The most humorless, and dumbest people on the face of the planet!
Posted on 02/05/2006 2:44:38 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
We are all Danes now, as Paul Belien, editor of the Brussels Journal said in his editorial this week.
Or we should be.
Because today Denmark is taking a beating for us all, fighting for press freedoms that can mean the difference between democracy and totalitarianism, between free speech and terror, between sleeping at night and being afraid of the knock on the door, between light and despair.
And that tiny democracy is doing so under threat of economic sanctions -- and death for its citizens and those of other Western countries where news media have rallied to the defence of free expression.
Think I'm overstating the danger of the outpourings of threats, violent protests and intimidations from radical Muslims over the Danish government's refusal to shut down Jyllands-Posten -- a newspaper in the Free World, after all -- after it published 12 cartoons depicting Mohammed, including some that appeared to be commenting on terrorism carried out in the name of religion?
Consider this news sampling: Fatah gunmen took over the French cultural centre headquarters in the Gaza strip to protest the refusal, Jyllands-Posten received bomb threats, its cartoonists death threats, Libya announced it would close its embassy in Denmark, and Pakistan's ambassador -- eeek! --urged the Danish prime minister to "penalize the cartoonists!"
Meanwhile one Muslim leader noted if Satanic Verses author Salmon Rushdie had been killed for his writings about Islam -- "this rabble who insult our Prophet Muhammad ... would not have dared to do so."
This is a powder keg of violence, we should note, created by Danish Muslims who enjoy Danish freedoms -- including the rights to pen their own opinions for publication and to hold protest rallies, if they'd cared to -- who toured Arab countries in January denouncing Denmark and demanding a boycott of Danish products.
(They got that. Arla Foods, Denmark's biggest exporter to Arab countries, announced this week it would lay off 125 staff as a result of lost sales.)
And what did some publishers of newspapers -- which are supposed to defend free speech -- do in the face of terror?
Fold.
Ironically the first "beheading" occurred in the homeland of the great French philosopher Voltaire whose views were once summed up as: "I do not agree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it."
Would that the publisher of France-Soir had remembered those words before firing his editor after the paper republished the original cartoons along with another depicting Buddhist, Christian, Jewish and Muslim gods sitting on a cloud that said: "Yes, we have the right to caricature God."
Meanwhile a Jordanian newspaper reprinted the cartoons to show readers "the extent of the Danish offence" -- along with an editorial entitled "Muslims of the world be reasonable."
"What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the camera?" wrote editor Jihad Momani -- before he was fired.
Whether you find the drawings clumsy, offensive or dead on (they're on the web) is not the issue.
The issue is that the paper had a right to print them. And a proper response is to write back to express views -- not violence.
It's called democratic debate, and there's too precious little of it in this so-called Free World anymore where governments and powerful institutions, including religions, use politically correct blankets to smother debate and criticism -- for their own purposes.
Ironically, the world's most beloved religious leaders -- who so often fought despotic rulers for the right to freedom of religion, expression and peace -- must be mourning this turn of events from the heavens.
And so in the spirit of the solidarity in which the Danes defended Jews in the Second World War -- by suggesting if the Nazi's ordered Jews to wear armbands in Denmark they would all be Jews.
And in the spirit of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy's "I am a Berliner" speech -- defending democracy over Communist tyranny.
And in the spirit of the editorial in the French paper Le Monde after 9/11- "We are all Americans."
I agree with the Brussels Journal: We are all Danes.
And I for one am going out to buy some Danish cookies and jams today. And if you care one fig for freedom, so should you.
Dianne Rinehart is a former magazine editor and news correspondent who has worked in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Moscow.
* Freedom of the press includes defending the right to criticize religion
LOL!
Better your waistlines than being dead and/or enslaved, right? :D
~Moshi-chan
Outstanding post!
Ich bin ein Berliner.
And I am a cheese danish.
The most humorless, and dumbest people on the face of the planet!
HMMMM maybe we now know the origins of HOT HEAD and why it means an irrational angry person....
Note that the United States State Department is on the side of the beheaders and is upholding Sharia law. Doesn't that make you proud? If Condi Rice ever thought of being President, she can forget it after last week's shameful comments from her department.
Oh, and that quivering mass of jelly under the bedcovers is the US msm, who want to pretend this issue doesn't matter. The biggest cowards in the world are found in our newsrooms. They think they can get the beheaders to sing "Kumbaya" if they just say they want to get along. They practice the Rodney King religion.
One of the wisest lesson I ever learned from my Dad was "don't trust a man who can't laugh at himself."
I have seen CNN's view on this protest. They show one cartoon with the face of Muhammed blanked out. I bet ol' Teddy Turner is hidding under his desk saying " Dont show the pictures! I slam Christians isnt that enough? Have my secretary send a check for $1 billion dollars to Osama! (It work with the UN). And have her hold my calls until this blows over".
I bought Danish cookies and cheese today. Dont need 'em. But, I will support those who are on the front line of GWOT! True they did not support us, but I welcome even those who oversleep (while their house is burning!).
I strongly disagree.
something important you do not mention is that mexico and c. america ain't north africa and the middle east. we are SO lucky in that or we WOULD be in their shoes.
" I bet ol' Teddy Turner is hidding under his desk saying "
I bet turner is saying something quite different in private which many hear would agree with.
About the king and the Star of David... "Status: False."
http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/denmark.htm
I'm sure you didn't mean to leave out the murders of Americans on American soil on 9/11 and after - not to mention the decades of murders overseas before 2001. That would only have strengthened your argument by further highlighting the nasty and aggressive nature of the fanatical monsters we face.
But, I agree with you. We have not seen an end to death and destruction on our soil. Indeed, we have seen only the beginning. This war is far from over, much less the winner decided. We still have half our people who refuse to believe it really exists.
If you look at a map of Europe, and remember that the Mediteranean sea is now a short flight in distance, or even a reasonably short boat ride in today's craft, the Islamic nations are no further from Denmark than Alabama is from Montana.
These guys are like the Mexicans we have on our border, moving into the North, except the Mexicans (at least today) are much more passive. If we don't assimilate them though, the Aztlan movement might radicalize them just as the Islamics are today.
As a direct descendant of Gorm the Old, King of Denmark, and his son Harald Bluetooth, I am proud to trumpet:
CONSERVATIVE VIKING GIRL-POWER!!!!!
SKOL, DENMARK! :)
Well said
Tusand Tak, Danske!
Once again the Danes are showing their moral courage, unlike their other Scandinavian neighbors. As they did against the Nazis, they are thumbing the eye of the Nazis of our time, radislam. Bravo to them and may we in the U.S., and our "allies" find the courage to join them at drawing boards everywhere to further insult them. These are jabs that can be landed, so as to draw them out in the open. We should then cauterize this cancerous abcess in our midst.
Ding ding ding-- we have a winner.
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