Bear in mind that I acknowledge that the Danish cartoons were indeed offensive to Muslims, and for that reason, if for no other, also in very poor taste. But this insane violence is ridiculous. It is petulant, dangerous, and wicked. And until the Islamic media stops its farcical, paranoid, freewheeling, and repulsive maligning of Jews and Judaism (as distinct, for the sake of argument, from the state of Israel), I'm sorry, but their ranting lacks any semblance of moral credibility.
Here is an excerpt from the NY Times article today, about the spread of the violence:
Meanwhile, several hundred Iranians attacked the Danish Embassy in Tehran, hurling firebombs and chanting, "God is great," and "Death to Israel," while the police watched.
What? How does this make sense? It doesn't. Its diabolical nonsense. Here's more:
As the facade of the building burned and young men managed to climb around the razor wire protecting the diplomatic compound, a voice broadcast by loudspeaker told the crowd that the cartoons were a Zionist conspiracy, orchestrated by those "afraid of our fundamentalism."You don't have to be a Zionist conspirator to be afraid of this kind of fundamentalism. Its a kind of fundamentalism, after all, that apparently brooks absolutely no criticism, no difference. It does not even tolerate itself: scores of Muslim protestors, and innocent bystanders are themselves being killed as part of the riot "process."
It does not bode well for Western / Islamic (non)relations that the governments in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Dubai, the UAE, and elsewhere not only tolerated the violence, but facilitated and helped to organize it.
Lastly, in Turkey,
a Catholic priest was shot dead on Sunday in the Black Sea port of Trebizond by a young man shouting, "God is great!"
I am not optimistic about the future.
The cartoon is from here, by way of here.
3 comments:
Hi WB,
What do you make of the Vatican calling the cartoons and the violence they have spawned "equally deplorable"? I don't know...
Yeah. That doesn't sound right to me. My problem with the cartoons, mainly, is that they were in fact insensitive. In other words, I think they were bad simply because they were bound to offend Muslims. Otherwise, I agree with the sentiments they expressed (but then, I'm not a Muslim). The cartoons may be criticized on political grounds. The violence, on the other hand, may be criticized on political AND (mainly) moral grounds. It just isn't right to run amok and burn down buildings and advocate the massacring of a race (TWO races: Jews and "Europeans") because some cartoons got your dander up. The one is bad taste; the other is just plain bad.
But I suppose the Vatican has to walk on eggshells when it begins to criticize Muslims. Lord knows, if they're good at anything, its storming and raging.
The reaction in the "Muslim street," so to speak, tends ironically to justify accusation alleged by the cartoon. If Islam is not a religion of violence--which for the record, I won't say it is--the way to prove that is not to burn an embassy, engage in violent and threatening protest and to kill priests. Sigh. A thousand years of darkness doesn't sound like it'll be long enough.
Post a Comment