Friday, February 17, 2006

“No double standards. We want justice!”

Read a sign in a giant protest against those pesky Danish cartoons. Again, the Art or Idiocy? headline of “Irony Apparently Not one of Muhammad’s Teachings” is applicable. Everyone else has their deities, holy figures &c. parodied all over the world. So it is a double standard for the Muslims out for blood to expect everyone to respect their wishes.

Now people are offering ransoms and rewards for the death of cartoonists. So basically all these rioters are underscoring the points made by the cartoons. The actions of these radical, riotous ridiculous Muslims are making those caricatures real. Painfully real. Following down this path, I assume someone will eventually make a total joke of the religion and actually kill one of the cartoonists. How? In a suicide bombing, of course!

In other news of images causing controversy, more Abu Ghraib photos have been published. The media is bringing up the question of why is it that America will air and publish images that discredit our national character, but not the cartoons that parody Muhammad? American media should not publish the toons. This is because the images are easily accessible all over the internet. And the U.S. has already done enough to piss of the Middle East.

This whole scandal of the cartoons is a perfect example of how unquestioning devotion and submission to fundamentalist religion leads down a path of destruction.

The Face of Muhammad
Cartoon for cagle.com by Brian Fairrington


Also being made clear is how precious our freedoms are. How we can all take for granted what we can do and say in this country and in the West. The absurd actions, and at this point one is hardpressed to describe them as anything but, make evident how much more violent, mob-minded and reactionary radical Islam is than anything fundamentalist nutjob rightwingers are in America.

It is also disturbing that there is almost no voice, at least seeing publication, of Muslims opposed to all the violence and rioting. Both the Danish government and the paper have now apologized. And it is insane to expect more. Part of religious freedom is that you can not hold those who do not practice your beliefs accountable to your religious punishments. But that is the whole clash, right? The West's stance is Freedom of Religion and Freedom of the Press. The Middle East's is mandatory religion and the press is controlled by government.

And finally, the much-delayed response, and the pronouncements leaders and clerics are making indicates this whole controversy is a scapegoat and is being used for an agenda of violence by radical Islam.

Some good cartoonists’ responses
The strongest point made, and not all are pro-Danish, is that Muslims should be much more enraged by extremists invoking the name of Muhammad for the purpose of terrorism, violence and murder.

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