And speaking of Denmark...
About a week ago the hosts of the morning show on our local talk radio station discussed the situation in Denmark and the rioting going on in response to a cartoon published in a Danish newspaper. Since people would be undoubtedly curious about thie cartoon that riled up the Islamic world, they posted it on their website.
This curiosity, of course, is partly because those champions of free speech, the American Legacy Media, have refused to print said cartoon. They say it's out of "sensitivity." It's more likely that they're simply afraid of a plane being sent crashing into their buildings. I'm truly impressed with how they stand up for principle.
As you might expect, it didn't take long for a Muslim reader to call the station with a death threat. This was serious enough that our local sheriff, not to mention the FBI, has become involved in attempting to track down the perpetrator.
So if you haven't yet reached your Recommended Daily Allowance of free speech today, surf on over to Steel's place. He's posted, not just that one offending cartoon, but all 13 of them that have appeared in Danish papers.
(Note: I'm in no way claiming to support the perspective of all these cartoons. Some of them are quite tasteless. But tastelessness hardly justifies hurting--even killing--other people in response.)
But the best part is that there's a truly amazing comment thread there--actually two of them--including far more unique commenters than I have ever seen in response to one of his posts. Certainly more than I've ever had. Well over 200 of them.
(Reader is strongly cautioned--this is Steel's place, and many of these comments are rude, crude and quite profane. Not that there's anything wrong with that...)
Included are no fewer than four or five (apparently) Muslim commenters, saying intelligent, civilized things such as (wording left just as they were written):
You have to ashame yourselves.PLEASE respect to people who is muslims.I curse you all...
God bless you,May ALLAH forgive you all one day....
Somehow "I curse you all" and "God bless you" don't quite seem to go together.
And:
You know what? you are bast[-]rd
you and your nation who need to be annihilated because of your messiness.
you are a real duny
Lovely. This is certainly a civilized response.
Somehow they fail to catch the hypocrisy in the Arab world's failure to "respect to people" who are NOT Muslims.
In addition, one (apparently) non-Muslim commenter said
These people are not true Muslims. They have somehow been brainwashed into doing all the things they do...or else they are demon-possessed. There is nothing in the Islamic religion that condones any of these things.
...which is utter nonsense (well, except maybe for the "brainwashed" part). While in Mohammed's early life he did indeed preach and practice a peaceful lifestyle, this all changed in his later years, when he began to advocate violence--including the killing of anyone who refused to convert to Islam. In addition, the Koran states that, in the end times, Muslims will be commanded to kill all "infidels" in order to "purify" the earth. Violence and revenge are integral parts of Arab culture, not to mention the Islamic religion itself. Yes, Virginia, not all cultures are equally deserving of respect. Some are simply better than others. If you're looking for a politically-correct perspective, you're reading the wrong blog.
By the way, here's a great illustration of the fact that not all Arabs are insane. It seems that
The son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi says he agrees with US President George W. Bush that the Middle East needs democracy.
A sensible Arab, advocating culture change! Who'da thunk it?
Anyway, check it out. And while I have no particular love for the Danish people or their government, and I can't completely support them, they certainly don't deserve the economic boycott that's being perpetrated against them. Maybe you could go buy some Danish wedding cookies or something.
Unfortunately, of course, the Danes are completely missing the reason that this is happening, and I have no idea whether they'll ever figure it out. Same goes for the left in this country, who had the same response after 9/11, namely, "why do they hate us so?" It's incomprehensible to some folks that someother cultures despise freedom of speech, not to mention anyone who disagrees with them. There's another example of hypocrisy: as a group, no one is more intolerant of disagreement than the American left. Not even the Arab world.
UPDATE: Rob reminded me of the quintessential Danish product, Legos. Buy Legos! And if you don't need any, send them to Rob...
UPDATE AGAIN: The rioting in the Muslim world has been called a "firestorm" of protest. Steel illustrates for us why this is not exactly true.
Heh.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Via The Jawa Report we find a cartoon that illustrates precisely where the Legacy Media's "sensitivity" to Islamists comes from. Heh, indeed, and ouch.
Posted by: Steel | Saturday, 11 February 2006 at 07:13 PM
Posted by: rob | Sunday, 12 February 2006 at 12:02 AM