The jihadist who attempted to murder Motoonist Kurt Westergaard had something in common with...Jack Nicholson. This superb piece by Thomas Landen highlights the absurdity of the Islamic rage over these cartoons -- a rage that continues -- and the supine response to that rage by Western authorities.
"Heeere's Muhammed!," by Thomas Landen at the Brussels Journal, January 4 (thanks to Looney Tunes):
In Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror movie "The Shining", Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, in an attempt to murder his wife and 6-year old son, chops his way through a closed door with an axe, shouting "Heeere's Johnny!" It has become an iconic image.Last Friday, the Shining was reenacted in real life, when a 28-year old Somali man, armed with an axe, smashed his way through the glass door into the bungalow of the 74-year old cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, in a middle-class suburb of the Danish town of Aarhus. The door, made of reinforced bullet-proof glass, eventually gave way, but Mr. Westergaard, who uses a walking-stick, had time to get to the bedroom of his 5-year old granddaughter, wake her up and lock themselves up in his bathroom.
The Westergaard bathroom has been converted into a panic room. It has a steel door and is equipped with an emergency button directly linking it to the police. It took the officers three minutes to arrive. Meanwhile, the Somali was smashing at the steel door with his axe, shouting "Blood" and "Revenge" as he tried to work his way in: "Heeere's Muhammed!"
When the police arrived, the Somali attacked an officer with his axe before he was shot in the knee and shoulder by other officers. Mr. Westergaard and his granddaughter escaped unharmed, though the horror they have been through is beyond description. The incident is reminiscent of another real-life horror scene, which unfolded six years ago in broad daylight in an Amsterdam street, when a young Moroccan, named Mohammed Bouyeri, ritually slaughtered the Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh. He slit van Gogh's throat because the latter had made a documentary movie about the place of women in traditional Muslim societies.
Kurt Westergaard was lucky that Friday's attack occurred relatively early in the night, around 10 pm, when he was still sitting in his living room and immediately saw what was happening. He was lucky to have reinforced bullet-proof glass, which gave him time to drag his grandchild from her bed and flee with her into the bathroom. He was lucky to have a panic room. If the attack had happened in the middle of the night, when Westergaard was asleep, he might not have had the same alertness and might not have reacted as quickly. He, his granddaughter, or both, might have been hacked to pieces.
Five years ago, when the death threats against the cartoonist started, the Danish authorities converted the Westergaard bungalow into a fortress. They replaced all the windows with bullet-proof glass, transformed the family bathroom into a panic room, and installed surveillance cameras around the house. These measures saved Mr. Westergaard, but only barely so. The Westergaard family will need even better protection in future.
Five years ago, Muslim clerics placed a price of 1 million dollars on Kurt Westergaard's head because he had drawn a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammed with a bomb tucked inside his turban. This cartoon, Mr. Westergaard said, "was an attempt to expose those fanatics who have justified a great number of bombings, murders and other atrocities with references to the sayings of their prophet. If many Muslims thought that their religion did not condone such acts, they might have stood up and declared that the men of violence had misrepresented the true meaning of Islam. Very few of them did so."
Very few of them do so today. The newspaper editorial which the "moderate" Gulf News, based in Dubai, wrote on 2 January about the Westergaard assassination attempt reads as follows:
"There is no doubt that the cartoon was deeply offensive to all Muslims. For his work, Westergaard is regarded with the greatest possible contempt by all who believe in the true faith of Islam. Targeting him, however, is descending to the level of a contemptuous and despicable man."This revenge attack merely again serves to highlight the insult wrought by Danish newspapers, stoking the embers of insult with the oxygen of hatred.
"Westergaard and his ilk are better forgotten."
Though Gulf News condemns the assassination attempt, it calls it a "revenge attack" and morally equates it with Mr. Westergaard drawing a "deeply offensive" cartoon. Gulf News criticizes the would-be assassin, not for attempting to kill the cartoonist, but for having "descended to the level" of this "contemptuous and despicable man." Have we missed something? Did Mr. Westergaard also try to kill a man with an axe? No, he merely made a drawing with a pencil....
Be sure to read it all.
From the article - "When the police arrived, the Somali attacked an officer with his axe before he was shot in the knee and shoulder by other officers."
Damn shame they missed his head or torso.
Why do Western authorities not refuse entry to every Muslim who does not sign a binding obligation to live under our laws rather than those of Islam?
I applaud the idea, but what would that be to the purpose? For jihad, it would be perfectly acceptable, probably encouraged, for an infiltrator to sign the agreement and then "strike" years later. Taqqiya and all, you see, since truthtelling is an honor withheld from the kafir.
That piece of garbage (the Muslim) would have probably hacked up the five year old girl if she hadn't been saved in the safe room. Islam out of the West now.
Whatever happened to crank mail that says "You suck. I could put a hose on your work and use it to clean my living room"?
I guess that sort of thing is just too civilized for Muslim self-appointed censors and critics.
Is this what artists and writers have to look forward to in the name of "diversity"? It's certainly not conducive to a climate of diversity of opinion, now is it?
This is a test.
One good thing about these disgraceful incidents is that they may discredit Islam enough for very brave, thinking people to make the move to leave this religion.
A hallway clearing shot gun should be standard equipment...
This is a test.
One good thing about these disgraceful incidents is that they may discredit Islam enough for very brave, thinking people to make the move to leave this religion.
Policeman should have targeted his head instead of his knee;
now they will waste countless hours of their courts and their
money on this jihadi?
Islam follows the example of muhammed so mental illness, violence and fear of women (except children, who he liked to have sex with) must have been the example he set? Of course we know from research that muhammed was in fact schizophrenic, hence the visions, and that kadija (his mother figure wife) protected him by claiming he was having visions, (as any mother would).
Islam appears strong on the surface but it has been proven that it is extremely weak; it is unable to defend its own existence, but turns to violence so as to hide the truth it knows in its heart.
How sad that so many people are in the grip of this cult. I do not hate muslims, I pity them. Like molested children they grow up to be the molesters.
And all because of the example of one man.
And a big, mean, guard dog.
"One good thing about these disgraceful incidents is that they may discredit Islam enough for very brave, thinking people to make the move to leave this religion."
Sorry but incidents such as this give the exact opposite impression to Muslims, leave Islam and some insane lunatic (maybe even one of your closest family members) is going to hack you up with an ax the first chance they get. You will need to convert a room in your house to a safe room to protect you from insane Muslim lunatics. You will live the rest of your life in a perpetual state of looking over your back to see if an insane Muslim lunatic is there ready to hack you up with an ax. Islam out of the West now.
"Have we missed something? Did Mr. Westergaard also try to kill a man with an axe? No, he merely made a drawing with a pencil."
And so must we similarly attack at every opportunity the specious argument of moral equivalence.
When the relativists insist that Christian extremists are just as intolerant of gays as Muslim extremists, it's important to point out the willful ignorance in equating opposition to gay marriage with executing homosexuals.
When the relativists insist that Christian abortion-doctor killers are just as dangerous as Muslim Jihadists, it's important to point out that while less than a dozen abortion doctors have been murdered over the last 30 years, there have been literally millions of victims of Islamic Jihad over the same period.
Finally, when the relativists insist that the Bible's Old Testament is every bit as intolerant as the Quran, point out that Christians are free to interpret the Bible figuratively or even to reject it outright, and that there is no such legal construct as "Biblical law" governing any country on earth; none of this is so with the Quran and that therefore, Islam is unique in its challenge and affrontery to human freedom.
In discussions among friends and families and in internet chat-rooms, at cocktail parties and such, the cop-out of moral equivalence should be shot down with gusto each and every time it rears its ugly head.
"...Mohammed Bouyeri, ritually slaughtered the Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh. He slit van Gogh's throat because the latter had made a documentary movie about the place of women in traditional Muslim societies."
Actually, at least one eyewitness said that Bouyeri was leaning down sawing away at Theo Van Gogh's neck calmly as though he were "slicing a loaf of bread" obviously trying to decapitate him -- until a policeman ran up and Bouyeri fled, only to be caught some time later.
For those JWers who have adopted the mantra "Islam out of the West", I suggest a more coherent, practical and full-blooded adjustment: Muslims out of the West. Which Muslims? Why, all of them, since we cannot tell the difference between the harmless ones and the dangerous ones, as well as for a complex of other reasons which I detail in this essay.
I don't know that it is that much better saying Muslims out of the West. Islam out of the West is clearer in stating that it is the ideology that is the core problem and allows for the notion of "cultural Muslims" who don't really follow Islam but since they were born into call themselves Muslim. Any person, Muslim or otherwise, who is willing to state that they object to Sharia and a few other key concepts of Islam related to Islamic supremacism isn't the problem. If after a program of limiting Islam it turns out that people claiming to be against Sharia start committing terrorist acts then obviously a complete ban on Muslims per se would be perhaps necessary. Severely limiting the practice of Islam due to its political nature makes it uncomfortable enough for any person who wants to follow Islam to any great degree. It is at this point still better to just focus on the ideology than to start trying to focus on each individual Muslim.
But to continue, I do agree that the overall problem of Islam is only a problem in the West because of the presence of large numbers of Muslims. Ending all further immigration is critical and then gradually beginning to turn back what has already occurred is next. That so many people, conservatives included, continue to think that there is no problem allowing Islam in the West and that "rule of law" will take care of whatever problems arise, is a massive humongous problem. There is almost no one in politics who has this issue right. I would honestly say that it is near hopeless that the West will wake up in time to save itself and rid itself of Islam. As much as I appreciate all the effort many are putting into this fight in the end about all that will come of it is being able to say "I told you so" after the West is Islamized. Sorry to be so pessimistic at the beginning of a new year but that is just being honest.
allows for the notion of "cultural Muslims" who don't really follow Islam but since they were born into call themselves Muslim.
1) Sudden Jihad Syndrome
2) Taqiyya
Any person, Muslim or otherwise, who is willing to state that they object to Sharia and a few other key concepts of Islam related to Islamic supremacism isn't the problem.
1) Taqiyya.
It's time to get serious.
What ultimately needs to happen is that the oath of citizenship for all Western countries needs to include statements that specifically renounce and deny Muhammad and Islam. If worded properly it won't be that offensive to anyone except someone who does still believe.
A couple of observations after reading the article (I am coming late to this thread, having been away from the internet for four days last week).
One. I hope everyone noticed that the attack occurred on a FRIDAY, around 10 pm. If I am not mistaken, this would place it after 'Friday prayers'; i.e. this Somali Muslim probably got all fired up after attending the mosque. I wonder if he was acting on his own or whether the imam, sheikh or some other jihad gang boss had given him his orders that particular evening?
It might be interesting to sift through the mountain of reports at the 'religionofpeace' website that lists jihad attacks, and find out what percentage of attacks occurred on Fridays...or, perhaps, on Saturday mornings 'the morning after the night before'...
Second. to ThinkThrice, who observed in a posting above that unhappy wanting-to-apostasise Muslims (except for the bravest souls among them) are frightened into staying with the Muslim Mob, by the spectacle of incidents such as this, which show them what will be done to them if they try to leave, even in the West:
in her book 'The Imam's Daughter', apostate-from-Islam 'Hannah Shah' relates how, after she fled her family and became a Christian, her imam father led a crowd of raging Mohammedans *with hammers, knives and axes* to the house where she was hiding, and tried to break down the door.
Here's her interview with the 'Sunday Times':
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5907458.ece
excerpt:
'Hannah’s description in the book of the moment when her “community” discovered the “safe” home where she had fled after becoming an apostate is terrifying.
' A mob with her father at its head pounded and hammered at the door as she cowered upstairs hoping she could not be seen or heard.
'She heard her father shout through the letter box: “Filthy traitor! Betrayer of your faith! Cursed traitor! We’re going to rip your throat out! We’ll burn you alive!”
'Does she still believe they would have killed her?
“Yes, without a doubt. They had hammers and knives and axes.”
'Why didn’t you call the police after-wards?
“First, I didn’t think the police would believe me. That sort of thing just doesn’t happen in this country – or that’s what they’d think. Second, I didn’t believe I would get help or protection from the [UK] authorities.”...
And another ex-Muslim in the UK had bricks thrown through his windows (see this report)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article510589.ece?token=null&offset=12
"THE first brick was thrown through the sitting room window at one in the morning, waking Nissar Hussein, his wife and five children with a terrifying start. The second brick went through his car window.
"It was a shock, but hardly a surprise. The week before, another brick had been thrown through the window as the family were preparing for bed in their Bradford home. The victim of a three-year campaign of religious hatred, Mr Hussein’s car has also been rammed and torched, and the steps to his home have been strewn with rubbish.
"He and his family have been regularly jostled, abused, attacked, shouted at to move out of the area, and given death threats in the street.
"His wife has been held hostage inside their home for two hours by a mob.
"His car, walls and windows have been daubed in graffiti: “Christian bastard”.
"The problem isn’t so much what Mr Hussein, whose parents came from Pakistan, believes, but what he doesn’t believe.
"Born into Islam, he converted eight years ago to Christianity, and his wife, also from Pakistan, followed suit."
Even in the West, it takes great bravery for a person born within Islam - or who has 'converted' and then has had second thoughts - to leave the Muslim Mob. Because of what Nonie Darwish calls 'allah's enforcers' - the Mohammedan fanatics, self-appointed judge, jury and executioner, whacking at your door with an axe.