Posted on 03/31/2006 10:29:54 AM PST by Ed Hudgins
[First American magazine with a Mohammad cartoon on the cover!]
In this issue, we’ve reprinted two of the now-infamous Danish newspaper cartoons depicting the Muhammad. We do so not to gratuitously offend Muslims; we do so because a vital principle is at stake—a principle that easily trumps any considerations of ill manners or hurt feelings.
It is the founding principle of America: individual rights. For us, it is the pre-eminent concern for any publication or journalist: the right to speak and express oneself freely.
The editors of this magazine are Objectivists. As advocates of reason, we reject religion and the supernatural. Still, we do not believe that the proper way to challenge people’s religious beliefs is to mock and insult their revered symbols, practices, ceremonies, and icons. Mockery directed against mere images and symbols does not constitute rational, persuasive argument. Rather, it is concrete-bound and juvenile, and has only one intention: to give offense and arouse anger among those who hold such symbols dear.
But—and let me be clear about this—that is not what is at issue here. What is at issue is the Islamist jihad against freedom of speech.
The motive of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in initially publishing the cartoons was not to offend. It was simply to warn that Western writers and journalists are succumbing to threats, intimidation, even violence at the hands of militant Muslims. The organized campaign of intimidation by Islamists is intended do what they cannot do by military might: to impose, by force, the strict Islamic behavioral code on nonbelievers in the West...
(Excerpt) Read more at objectivistcenter.org ...
BRUSSELS JOURNAL.com: "'THE WAR IS ON'" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Yesterday (Thursday) Mullah Krekar, the alleged leader of the Islamist group Ansar al-Islam who has been living in Norway as a refugee since 1991, said that the publication of the Muhammad cartoons was a declaration of war. "The war has begun," he told Norwegian journalists. Mr Krekar said Muslims in Norway are preparing to fight. "It does not matter if the governments of Norway and Denmark apologize, the war is on.") (February 3, 2006)
MEMRITV.org - Video Clip (with Transcript) #1049: "FILM SEMINAR ON IRANIAN TV: Tom and Jerry - A Jewish Conspiracy to Improve the Image of Mice, because Jews Were Termed "Dirty Mice' in Europe" ("Iran, Channel 4 - 2/19/2006")
MEMRI.org - Special Dispatch Series - No. 1089 "Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi Responds to Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad: Whoever is Angered and Does Not Rage in Anger is a Jackass - We are Not a Nation of Jackasses" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "In a February 3, 2006 Friday sermon, Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, who is head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS), and the spiritual guide of many other Islamist organizations across the world (including the Muslim Brotherhood), exhorted worshippers to show rage to the world over the Danish paper Jylland Posten's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The sermon was aired on Qatar TV on February 3, 2006.") (February 9, 2006)
News.BBC.co.uk: "CARTOON PROTESTER WAS DRUG DEALER" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A Muslim demonstrator who imitated a suicide bomber in London to protest over cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad is a convicted drug dealer. Omar Khayam, 22, of Bedford, was jailed in 2002 and released on licence last year after serving half of his sentence for dealing heroin and cocaine.") (Last updated February 7, 2006)
BRUSSELS JOURNAL.com: "'THE WAR IS ON'" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Yesterday (Thursday) Mullah Krekar, the alleged leader of the Islamist group Ansar al-Islam who has been living in Norway as a refugee since 1991, said that the publication of the Muhammad cartoons was a declaration of war. "The war has begun," he told Norwegian journalists. Mr Krekar said Muslims in Norway are preparing to fight. "It does not matter if the governments of Norway and Denmark apologize, the war is on.") (February 3, 2006)
ISLAMONLINE.net: Cairo - "WARNINGS CARTOONS RISK VIOLENCE" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by a Danish daily and other European newspapers are risking to trigger acts of violence around the world, officials and commentators warn.") (February 2, 2006)
BRUSSELS JOURNAL.com: "OUR LADY OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES" -from the Desk of Paul Belien (September 22, 2005)
INFOVLAD.net: "NEXT TARGET - DENMARK?" (October 15, 2005)
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.