Muslims march over cartoons of the Prophet

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OK Thanks for answering me so quick.
I am off to bed now but will speak to my freinds in the morning about it.

i'm suprised to hear a generalisation like that coming from you, kevv. or do you really believe that all muslims support the actions of an extreme few?

i've only seen a glimpse of the cartoons but the very first thing that came to mind when i saw them was nazi anti-jewish propaganda. i couldn't find a picture of the exact image that came to mind, but this is the closest thing that i could find:

Not all, but many. I can only offer anecdotal evidence, and that is that I talked to someone who lives in an area with a large population of Muslims, and he reported that after the 9/11 attacks, and those attacks in London, quite a few of the young Muslim men expressed support for the bloodshed.

As for the cartoons, the ones in question were printed by a newspaper in a democratic country. They mainly satirised an individual, they didn't demonise a whole group of people. The anti-Jewish propaganda in the German context was sponsored by the state, and aimed at stereotyping Jews as a group — that's to say all Jews. Those are important differences, I think.

It's important to remember the context of the Muhammad cartoons. They were to accompany an article about the intimidation carried out in the name of Islam after a children's writer found there were no artists willing to illustrate his perfectly innocent book about Islam.

There was an anti-Semitic cartoon in a British newspaper a few years back - based on a Goya painting - showing Ariel Sharon eating a Palestinian child. Jews drinking the blood of non-Jews is one of the oldest anti-Semitic myths.



So what happened about this?
Well, it was awarded first prize in the UK Political Cartoon Society's "Cartoon Of The Year" competition.

So it's priceless to hear Muslims whining about what would happen if a newspaper printed a cartoon about Jews (or Christians for that matter).
Newspapers in Islamic countries print Nazi-esque anti-Semitic cartoons every day, and you don't get Jews torching other countries' embassies.

I am just sick of Muslims constantly trying to portray themselves as victims without even acknowledging their own aggression. You see it everywhere. Every time Muslims do something crazy you'll find letters in newspapers or opinions on weblogs bitching about Israel or "Islamophobia", and you always know the name at the bottom is going to be "Mohammed" or "Malik Khan" or something

And I'm sick of our sad, wimpy establishment's constant efforts to "reach out" to Muslims, when it's obvious that the ones they most want to "reach out" to just cannot be reasoned with.

Let's see the non-extremists oppose the actions and rhetoric of the extremists with fervor, then. The extremists have been getting the rest in big trouble.

very accurate

There is one fact that we in the Western world must come to grips with--WE ARE ALL DANES!

To express solidarity with the courageous stance of the Danish Prime Minister against insulting other faiths but in favor of freedom of the press, it is time to buy Danish products. For a list of Danish products, go to the following Web site:


http://buydanish.home.comcast.net/products.htm

Wow! What a thread. I agree with EVERYTHING Groovydruid said concerning the moderators. It has happened to me, also. I get attacked and the mods end up encouraging and sympathizing with the attacker. Sorry, I just had to throw that in. I still don't get it. Even after I apologized to the booger, I get no where. Enough about my old axe to grind....


Why in the world did Happeh think that Christians believe that only 150,000 are going to heaven and the rest should be killed? I've been a fundamental, right-wing christian all of my life and have never heard of such a thing. Have I been duped? or is Happeh mistaken? (maybe he got Christianity confused with Islam again.)

I think the moozies (muslims) have a point about holocaust denial being a clear 'freedom of speech' issue. I will be interested to see media/state responses to this.

I think Westerners forget that what we think of as democracy is only pseudo democracy, and what think of as freedom of speech is only pseudo freedom of speech.

I wonder if this is WWIII in the making. In many ways I'm tired of waiting for it to happen, so....bring it on!

We're going to have to nuke the middle east and any allies sooner or later, so let's just get that over with.

A long while back you were going to reveal your masterplan for that. Had any thoughts?

This is the real tragedy, that something that seems so trivial (to those of us in the Western world) can cause so much controversy and anger. The fact that this has been escalated into an ideological clash between the principles of the Enlightenment and the absolutism of faith is regrettable. The conflict is actually between sets of people who are driven by blind certainties in their own beliefs and who have an ability to denigrate those who they perceive to be ‘not us’.
There is a great deal of tension between the Western world and Islam at the current time. It is true that the Danish newspaper had every legal right to print cartoon images of the Prophet. However, given the current circumstances, it may not have been the wisest thing to do. I’ve read an article that stated that the editorial staff thought long and hard about printing the cartoons. If their intention was to test the boundaries of free speech, they could have chosen any number of taboo or politically incorrect subjects to lampoon. For example, they could have mocked ethnic minorities, homosexuals or followers of any religion. The trigger to making the decision to lampoon Islam was this “…intimidation carried out in the name of Islam…”. The conclusion drawn by many was that the newspaper intended to mock Islam specifically.
All speech is free. Anyone can say anything they want. However, there are consequences. Countries have libel laws and specific laws against making certain kinds of statements. By all means say what you want, but be prepared to take the consequences, legal or otherwise. Given the current situation, the results of printing these cartoons could have been guessed at. The demonstrations in the Middle East were probably due to a build-up of tension, frustration and anger at the current situation between the Islamic and Western worlds. The demonstrations in Europe may be more to do with the poor social and economic circumstances that European Muslims find themselves in. They do have the legal right to protest. Certain placards were carrying messages that were deemed to be unlawful (even some Muslims in the UK thought that the bearers of those placards should have been arrested and charged.) The cartoons merely provided a trigger for the mobs anger. Conniving political leaders then exploit the situation for their own ends. Burning down embassies is an appalling act. But all of this is just a consequence of so much that has gone before it.
Free speech must be held dear. Once governments put limits on it, there’s no telling where they will stop. However, we all need to understand the consequences of what we say and do. Perhaps now is the time for those of moderate sensibilities and calm minds to stand back and try to assess how to avoid making this tragic situation worse.

I wonder if the cartoon incident was really orchestrated to test the limits of free speech or to bring the Muslim "problem" to a head to see how it's going to be dealt with.

I do wish that the media would be a little more respectful of people's religious convictions. Should everything be sacrificed on the alter of "free speech" or "humor"?

I don't have the answers; just asking the questions. (most likely boils down to dollars and cents)

There is apparently a passage in the hadith that prohibits depictions of anything, but no Muslims really take any notice of it (apart from the Taliban maybe). The truth is there have been several depictions of Muhammad by Muslims throughout history.

So I don't think it's a case of the Danes having violated some sacred Islamic law. I think it's another case of certain Muslims sniffing around for things to be offended by so they can claim persecution and turn the situation to their advantage.

In this particular case I still think Denmark's chairing of the UN Security Council is the main motivation.

Muslim "scholars" have been meeting today in Britain to discuss the issue. Guess what? They're asking for changes to the British law. Again.

It's not the first time, and it won't be the last. These people are leeches.

Sacred laws are generally enforced at the convenience of whoever enforces them. We did not expect this to be true of Muslims? It's definitely true of Christians.

Hear hear!