SOMEone has the b@lls to stand up to islamofascist intimidation - and whining!
Posted on 12/18/2005 10:30:02 AM PST by em2vn
Recently, when a Danish author complained that he couldn’t find anyone to illustrate his book on the Muslim prophet, Mohammed, the cultural editor of Jyllands-Posten invited cartoonists to submit artwork for publication. Twelve responded, and, true to his word, editor Flemming Rose ran their cartoons in the newspaper.
As we know, depictions of Mohammed are forbidden by Islam. Muslim immigrants to Denmark made outraged representations to an unrepentant Rose, claiming that the newspaper had deliberately provoked and insulted Muslims. “This type of democracy is worthless for Muslims,” Imam Raed Hlayhel wrote in a statement. “Muslims will never accept this kind of humiliation. The article has insulted every Muslim in the world. We demand an apology!” (A year earlier, Hlayhel had said in a Friday sermon that the way Danish women dress invites rape.)
Representations to the doughty Rose having failed to raise not only an apology, but an eyebrow, accredited ambassadors to Denmark from 10 Islamic countries (and Turkey, which is officially secular) piled in, demanding a meeting with the Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Anyone in the least familiar with the Danes -- especially living in the country, as ambassadors are wont to do -- would have known that this would not work.
Demonstrating a dispiriting level of ignorance, the ambassadors appeared to think the chief executive in a democracy is the boss of newspaper editors and they were going over Rose’s head by requesting the meeting. Imagine their surprise, therefore, when Rasmussen calmly declined to receive them, saying with the good humor and steeliness of purpose typical of Danes, “As prime minister, I have no power whatsoever to limit the press -- nor do I want such a power. … Some people say that the press needs to be constructive, and sometimes I also think that’d be nice. But who’s to say what’s constructive? That’s an unfair demand to make. The press needs to be critical -- I need to bear that as prime minister, and religions must do so as well.”
Later in October, death threats forced the Jyllands-Posten to hire guards to protect its employees. “We have taken a few necessary measures in the situation, as some people seem to have taken offence,” said the newspaper’s editor-in-chief in a radio broadcast.
A demonstration in Copenhagen by “as many as 5,000 Muslims” having failed to provoke a change of heart, in December, Danish Muslims announced they were sending “delegations” to a number of Islamic countries to meet with “senior officials and prominent scholars” although with what end in view they didn’t say. A spokesman named Abu Laban stated, “We have fled our countries because we were denied freedom of expression so no one should play this tune with us. This is not a case of freedom of expression.”
Meanwhile, cultural editor Flemming Rose denied that the purpose of publishing the cartoons had been to provoke Muslims. It was simply a reaction to the rising number of situations where artists and writers censured themselves out of fear of radical Islamists. “Religious feelings cannot demand special treatment in a secular society,” he said. “In a democracy, one must, from time to time, accept criticism or becoming a laughingstock.”
In November, the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, boycotted a joint press conference with Rasmussen in Copenhagen. He was in the Danish capital as the first stop on a tour of EU countries to discuss Turkey’s plea to join the EU. Rasmussen continued with the press conference without Erdogan, observing, “There is a fundamental difference between Turkey and Denmark in matters of freedom of expression.”
In December, with depressing predictability, this domestic Danish issue came to the attention of the UN.
Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, not finding enough to occupy her with infractions of human rights in some of the more notorious thugocracies of the world, has found it in her heart to apologize to Muslims on behalf of the Danish government. According to the AP, Arbour wrote a letter to the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference noting: “I understand your attitude to the images that appeared in the newspaper. I find alarming any behaviors that disregard the beliefs of others. This kind of thing is unacceptable.” The Organization of the Islamic Conference had stated that it needs the UN “to help control this encroachment on Islam so the situation won’t get out of control.” Two UN experts on religious freedom and “racism and xenophobia” are now investigating the outrage.
It gets even better. According to New Kerala.com, an Indian online newspaper, the excitable Kashmiris, high up in the Himalayas, closed their shops and declared a general strike protesting what they regard as an outrage by Denmark. A spokesman for the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front said, “By resorting to such acts, they have given enough evidence that they are against Islam.”
Prime Minister Rasmussen, meanwhile, who has said all along that the correct place to settle grievances is a court of law, holds steady.
It’s reassuring to know that the Danes are Vikings still.
Val MacQueen is a TCS contributing writer.
"Unless we're talking about Christians."
to me, the alarming truth in this story is how it shows exactly what the muslim expectation for societies that it invades really is! They are not the least bit interested in assimilating, they want to dominate.....IOW global and cultural jihad. A beach in Australia is another current manifestation of their jihad. etc etc etc etc etc etc all around the world.
SOMEone has the b@lls to stand up to islamofascist intimidation - and whining!
THEY are lucky I did not render a caricature...
THERE WOULD BE A DUDE WITH HORNS, TAIL AND TRIDENT SITTING ON A THRONE
Skol!
Considering that the existence of a free press is an absolutely necessary check and balance ingredient for a REAL democracy (i.e. what kind of freedom is it that permits the flow of only contrived and censored information and restricted freedom of expression), I wonder what kind of democracy can ever exist in any predominantly muslim country.
Islam must kill all creativity that threatens to tell the truth about any part of itself and given that islam is pervasive in the lives of muslims, almost all muslim life "off limits" as to challenge or discussion.
In fact, if islam is a "lie" (which, of course, any person who really knows it understands it to be...a lie), islam must, at the end of the day, be against all Truth.
And if Life is Truth (and vice-versa), islam is for Death...and islam is Death.
Jylland is a blast. The original Legoland is in Billund, and the Viking Ships Museum in Roskilde is not to be missed.
Note to NY Slimes: Hire Flemming Rose. Watch your subscriptions increase exponentially.
With demons bowing to it, as it hands a copy of the Koranus to a mad looking, Hitleresque raghead.
Caption, "Muhammad, my faithful servant, partake of this, and conquer in my name....
LOL! you got er bud
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