Posted on 02/11/2006 4:59:04 AM PST by Clive
Three cheers for the Muslim world. Three cheers for people who will not simply fall down and allow their most deeply held religious beliefs to be spat upon and treated as garbage.
Three cheers for people who will decry a cartoon whose sole purpose is to abuse and vilify one's faith.
It is absolutely acceptable and even desirable to make fun of the Taliban, Osama bin Laden and many other fanatical Muslims and Muslim organizations. But when we are told that Mohammed should not be depicted and should certainly not be depicted in an insulting manner, perhaps we should listen.
Yes, of course, the violence, the arson, the hateful rhetoric, the anti-Semitism and the threats have been unacceptable.
But the Western media have, predictably, shown images of salivating mobs every night, yet not recorded many interviews with moderate, devout Muslims who deplore extremism but are viscerally angry at the insulting cartoons.
Why? Because such interviews would shake the comfortable stereotype the secular West has of all religions, not just Islam. Easier to film a screaming zealot than a highly educated Muslim cleric who desires peace and respect and understanding. Just as it's easier to film a wild-eyed Christian kid with an agenda than a calm and brilliant priest with a doctorate.
Do remember, by the way, that the cartoons in question were originally published some months ago and the protests were controlled and reasonable.
It was only when the Danish and then Norwegian and French press ran wild with the thing that the Muslim world, yes, ran wild in response.
One of the most troubling aspects of all this is the reaction of so many Christians. They seem to think that the battle between western values and Islamic sensitivities places observant Catholics and evangelicals on the side of the West.
Not so. The West is no longer Christendom but the heartland of secular humanism and fundamentalist atheism. This is the West that regularly insults Christ, mocks Christianity and increasingly takes away the rights of genuine Christians to practise their faith.
A publicly funded museum featuring a picture of Jesus soaked in urine. Another with the Virgin Mary covered in excrement. A Canadian cartoon last year depicting Pope Benedict, whose father almost lost his life to Hitler and his gang, making a Nazi salute to Mary, the Mother of Christ.
Jesus portrayed in a play as a homosexual who has a sexual relationship with one of his disciples. Cartoons showing the Pope smiling as women and babies are killed. Endless television shows spewing forth horrible caricatures of priests, ministers and devout Christians. On and on and on, and then the execrable Da Vinci Code.
We hear Muslims saying, "They wouldn't treat Jesus in this way." They're wrong, of course. Not because they are stupid but because they assume that a part of the world founded on the beauty of Christianity would not then be so disgustingly rude about Christ.
In other words, Muslims are as ignorant of the West and its intentions as are Christians who live here. Modern Western liberalism despises religion, and Islam and Christianity are equally in its sights.
In some ways it is shocking to see men, women and children outraged and taking to the streets to defend their religion against crude blasphemy. But in others ways it's refreshing and delightful. I say again that violence is wrong, but that muscular protest against hatred is not.
Sorry, I cannot and will not join the ranks of the smug God-haters who refuse to understand a person's love for their faith.
If you draw a cartoon that intends to offend, don't be surprised when it has the desired effect.
You moron (the author).
The haters are the one's doing the protesting and killing.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
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Anybody got the timetable on the protests to send to Mr. Coren? They muslims ran wild after the goofy Danish imam toured the ME with false pictures mixed in with the 12 cartoons!
This piece is an exercise in brainless blather by someone who obviously has his head deeply buried in his... shorts.
Ed Morrisey of Captain's Quarters blog says it best:
"Editorial cartoons exist to challenge political thought and expose hypocrisy. Among religions, Islam should be the least protected from this form of speech, as it insists on involving itself in temporal political matters wherever it is practiced. Indeed, it insists on dictating political and legal matters, usually in the most extreme terms, and it uses the life of Mohammed as its claim on political and legal supremacy...That insistence on dictating terms of temporal power makes criticism, by cartoonists or editorialists, absolutely necessary in order to combat the stultifying reach of sharia. Islam sets the terms of debate. It cannot insist on temporal rule based on Mohammed and the Qu'ran and then expect people to refrain from criticizing either one...Islam wants to impose its tenets on us, and if we give up the option of political criticism, we have moved more than halfway towards surrender to the Islamists. For those individuals who cross the line into unnecessary offense, the option to use free debate to argue the point will remain open as long as we defend free speech."
Wonder whether this author would have condoned Christians rioting violently to protest the NEA funding of Piss Christ.
Ping
He has accepted Dhimmitude.
Actually it is the governments of Iran and Syria who are flaming the hate and protest on this. Moslem texts from the 800s through the 1500s show that there is criticism of the Koran i.e. discussion of it from a rational viewpoint as one discusses the Bible. And there are pictures depicting Mohammed. It is only the radical fundamentalists who are declaring that no pictures are allowed and that the Koran is the indisputable word of Allah/Mohammed, similar to some Christian fundamentalists who say the Bible says what is printed, no discussion allowed.
This is a very good tool to upset the west and to 'disarm' it in the battle between two cultures, which Western Civilization is mostly refusing to recognize.
This is hogwash. Look closely at the [relatively few] different shots of what is going on. The Media is using these clips in a manner intended to have us believe that billions of muzzies are "acting up". They're not. If you look at these rioters you see disaffected losers, "homeless" types, unemployed etc that are incented to do this. These people are NOT working/business people, family people etc. And the media eats it up.
"Three cheers for people who will decry a cartoon whose sole purpose is to abuse and vilify one's faith."
That is a lie.
The Danish cartoons were drawn to depict the mindset of radical Islamists, who are in fact wageing a war against the west. One sees the results of their hatred daily.
Yeah the religion of Mohammed... Mohammed married a 6 (SIX!!) year old girl and had sex with her when she was 9 (NINE!!) Isn't this paedophilia?
"Narrated Aisha that the prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old." Vol. 7:64
The rest of the great Mohammed teaching..
http://www.africanaquatics.co.za/_christian/_articles/islam&mohammed.htm
http://www.ctstv.com/michaelcoren.shtml
Michael Coren hosts this prime-time program. The show deals with current issues and since debate is Michael's strong suit, spirited and intelligent conversation is the norm. Born in London, England, Michael came to Canada in 1987. For several years he was a weekly columnist for "The Globe & Mail" and a broadcaster on TV Ontario. In 1995 he became a syndicated columnist for "The Financial Post" and the group of Sun Newspapers as well as "The London Free Press". At the same time he began his own evening talk show on CFRB radio.
CTS. TELEVISION YOU CAN BELIEVE IN.
ROTFLMBO!
Sure it can, and does. Fluently.
While Muslims have a right to be offended by these cartoons, they do not have the right to rampage in the streets, to demand restrictions on the freedom of the press, to make death threats, etc.
Moreover, if the author of this article thinks for one minute that Muslims and Christians are allies in some kind of culture war against the secularists, then he is crazy. The Islamo-fascists hate ALL westerners, whether they are Christians, Jews, or agnostics. To them we are all just infidels.
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