All of this over some guy in some other country drawing a cartoon, a cartoon which doesn't actually go against any teachings of Islam. No where in the Quran does it say you can't draw a picture of a prophet. This drawing is clearly not idol worship. No where in the Quran does it say that the whole world must live according to Muslim laws which don't even apply here in the first place. Essentially what happened is that their feelings got hurt and now they are taking their toys and going home. How can you justify boycotting Western Civilization by the actions of one person exercising their freedom? I would also like to point out the irony of this situation. When a group of people react violently to a cartoon that was depicting their religion as violent, doesn't that just feed into this stereotype? I realize the people who are blowing up embassies and burning Danish flags represent maybe 1% of Muslims worldwide but where were they when the Saudi papers printed derogatory depictions of Jews? What, it's ok to make fun of one religion and not the other, just because it's not yours? I know, Christians are really good at doing this as well but other than a few abortion clinics here and there, boycotting Procter and Gamble for putting Pagan symbols on their toothpaste, they haven't reacted this way in a couple of hundred years.
I would like to point out that the act of public protest is a form of free speech. Clearly these people aren't allowed to burn their own country’s flag, or speak out against Islam but if they want the freedom to burn Danish and US flags and voice their grievances then they have to allow others to voice their grievances. Speaking of flags, there must be a flag supply store on every corner in Muslim countries. I couldn't produce a Turkish flag if you gave me a $1000 and a week to find one. Maybe I should go to the Middle East and open a flag store. I would also like to point out that maybe if they spent their days at work, instead of in the street burning flags, maybe they wouldn't be so poor.
Based on the reaction of a cartoon, imagine what the Muslim reaction would be in a free country where women could hire and fire men, or where women wore G-string bikinis or Larry Flynt started selling his magazines and homosexuals were free to do what they pleased. This part of the world is not ready for freedom nor do they want it. Bush should have known that before going into Iraq. Iraq will never be a free, secular country.
10 comments:
I'm pretty much convinced most of the world is full of idiots. We've got one running our flag store, so to speak.
Muslim or Christian, I have no tolerance for crazy out of control religious zealot nuts. I know it's not PC to say anything bad about Muslims but the people I am talking about are just as bad as or worse than Fred Phelps, Jerry Falwell, Eric Rudolph and Pat Robertson.
Religious zealots all need to form their own country and live by the rules of the Gods and leave us normal people alone.
there may be more at work than just zealotry...
this is a good piece about it
Muslim chicks in bikinis! Yummm
You should check out this interview. It's with Irans new president. This guy is fucking awesome. Other than the fact that he calls for genocide on Israelis and the fact that he believes the holocaust was fabricated. But you know, I'm willing to overlook that. I mean hey, no one is perfect. But anyways, I think it's easy to bash these countrys and develop a negative opinion on them. But the fact is, we have no idea what we've really done in these areas. Their hatred is pretty much legitimate. Check out the interview, it illustrates a little of what I'm talking about. And also he touches on the ethnocentrism of America. It's quite beautiful acutally:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-02-12-iran-interview_x.htm
I see your point. I'm Iranian and I can tell you that iranian people are least fanatic among muslims. apart from having the most f'd up government. It might be because every iranian person is getting screwed by the fanatic islamic government of Iran and that puts things in perspective.
anyway, I have yelled and laughed at all the idiots who are going crazy about this cartoon but today I read something strange. Apparently it is illegal in austria to "trivialize" the holocaust (look at article in TimesOnline: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2049360,00.html.) I think they might be doing this to protect people and stop fanatic anti-semites and even nazis from going crazy, but I still feel like there's something wrong with the picture.
Wow, so freedom of speech is not welcomed in Austria either. Well, we all know it isn't illegal to trivialize the holocaust in the Middle East but I guess Austria feels a little guilty about the whole thing and this is the way they reacted. After all, they spawned Hitler and were part of the Reich. It is still baffling to see someone thrown in jail for saying something in a Western country. But at least he didn't burn down any embassies.
At least they're starting to speak out...that's a sign of good things to come...
John,
check out my blog for more authentic views regarding the cartoon fiasco, as your information is highly distorted.
No part of the world that has suffered from US intervention can truly be "free" or "better off" than it was before. Iraq is a great example.
The US has a history of intervening in countries where it sees its interests being promoted and then when the dirty work is done, they pack up and leave. A perfect analogy is a rich businessman who spends the night with an escort and slips away in the early hours of the morning and leaves much less money than what was originally decided upon.
Zeeshan:
I totally agree. However, that is not what I am talking about; this cartoon has nothing to do with the US. That is the problem; they blame everything on us. Burn effigies of Bush because he is an asshole or he invaded the wrong country, not because some Dane drew a picture that you didn't like. Of course the US, Russia, UK, France, Turkey, China, Bin Laden, and all other historic world powers have intervened where they don't belong to promote their interests. I am not saying it is right but it is only natural. If you were selling widgets next to another guy selling widgets and someone went to his booth to buy widgets you would try to get him to buy your widget instead of the other guy’s right?
The other thing a lot of these countries need to realize (Israel especially) is that if you don't want the US to intervene or have a say in what you do then don't take our money. I am not saying "do as your told because we gave you aid" but it is a mixed message.
The bottom line is that people who are so crazed with religion, and so anti free speech, where they are willing to kill and destroy because of a cartoon that was drawn in another country 6 months ago, there is no possibility of reasoning with them. Democracy takes reason and rational heads who are willing to negotiate and bend. Therefore, for more reasons than I have described, Iraq will never be a success.
I will check out your blog in due time.
Well I wouldn't go as far as "never" will accept democracy, but definitely not in our lifetime. Democracy needs a large middle class in addition to the social reform that can happen in decades, and after having a dicatorship government for as long as Iraq has existed with no room for democratic ideas to develop, you basically cannot expect them to understand it at all. They will be killing each other for many years before it gets anywhere.
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