Posted on 02/05/2006 8:14:28 AM PST by Gengis Khan
Last week newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, in a gesture of solidarity with Denmark, reprinted the Danish cartoons that have enraged the Islamic world because one of them depicts the Prophet Mohammad, and any depiction of him is considered blasphemy in Islam. In Paris, the newspaper France Soir added a cartoon of its own of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian gods seated on a cloud under a headline saying ‘Yes we Have the Right to Caricature God’.
In Europe, from where I write this piece, the controversy made headlines but could have been played down in politically correct Bharatvarsha. So, for those of you who may not have followed the story here is a precis. In September a small Danish newspaper called Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons in one of which the Prophet Mohammed was shown wearing a bomb-shaped turban. This caused a furore in the Islamic world and Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria have withdrawn their ambassadors to Denmark. Many Islamic countries demanded an apology from the Danish government, which has pointed out that in a free society a government cannot apologise on behalf of a newspaper or tell it what to print.
As someone often accused of targeting Muslims in this column, I have followed the Danish cartoon controversy with interest. I believe it strikes at the root of the difficulty us infidels face in dealing with Islam and Islamists. Irreverent infidels like me, and there are many of my kind in free societies, believe that religion and the gods must be kept within the realms of literature and even cartoons. I believe the fatwa against Salman Rushdie was an outrage and the murder of Theo Van Gogh an act of barbarism. The Dutch filmmaker was killed in 2004 because he made a film on violence against women in Islamic societies.
Is it not time we stood up against Islam’s repeated attempts to impose its will, values and ideas of blasphemy on the rest of us? Is it not time we demanded that Islam retreat to the private sphere it inhabited before the advent of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden? Is it not time that the Islamic world recognised that its ideas of blasphemy are different to ours? We infidels can laugh with and at religions and gods and we must stand up for the right to do so.
Increasingly, because of the rise of Islamic terrorism, we see Muslims perceive themselves as victims of an international conspiracy to malign them and their religion. At the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, two weeks ago, I attended a session on Islam and the World and was surprised that nearly all the panelists expressed a deep sense of grievance. One gentleman of South Asian origin but living in New York said, ‘‘Just look at the way today’s terrorists are described in the international media—as Islamic terrorists. This has never happened before, the IRA were never called Christian terrorists.’’ Maybe not, but we do know of Tamil terrorists.
The other grievances expressed were, in my view, equally baseless. One complaint was that the Muslim world was unable to change its image because the Western media did not cooperate in this exercise. Excuse me? The Western media is under no obligation to cooperate but by and large has been so politically correct when it comes to Islam that the riots in the suburbs of Paris were never discussed as ethnic. Every commentator I read was at pains to point out the social and economic reasons why Muslim youths went on a rampage in which private cars and public property were targeted. After the London bombings every effort was made to assure the general public that this was the work of a handful of madmen and had nothing to do with Islam.
When Western reporters write about ethnic violence in India, Muslims are always portrayed as victims and efforts made to balance radical Islam with Hindu fundamentalism, an annoyingly unfair comparison.
Islam has its Prophet and its book and Muslims have every right to consider them sacred. The Islamic world has the right to ban other religions and their temples from existing on Islamic soil if it so wishes. That is their way. The problem only arises when Islam tries to impose its ideas on those of us who are not Muslim. The concerted attack on the Danish cartoons appropriately resulted in Europe closing ranks behind the Danish newspaper. We must stand up for the right to laugh at the gods, it is a right worth preserving and, besides, this is our way.
write to tavleensingh@expressindia.com
Ping!
Bravo tavleen!
Now there's a woman with b_lls, if you pardon the expression.
She's always been rather straightforward, Rumsfield like, in her opinions.
Keep up the good work.
OT
Word also is that the Indian Express may well be the last Indian english national newspaper not to sellout to commercial interests and dumb-down their news coverage. Pickup the Times of india online and you feel like the audinbce they address must all be teenagers.
Just sent her a 'thank you.'
We have pried open the soft underbelly of the beast!
Don't stop now!
DRAW MORE CARTOONS!!!
Then the world will begin to see this trash for the Nazis that they are.
DRAW MORE CARTOONS!!!
ALL ARTISTS TO THEIR PALLETTES!
MORE CARTOONS HERE: http://retecool.com/comments.php?id=13539_0_1_0_C
Danish bloggers are having a field day...
Extremely offensive anti-Christian works of "art" in the West were met with criticism and debate, not threats. Hindu Americans have reacted gracefully and gone along with the joke, or remained quiet, as most Americans exposure to their religion has been through the character Apu on The Simpsons. Jews react with justifiable concern and outrage over sickening antisemitic cartoons, never with violence.
The Muslims calling for blood have the same mentality as the communists, the Nazis, the Japanese imperialists, and the Mafia. The words are slightly different, the message is the same.
ping for later reading
Bill O'Reilly Syndrome is spreading!
Why feel uncomfortable about something you cannot do anything about?
That approaches another definition of insanity.
However, you and I and every American can insist that our Government practice Temporal Reciprocity, by Constitutional Amendment, if necessary:
Treat arabs, muslims or any other dysfunctional animals exactly as they treat us in their own countries, including prohibited access altogether.
I not only support that, but do so daily and with all my energy.
Send this to the White House.
That's 'cause the IRA wasn't killing Muslims, or Jews, or Hindu's, etc. - just fellow Christians.
I never heard of it either, until a few years ago in one of the earlier Tom Clancy novels. Unfortunately, I have read so many of them I can't pinpoint which one, but I think it had to do with business wars with Japan...
The beauty of Temporal Reciprocity is that the U.S. need not make up any rules or laws; only simply keep track of those of every dysfunctional society and apply it to them.
For instance, if we applied Saudi law in the US against Saudi citizens, they would be allowed into the U.S. only (maybe) to attend Christian indoctrination schools!
Isn't that a hoot?
One final point, lost on our national leadership. The arrogance of arabic countries, in the face of their constant and undeniable inferiority, borders on the pathological; not for them. For us!
By "accepting" that arrogance by acquiescence, it empowers them. Ignorance of deep seated cultural insanity is our national failure in dealing with animals on two legs.
We treat them as inferiors because they are inferior.
Their constant murderous behavior world-wide simply confirms it.
Good morning, metmom,
Thought you might be interested in this thread.
And because they show it with their behavior. Look at them.
Their idea of winning is to threaten to kill others. They are the most emotionally immature people as a whole on the face of the earth.
And they seem to think someone should respect them.
bump for publicity
Portraits of their "prophet" are forbidden to Islam, but they take to the streets when non-Muslims draw it and they now have European govts and newspapers peeing on themselves in response and apologizing as fast as their lips can move.
Women leaving ttheir houses without a close male escort is forbidden to islam, at what point do they go on a rampage demanding that all non-muslim women be locked up as well?
Driving is forbidden to women in Islam, at what point do they go on a rampage and demand that non-muslim women be forbidden to drive?
Where does it end?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.