Posted on 02/11/2006 6:58:14 AM PST by RWR8189
I AM JUST NOW CHOPPING up my Danish modern coffee table and throwing the pieces into the fireplace. I want to show my support for Muslims outraged by publication of Prophet Muhammad caricatures in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten newspaper. All over the Muslim world there are riots and boycotts of Danish products. And I join the Muslims in solidarity (although, come on, you're Muslims, you shouldn't be drinking Carlsberg anyway). Next into the flames go my kids' Legos, invented in Denmark. They'll be followed by the satisfying smash of my wife's Royal Copenhagen dinner plates.
I haven't actually looked at the satirical drawings. Mainstream American media, recognizing that the First Amendment encompasses the right to shut up, have left them unpublished. I guess I could find them on the Internet except our computer was attached to Bang & Olufsen speakers. I seem to have crashed the system while yanking wires. But I'm sure these depictions of Muhammad will infuriate me as much as they infuriate Muslims, if for somewhat different reasons. The cartoons are badly drawn and not very funny. I know that sight unseen, because the cartoons are European.
I feel sorry for the angry mobs setting fire to the embassies. They should at least have gotten a good chuckle before they set out with their matches and gas cans. However, on a personal and professional note, I want to thank the angry mobs for showing up. I've put in some time as a satirist myself. It is the fondest dream of every wiseacre to get a really dramatic reaction from the public. Nothing is as disheartening to a humorist as having his most sardonic jibes, his most telling thrusts "laughed off." And the violent protests against Denmark, which have now become violent protests against almost all the nations of Old Europe, prove that humor truly is a form of communication that transcends all languages and cultures. The Europeans have made their little joke. The Muslims get it.
What sort of reaction did Jyllands-Posten expect to its comic strip? Europeans consider Americans stupid, but if the Washington-Posten printed a cartoon showing Martin Luther King in a Sambo get-up being chased around a palm tree by the tiger of identity politics, Don Graham would know what happens next.
That the Europeans didn't think anything would happen illustrates the state of European thought. Ideas have consequences, as Europeans, of all people, should know. Consider the dire consequences of their previous ideas, such as nationalism, colonialism, Marxism, anti-Semitism, Freudian analysis, and the social welfare state. But Europeans just keep having deep thoughts that never include anything so obvious as "God exists" or "faith is powerful." According to Jyllands-Posten's cultural editor, Fleming Rose, the Muhammad caricatures were inspired by the comments of a Danish comedian (that transcendent form of communication again!) who said he had no problem urinating on the Bible but wouldn't dare do so on the Koran. The Danes might want to examine the first part of that statement before labeling other people's religious sensibilities "extremist."
I'd also like to thank the angry mobs for giving the Europeans a lesson in free speech. Europeans are unclear on the concept. It's against the law in Germany to deny the Holocaust. (A little late, I'd say.) Many European countries have laws against "hate speech" that don't seem too different in intent from what Muslim protesters want to do to Danish cartoonists--although the penalty phase of the trial probably would be less dramatic in Europe. Europeans suppose free speech is harmless--nattering in cafés. Americans know that the right to self-expression, like the right to bear arms, is dangerous. That's why we keep a firm grip on those rights. In America the worst kind of people can shoot their mouths off. And they can get shot.
Not shooting the worst kind of people is, of course, the cornerstone of European foreign policy. Now we see the fruits of this nuanced and sophisticated diplomacy all over the Muslim world. I haven't been so satisfied by a policy outcome since half the cars in France were set on fire last year. But if the past is anything to go by, the Europeans will learn nothing from any of this. (Although the French are these days, maybe, less inclined to ridicule the American obsession with finding a good parking place.)
The Europeans are the perfect target. They could have helped bring freedom, democracy, and law to the Muslim world, but they'd rather be smartasses. Meanwhile, my family and I will be participating in a little religious extremism ourselves this weekend--or so going to church is regarded by many Europeans. And after Mass we won't be eating Danishes. We'll be having "Prophet Pastries."
P.J. O'Rourke is a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard and author, most recently, of Peace Kills (Atlantic Monthly Press).
Really? I'm going to look for some Danish cheese and licorice.
Excellent piece from P.J. O'Rourke ... he's not Mark Steyn, but who is?
Having lived pre and post, I will just chuckle and let this statement stand without comment.
I got an idea for a cartoon on this subject...I wish I had the artistic capability to illustrate it...
Jesus is reading the paper when he comes across a cartoon image of himself with a bomb on his head... Guess what he does on the next panel?
Turn the page.
Hold the "Danish" and pass the "Prophet Pastries"....PING!
fyi (and hope you and the family are keeping well)
Gotta love P.J.!
LOLOLOLOL. He's right.
First of all, that would be ex-cultural editor...
In addition, "not daring to do so" is clearly motivated by fear. To the mindless savages, fear is every bit as good as admiration and respect, and often better and ultimately more profitable.
This is perfectly OK with the modern "politically correct" doofuses of all continents...
Gotta love PJ. lol!
Thanks for the ping!
"It's against the law in Germany to deny the Holocaust. (A little late, I'd say.)"
The under-reported aspect of the cartoon story are the hate speech laws in European countries. The same is being foisted upon the USA. Let this be an example of what happens when speech is legislated.
O'Rourke is good, but he is a bit soft on abortion.
Impossible to beat Mark Steyn!!
Great idea for a cartoon.
Surely there is someone on FR who is talented enough to draw that.
Hey, is P.J. living over there nowadays? I haven't heard from him in a while.
Good to know about European "hate" speech laws. They are starting to sprout up here too. Some major universities now outlaw types of speech. How Liberal of them.
You know back in the early days of the Puritans, certain anti-religious statements could get one in serious trouble. Today, it's certain kinds of statements about ethnicity, race, or gender. Aske the president of Harvard.
I must admit I see the beginnings of a kind of secular religion. The only people the new religionists won't denounce are Muslims. Wonder why?
You must be awfully young. For that you get both my envy and my disdain.
If you are truly clueless about the allusion, let me know and I will fill you in on historical trivia.
You might want to start with googling "Sambo Restaurants"...
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