National Review Online has been running a symposium on the cartoon controversy for the last two days, featuring notable contributions by Bat Ye'or yesterday and Nidra Poller today. Here is my bit:
This controversy indicates the gulf between the Islamic world and the West on matters of freedom of expression. The idea of blasphemy as a capital offense is not an invention of “Islamists” or “Wahhabis,” but is deeply rooted within traditional Islam — which is why the forces of radicalism are finding it so easy to stoke cartoon rage worldwide.Freedom of speech encompasses freedom to offend. The instant that any ideology is considered off-limits for critical examination and even ridicule, freedom of speech is dead. The Islamic world, at the highest levels, wants to force the West to accept the notion that criticizing Muhammad and Islam is wrong in itself. Such a notion is just as inimical to freedom as the idea that the Beloved Leader or dialectical materialism is above criticism. Westerners seem to grasp this when it comes to affronts to Christianity, but not in an Islamic context — as evidenced by the refusal of most American and British publications to stand up for the freedom of speech they otherwise so stoutly defend, and reprint the cartoons.
The cartoons can’t be taken back. Our only options are to defend the principles upon which our civilization is based, or to surrender.
YET THEY HAVE THE FREEDOM TO BURN LOOT RAPE,AND KILL
The western media (particularly the US and UK) and western goverments are in for a very rough ride from now on, they have failed us shamefully.
Viva la revolution!
Father Andrea Santoro, 60, murdered in Turkey on Sunday, February 5, 2006. He is a Christian Martyr. A nonviolent Christian martyr. A peaceful Christian martyr. He was murdered by a Muslim, just like a Muslim tried to murder our last Pope and just like Muslims murder Christians everyday, and just like Muslims don't let Christians and Jews live in peace in Muslim lands. The "Free Press" hasn't reported on this murder. Christ is the last Prophet. Mohammed was a great leader and politician, but he is no prophet. Based on his words and deeds, he is not Holy.
http://www.chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=45578&eng=y
Complaining Again
The Muslim Council of Britain is complaining again. Inayat Bunglawala asks why Muslims are treated unfairly by the Western media when Jews aren't.
But have they forgotten how they treat people who criticize or even comment on Islam?
I ask Muslims to reform Islam before they ask anyone else to do the same.
Matthew 7:3
"Why do you [Rom 2:1] look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Matthew 7:4
" [Luke 6:42] Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?
Matthew 7:5
"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Luke 6:41
"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
Luke 6:42
"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye.
For those who think people don't "get it" about Islam read these comments at Polipundit in response to a dhimmi article there about Islam.
Truth About Islam
Muslim Extremists Murder Philippine Christians
(under investigation)
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=83980
These cartoons are not some minor issue- this illustrates why WW3 is worth fighting. If western nations lose the right to criticise Islam, then Civilaization loses to barbarism. Political correctness threatens our entire civilization. We should support the Danes and these cartoons.
Can someone tell me why the mass deportations have not begun?
What will it take? An atomic bomb in NYC? or Rotterdam? or Paris?
Wake up Judeo-Christian Civilization. we are at war with islam and it is a war worth fighting.
These cartoons are not some minor issue- this illustrates why WW3 is worth fighting. If western nations lose the right to criticise Islam, then Civilaization loses to barbarism. Political correctness threatens our entire civilization. We should support the Danes and these cartoons.
Can someone tell me why the mass deportations have not begun?
What will it take? An atomic bomb in NYC? or Rotterdam? or Paris?
Wake up Judeo-Christian Civilization. we are at war with islam and it is a war worth fighting.
oops sorry I hit "post twice"
Concerning the NR symposium I found this curious:
"In the Muslim culture there are no jokes about God; we take Him and His religion quite seriously. And we abhor those who ridicule them."
Mustafa Akyol
http://www.nationalreview.com/symposium/symposium200602070754.asp
But from Iraq the Model blog we get this:
"You know that those cartoons were published for the 1st time months ago and we here in the Middle East have tonnes of jokes about Allah, the prophets and the angels that are way more offensive, funny and obscene than those poorly-made cartoons,"
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/2006/02/time-for-cartoon-post.html
Who is telling the truth?
What I say to Muslims as to why I posted the comics, especially the new French comics:
http://thomistic.blogspot.com/2006/02/to-our-islamic-friends.html
I think Charlie Hebdo was irresponsible. Using them in debate on the inter-net is an entirely different thing. Intellectually and practically. Oddly, the survey I have going in my sidebar (a neat French tool, by the way that I recommend) is 80% favor CH's action. I do not and will post on my exact reasons when I get back from prison tonight...
All the best,
D. Ox
MANSOOR IJAZ: "Islam’s inherent appeal is in its simplicity of message and elegance of ritualistic practices. If the Western media would just remind Muslims of that more often than putting up images of the enraged lunatic with a sword in one hand and a Koran in the other, we might still have a chance at cohabiting Earth together until God calls all of us to a better place."
Further evidence of a confused and pathological state of existence coming from a supposedly moderate, sophisticated Muslim. What Ijaz is saying here is that Muslims are fanatical not because of anything intrinsic in Islamic culture and theology, but only because Westerners portray them as so. How's that for cultural introspection.
They don't like our sense of humor.
Tough sh*t!
If they want to start a fight over it, it will be a painful lesson to them that the free intelligence always triumphs over the slave mind.
It may take the free world a while to rouse its real strength and get over the civilized laziness that doesn't want to be bothered with such idiots. But, we will do the hard work needed once enough of our neighbors are victims of Islamic Imperialism in Western cities.
The freedom-loving people in Europe, America, Australia, and elsewhere, will rise up and squash this absurd threat to our fundamental liberty.
With a laugh.
(And a lot of funny-looking predator drones.)
Slightly OT,looking at the Islamo practice of Al-Takeyya, shouldn't THAT be the end-game for Islam in the west? Shouldn't western governments reevaluate their relationships with Islamic political organizations, governments etc now that they are aware that they have deception mandated in their holy scriptures? It may seem like a minor point, but surely it's another example of why Islam ISN'T a religion but rather a political, seditious cult with an imperative to dominate and should be treated as such.
I mean, I assume that western leaders are aware of this.
"Al-Takeyya is a policy whereby a Muslim may lie, deceive or omit critical truths if it promotes the spreading of Islam AND the conquest of the non-Muslim world. According to William P. Welty, Ph.D., al-Takeyya/Taqiyya is:
“The Islamic principle of lying for the sake of Allah. Falsehoods told to prevent denigration of Islam, to protect oneself, or to promote the cause of Islam are sanctioned by the Qur’an, including lying under penalty of perjury in testimony before the United States Congress, lying or making distorted statements to the media such as claiming that Islam is a religion of peace and deceiving fellow Muslims when the one lying has deemed them to be apostates.”
Unfortunately, when dealing with Muslims, one must keep in mind that Muslims can communicate something with apparent sincerity, when in reality they may have just the opposite agenda in their hearts. Bluntly stated, Islam permits Muslims to lie anytime that they perceive that their own well-being, or that of Islam, is threatened.
In the sphere of international politics, the question is: Can Muslim countries be trusted to keep their end of the agreements that they sign with non-Muslim nations? It is a known Islamic practice, that when Muslims are weak they can agree with most anything. Once they become strong, then they negate what they formerly vowed.
The principle of sanctioning lying for the cause of Islam bears grave implications in matters relating to the spread of the religion of Islam in the West. Muslim activists employ deceptive tactics in their attempts to polish Islam’s image and make it more attractive to prospective converts. They carefully try to avoid, obscure, and omit mentioning any of the negative Islamic texts and teachings. "
Mustafa Akyol explains the Brit's and American's reluctance to publish the cartoons with the notion that the Anglo-Saxons are God-friendly as opposed to the secular Europeans; at the end, this gem of historical scholarship:
Believers respect each other's beliefs
about what is sacred.
Patently false historically. Religions have always emerged and devolped thru dissent from and criticism of prior "wrong" or "alien" faiths. And so did Islam. It's an inherent feature of all civilizations. The examples are too many to even attempt to list them here.
The present "Anglo-Saxon" stances in the cartoon controversy are mere opportunistic, anxiety-ridden reactions to Islamic threat. They know they are culturally dead and outnumbered by Islam, given the small numbers of practicing Christians left in England, some 30%, according to a Times of London poll I read a decade ago. It's all about appeasement and job security.
Parish priests of old, like my beloved Herrick, must be turning in their graves.
The Catholic Church in France is no better. Read France Echos.
The Muslim Council of Britain is complaining again. Inayat Bunglawala asks why Muslims are treated unfairly by the Western media when Jews aren't.
...he obviously doesn't watch his own interviews then. Else he'd know all about how the Nazi-like jooish oppressors keep massacring innocent peace-loving "palestinians", who are penned in like concentration camp prisoners, at the mercy of their burdensome jooish occupiers, who won't even negotiate with those friendly civil servants Hamas, & whos evil nukes might at any moment be unleashed to wipe poor unassuming Iran off the map etc. etc.
Robert - I've read all the cartoon symposium entries, and I believe yours is the most succinct statement of reality.
My only quarrel with the Cartoon Jihad (I credit Hugh Fitzgerald with that title) debate - is that it's not about cartoons. It's about the Imam's picking this time to stir up trouble - and people listen.
We have Americans who want a culture war against blacks and Jews. David Duke, Tom Metzger - it's just that we pay no attention - they're irrelevant to the vast majority of us. The Imam's are not irrelevant to the vast Islamic population. When the Imam's call for a World Rage Tour - they get it.
As Clifford May said - it's not a clash of civilizations - it's a clash of civilization with barbarism. Like all Americans - I wish it wasn't so - but putting our heads in the sand only makes it worse.
If the western governments appologize for the cartoons,the muslims will ask that the cartoonists be handed over to be executed according to their shariah law.
If the western governments hand over the cartoonists(unlikely,but not impossible),the muslims will demand that alcohol be banned.
If the western governments hand over the cartoonists and ban alcohol,the muslims will demand that all food be halal(no pork products).
.....next thing on their list will be burqas for all of our women,and then mass conversion to islam,or else.
Among Muslims, the freedom to make up ones own mind is suppressed by a pervasive system of political socialization and religious inculcation that is deeply embedded in society. This is at the root of the lack of integration and assimilation of Muslims in the West. It is also at the root of the lack of reasonableness in the conflict with Israel. And it is instrumental in creating the outcry over the cartoons. Muslim leaders break every rule in the book of open dialogue with their half-truths and denials. The denial of the Holocaust shows that every historical fact, no matter how well documented, can and will be distorted by Muslims in the cause of defending Islam against real or perceived threats. Ironically, the “historically” correct picture of a short-fused Mohammed is used by fundamentalists to recast the "war on terror" as a "war on Islam." There is a wide range of mechanisms in their societies that allows islamists to do so successfully: the Islamic idea of blasphemy as a capital offence (thank you, Robert); legislation to that effect in Islamic countries; a tradition of anonymous death threats; a mob-mentality; a gagged press; and, intimidated politicians and opinion leaders. Deep underneath it all, there may also be an element of bad conscience over the distorted nature of Islam, which had to degrade Jesus in order to depict Muhammad as the perfect man, which had to degrade the Bible in order to depict the Koran as the perfect book, and which had to degrade Christian theology in order to depict the Islam as the perfect religion. This polemical, deeply anti-pluralistic character of Islam feeds on dehumanizing non-moslims. The only hope for such a system of thought to go unchallenged is to perpetrate global submission. Clearly, the road to rationality of the Muslim mind will be long and arduous, if it exists at all. It demands of Muslims to think the unthinkable and to do so all at the same time. This is what I would call “the Mother of all Jihads,” which is the “war on Islam” from within. The cartoon row is not only about freedom of press, but above all about the uniquely human, capitally important, but so hard to achieve Freedom of Thought.