything depends on whose sacred cow is being gored.

Muslim fanatics — those who aspire to be dictators, and those who already are — have ginned up the controversy in order to gain power, or to keep it. They play to the dull acquiescence of too many ordinary Muslims. But by no means all Muslims are implicated in this shameful episode. Grand Ayatollah Sistani, leader of Iraq's Shiites, "denounce[d] and condemn[ed]" the cartoons, but also blasted "misguided and oppressive" Muslims who have "exploited" the issue "to spread their poison and revive their old hatreds with new methods and mechanisms." When President Bush declared, in his State of the Union address, that "liberty is the future of every nation in the Middle East, because liberty is the right and hope of all humanity," it was Sistani and millions of Muslims, in Iraq and elsewhere, who agree with him, that he had in mind. The game for Muslim opinion is a tough one. But it will surely be lost if we forfeit.

 

[DasFX]

What I'm really surprised about is the reaction of the Danes, it is impressive to see that despite the injustice bestowed onto their peaceful and wonderful country, they remain civilized and calm.

I'm not sure I would be as calm if I saw people burning and defacing the Maple Leaf around the world.

 

[Jo Canadian]

Re: RE: Tensions rise in Mideast over Cartoons

What I'm really surprised about is the reaction of the Danes, it is impressive to see that despite the injustice bestowed onto their peaceful and wonderful country, they remain civilized and calm.

I agree. It's a good start at trying to set an example.

 

[MMMike]

You know, the cartoonists are having a Heyday with all of this. there's no end to it. The Cagle Cartoon Website is keeping daily updates on the situation with cartoonists from around the world, you can see the updates here:

Revenge of the cartoonists.... I love it! :lol:

 

[Hank C]

Re: RE: Tensions rise in Mideast over Cartoons

The fact remains that the cartoon was not a parody of a person; but rather, an infringement of and assault on a religion.

What a load of hypocritical crap. These fools know how to give it, but they certainly can't take it.

On a daily basis these buggers infringe and assault people around the world with much more force than I hand drawn caricature.

I have no sympathies for them. The have cast hate to all Scandinavians, who are some of the most peaceful and morally conscious people on Earth.

They burn flags symbolizing millions of people, they call for physical harm when no physical harm was committed against them, they vandalize foreign property and disrespect those who try to help them. 4.5 years ago they told us 19 crazy bastards didn't represent all Muslims, but now one bold Danish cartoonist represents all Danes, all Scandinavians, all Europeans and all non-Muslims.

I saw the cartoon; I saw no big deal. It was a Arab dude with a cartoonish bomb lit under his turban. I thought it was kind of funny to tell you the truth. Was it in poor taste, to Muslims it was, but cartoons in newspapers are always taking shots at people, they are support to provoke.

Do you know how many offensive cartoons and pieces of propaganda come out of the Muslim world?

I know it isn't right to judge, but when you see these kinds of images day after day, continent after continent, it makes it real hard. Say what you want about the media being biased, but there are a lot of crazy Muslims out there.

You are absolutely correct DasFX, but FiveParadox and others alike are known for obsessive political correctness. The cartoon's are not "an infringement of and assault on a religion", especially in the context of precedence in our world. Humorous caricutures of religion and religious leaders have been circulated of almost every religion, yet you don't see the Pope calling for a Jihad!

DasFX has a good point, have you seen some of the hatred and propaganda coming from Muslim nations? Why do you ignore these FiveParadox? In our democratic nation and in others, the west has embraced freedom of speech and the vast majority of us do not want to live under the censorship of radical islam.

I'm sorry but the burning of embassies and death threats directed to the west are not a acceptable response to a cartoon. It's funny how people react when its Danish flags being burnt instead of the United States. Incidents like these give us a chance to see the absolute intolerace hate and hypocrisy, and its not just directed at "Bush" or the "USA", no this time it is directed at our more peaceful & friendly allies.

....and please don't give me your "so you think its all muslims that are doing this line", your political correctness does not prove jack-squat and frankly works against you!

 

[damngrumpy]

First let me say my comments are not directed to the majority of moderate Muslims who are entitled to their own beliefs and customs. For those stone age fundamentalists who believe we should all bend over backwards to grant every wish and demand they have, here is what should be done.
What they do in their own countries is their business, however when they burn buildings and vehicals in Europe or America, the riot act should be read, giving them one half hour to clear the streets. Failure to do so would mean military fire power opening up and shoot. Several rounds of this would get the message across that most people in the west have already said enough already.
After all people come to our countries to be part of our community, but it doesn't give any group the right to expect they will be the only ones with the keys to the house.

 

[FiveParadox]

Middle Eastern Terrorism

I have never once condoned the desecration of Embassies, nor have I ever condoned terrorism of any sort. I have never condoned extremist Islamic beliefs or activities, nor do I have the intention of ever doing so.

Let me make that perfectly clear. I am no terrorist sympathiser.

 

[Virtual Burlesque]

when they burn buildings and vehicals in Europe or America, the riot act should be read, giving them one half hour to clear the streets. Failure to do so would mean military fire power opening up and shoot. Several rounds of this would get the message across

That would certainly give those stone aged barbarians a fine example of how true democracy works!