It is a basic principle that is being obscured: if you insult me and I hit you, the responsibility lies entirely with me. It doesn’t matter what you said. I didn’t have to react violently. I could have reacted in any number of other ways. The people who are responsible for the riots and murders over Westergaard’s cartoon are the rioters and murderers, not Westergaard. Blaming him is a prelude to criminalizing criticism of Islam, which the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has been pushing for ever since the cartoons were first published.
Seine Mohammed-Karikatur hatte weltweite Ausschreitungen mit vielen Toten zur Folge, auch der Anschlag auf »Charlie Hebdo« wird indirekt auf sie zurückgeführt: Jetzt ist der dänische Zeichner Kurt Westergaard gestorben. https://t.co/Mjui0Tz7dR pic.twitter.com/BfaaEijg4g
— DER SPIEGEL (@derspiegel) July 18, 2021
Spiegel’s tweet says: “His Mohammed caricature resulted in riots around the world with many dead, and the attack on ‘Charlie Hebdo’ is indirectly attributed to them: the Danish draftsman Kurt Westergaard has now died.”
“SPIEGEL: Deceased Mohammed cartoonist responsible for Islamic terror,” translated from “SPIEGEL: Verstorbener Mohammed-Karikaturist verantwortlich für islamischen Terror,” by Michael van Laack, Philosophia Perennis, July 19, 2021 (thanks to Medforth):
Only good things should be reported about the deceased. Of course, this principle cannot always be adhered to. However, the way in which the “SPIEGEL” teaser yesterday presented the story of the impact of the Mohammed caricatures on the occasion of the death of Kurt Westergaard is as repugnant as it is typical of the general appeasement of German leading media outlets.
The publicist and lawyer Arnd Diringer aptly commented on Twitter: The riots with many dead and the attack on “Charlie Hebdo” are therefore the result of a few pictures and not the result of a murderous ideology and deeds of their followers.
Westergaard as the originator of all evil
It’s just something different whether you depict Christ as a pig on the cross or sell the piss-Christ dipped in urine as art or caricature the murderer, warmonger and child molester Mohammed. In the latter case, it is apparently understandable for mainstream media outlets such as SPIEGEL when the “believers” revolt and cut someone’s throat or shoot them or blow them up.
Islamic racism endangers “our” democracy
The non-Muslim has to show more sensitivity. When he knows how deeply he hurts noble Muslim hearts and yet taints the No. 1 religion of mercy with satire and caricature, the blood of the victims of the devout Muslims sticks to the hands of the provocative malefactor. If that doesn’t make sense, you are Islamophobic and a racist. And anyone who publicly contradicts this assessment is in all likelihood also a Nazi or worse.
For example, an old white and Christian fundamentalist who cannot bear justified criticism of his own religion – covered by artistic freedom – and who therefore behaves in a lack of solidarity with Muslims if they defend themselves with the necessary harshness against blasphemous writings and images.
Maureen Chaloner says
Typical cowardly response!
Raja says
This guy is useless, grossly idiotic and heartless.
Yes, Kurt was responsible for 9/11, numerous terror attacks on US marines, US hostage crises.murder of Jews since time immemorial and so on;
He is just short of claiming that his forefathers were stupid to resist the marauding muslims taking over Europe!
Infidel says
Germany was a lucky country that islam never reached, since it was stopped at various points such as Vienna, Poitiers, Lepanto and Polish-Lithuanian Grand Duchy (talking here about the Lipka Tatars). It wasn’t until Die Führerlein Frau Merkel decided to open up Europe and Germany to millions of them that Germany had much of a muslim presence, aside from a few Turks from Kemalist Turkey
It’ll be interesting the day jihadists turn on Der Spiegel itself: they’ll find that the ceasefire doesn’t last forever
revereridesagain says
Christian fundamentalists can be annoying to those of us who rely on reality and reason. But they threaten physical harm to no one. They force their beliefs on no one. They are responsible for virtually none of the religion-based violence in the world.
Muslim fundamentalists are dangerous and frequently deadly to EVERYONE who refuses to accept and “believe” their nonsense. Their religion explicitly approves and indeed urges the cultivation of hatred of and even violence against the “unbeliever”. They are the ultimate ideology thugs on the planet, second only to the Marxists, and even that depends on where you are stuck residing. That they would blame someone like Kurt Westergaard for the hate they have earned is typical. That there are so many virtue signaling groveling enablers of the slaves of Allah is a major contributing reason for why there is so much Islam-inspired violence in the world.
As for Der Spiegel, thanks for reminding us once again how the Germans wound up foisting the Nazis upon the world.
James Lincoln says
revereridesagain says,
“Christian fundamentalists can be annoying to those of us who rely on reality and reason.”
I am a devout Christian, and I, too, find overbearing / over-the-top / pesky preachy Christian fundamentalists annoying…
gravenimage says
Agreed, revereridesagain and James. I may find the Jehovah’s Witnesses at my door and the Morman missionaries in my supermarket parking lot a bit irksome, but I know these are good-hearted people concerned about my spiritual well-being as they see it. I have never feared them, nor ever had any reason to do so. I wish I could say the same about Muslims…
Yogi says
This Germans are sick in the heads !! Merkel&CO is responsible for opening Pandora’s box in 2015 , let in terrorist, reapists and on and on .., that butch have blood on Her hands , look at Würzburg!!!, she didn’t even go and see family of the victims knife attack, by Her darling from Somalia , is despicable, what that women did to this country and Europe in the same time ..
Yogi says
That bitch , correction from previous comment..
Infidel says
She’s the worst chancellor Germany ever had, Hitler included!
James Lincoln says
Did you really mean to say that, Infidel?
Infidel says
Yeah, I did. Hitler, for all his faults, never foisted millions of German haters on the German population. Of course, his megalomania drove that country into ruin, and that’s definitely to be held against him, but he didn’t invite people he considered Germany’s enemies to come in and settle within Germany
Merkel did precisely that, while leaving her entire population defenseless. Germany, which had been insulated from muslim invasions throughout history, finally had the trojan horse of refugees brought into it
gravenimage says
Then again, there was that whole genocide and murdering millions of people thing–including his own people.
gravenimage says
Infidel–with all respect–I think this is an overstatement, to put it mildly. Merkel is terribly harmful. but she is no Hitler.
Infidel says
Graven
See my above response to James
Keith O says
“Islamic racism endangers our democracy”.
Correct! The levels of racism displayed by islam, along with bigotry, xenophobia, misogyny, narcissism and outright violence ARE a menace to all democracies.
I have noticed that the rants by mudslimes and their arse kissing toadies, which claim to list the crimes committed against these poor peaceful souls is quite often a reflection of the violence and crimes perpetrated by mudslimes against innocent victims across the world.
gravenimage says
+1
tim gallagher says
Has Der Spiegel employed some Muslim to write this disgusting crap? Anyway, it has to be some completely brain dead idiot who would blame this cartoonist for Muslim terrorism. Islam has been nothing but vicious terrorism and invasions of non-Muslim countries and endless murder for 1400 years. Islam has never been any different. No modern cartoonist has had anything to to do with the murderous nature of Islam. It is all right there in that disgusting book, the Koran. This Der Spiegel rubbish is one of the most moronic things I have ever heard of. And what pathetic doormats the staff at Der Spiegel must be if they want grovel to islam and refuse to criticise that loathsome, evil ideology. Der Spiegel must be a completely hopeless magazine to express these views. Absolute cowards and sell out merchants.
gravenimage says
Tim, I was actually unable to find a byline on this piece. That means that it was either written by or directly approved by the editor–in this case, Steffen Klusmann.
He does not appear to be Muslim–but Der Spiegel has recently been involved in made up stories about Trump supporters and Guantanimo inmates and more from their star reporter (since fired), as well as complaints that the magazine is anti-American and anti-Israeli.
So I think this is more unhinged leftism than Islam per se. And as so often the case, it hardly matters…
tim gallagher says
Thanks for that information, gravenimage. I was sort of joking, in a bitter kind of way, when I said that, maybe, a Muslim had written this garbage. I have never known anything about Der Spiegel, except that it is the only German magazine I have actually heard about at all. For me to have heard about it must mean that it is a big time magazine in Germany. So much of the media is left wing, so I guess that what you say about the magazine’s politics is no surprise. However, the comment on this cartoonist is so staggeringly dumb. As I said in my comment, Islam has been nothing but murderously violent for 1400 years. To say that the brave cartoonist has caused Muslims to turn to terrorism is beyond stupid. This cowardly crawling to the Muslims and making excuses for their evil and violence is pathetic.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Tim.
But you are also right that more and more western publications do have Muslims writing for them now, especially on Islamic stories, which is very troubling–so your question was hardly off-base.
Johnny B says
They’re desperately trying to cover up the incredible betrayal of the European people that they have partaken in. However, history will reveal everything even in due time…
gravenimage says
Germany’s Spiegel claims Muhammad cartoonist Kurt Westergaard responsible for jihad terror
……………………
Just grotesque falsehood. Firstly, cartoons *of any kind* do not cause terrroism.
Then, the Jyllands-Posten cartoons were created in 2005–after 9/11 and other Jihad terror attacks. How is Kurt Westergaard responsible for this Jihad terror?
Then, the Danish Muhammad cartoons were created *in response* to fear of Muslim violence–specifically, over childfren’s author Kåre Bluitgen being unable to find any illustrator who was not too terrified to work on his book “The Qur’an and the life of the Prophet Muhammad” (this was finally illustrated just recently by brave cartoonist Bosch Fawstin, a frequent contributor to Jihad Watch).
And you can go back further, to things like the Muslim violence over Salman Rushdie’s work. Is this somehow Westergaard’s fault, as well? Or perhaps it is all Rushdie’s fault? sarc/off
So Jihad terror and the fear of Jihad terror were already rife at the time of the creation of the Muhammad cartoons.
More:
It’s just something different whether you depict Christ as a pig on the cross or sell the piss-Christ dipped in urine as art or caricature the murderer, warmonger and child molester Mohammed.
……………………
Yes, these are different–but not just because few so much as blink at the crude depictions of Jesus, wereas Muslims murderously riot over *any* depictions of Muhammad. Christians do not become murderously violent.
But another point is that these depictions of Christ are not actually criticizing any aspect of his character or teachings–whether one might agree or not with any specific criticisms are immaterial here. Instead, the crude depictions are gratuitous.
Not so with most cartoons of Muhammad. For instance, Westergaard’s image comments on Islamic violence, specifically bombings. Other of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons refer to the Islamic beliefs of Jihadist suicide bombers receiving virgins in paradise, one to both Islamic violence and the oppression of women, and one specifically to the fear that cartoons feel in even considering drawing Muhammad these days.
It seems to me that these are all substantive concerns about Islam. But apparenty Der Spiegel doesn’t agree, and instead blames Islamic violence on a cartoonist for daring to point out that pious Muslims are violent. Just appalling cowardice.
Walter Sieruk says
To say that the cartoonist Kurt Westeraad is responsible for those rioting Muslims is nothing but the old flawed despicable “Shift the blame ” card and even the “Blame victim line.”
If those rioting , violent Muslims had been man enough they would have taking the responsibly for their own terrible destructive action pf vandalism and violence.. Obviously they aren’t men of honor.
Walter Sieruk says
This shows the great difference between the way Christians and Muslims Matthew react to something they find offensive.
For example , there’s play the makes Jesus out to be some kind clown.
Therefore Christians just boycotted that play. A civilized action. In contrast , that Kurt Westeraad cartoon that made fun of the prophet of Islam the Muslims engaged in riots and all the mayhem is goes with it . A terrible uncivilized behavior.
The difference between how Christians and Muslims react to a given situation is outstanding and vast.
Jesus had taught “By their fruit you will recognize them.” Matthew 2:20. [N.I.V.]
Walter Sieruk says
When Spiegel of Germany attempted to get the lawless rioting Muslim vandals “Off the hook’ regarding their despicable criminal violent reactions to that cartoon of Muhammad by putting all the blame on the cartoonist Kurd Westeraard , he was ,by those words he said , is is an ungodly man himself .
For the Bible reads “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent – the Lord detests them both.”
Proverbs 17:15, [N.I.V.]
Walter Sieruk says
What weak , powerless nothing god is Allah, the god of Islam, that he can’t even take vengeance for an insult :to his prophet , Muhammad so Muslims feel that they have to help Allah out by rioting for him.
In great contrast the God of Christianity is all powerful so He doesn’t need the help of Christians to act for Him when someone insults Jesus. As the New Testament of Galatians 6:7 informs its Christian readers “Not not be deceived : God cannot be mocked , a man reaps what he sows.” [N.I.V.]