Feb 06 2006
Calm Will Not Come To Cartoonland
Calls for calm by the radical islamists will not do anything. This is clearly a staged event with prepositioned props and manufactured evidence (the extra cartoons defiling the prophet Mohamed created by the Danish Imams). Michelle Malkin highlights the recent stged outrage, mimicking the weeks of rampage seen in France, but now on a global scale.
And the French riots provide an indication of what to do and what not to do. First thing to do is to stop overreacting with anger – that is exactly what the terrorists want. These are blood thirsty and dangerous brutes to be sure. But we do not need to immerse ourselves in their propaganda and rehash it.
Second, nations need to establish a strong law enforcement response and arrest those who violate laws. At a minimum this allows them to do background checks and catalogue these people for future monitoring. The rabid folks in the streets are not the puppeteers, but we should be able to follow the puppet’s strings to what we want to know.
Third, we all need to set the example of how to use free speech in a civil manner. Don’t yell at Muslims. Do not mock them either. Hamid Karzai did an excellent job of supporting the right to free speech while upholding respect of others. Tolerance is respecting others you have little in common with and is not simple to do. So, if we need to post picture after picture of Muslim radicals, somehow we have to remember to post a picture now and then of someone like Karzai who remains a strong US ally helping us to fight these radicals.
The blogosphere is facing a real test, and is not doing very well in my humble opinion. We have been good at mimicking the radicals by stirring up passions in the West to a fevered pitch to equal what the staged events are designed to do on the Muslim side.
I am not a practicing Christian and I can see some aspects of Islam that are worthy of respect. In other words, I am not in the mood for a clash of civilizations and see no reason to start one over some stupid cartoons. The terrorists want us angry so that we will lose our composure and do or say something that will light the next world war. That is how ALL world wars started – a trap laid by radicals who stage or perpetrate some act which starts fires of emotions that burn through millions of souls before the go out again.
Are we in control or have we allowed Al Qaeda to control this situation? Riots do not work if people do not over react. To kill this fire off simply requires suffocating the PR oxygen that feeds it. No news cameras or pictures will suffocate the will of the instigators.
Were I a moderate christian I might be of the opinion that the radical left and radical Muslims have a lot in common. Of course the left would deny that because they believe that men should wear the burka instead of women. Or as Steyn writes …
there’s very little difference between living under Exquisitely Refined Multicultural Sensitivity and Sharia
So it does seem the left and Islamic extremists are working together on a situation to divide moderate christians and jews from moderate muslims to weaken western society.
Still, there is the nagging voice that says a moderate muslim is like a moderate communist. Nice for now but both intend that our great grandchildren live in a state of primitive subserviance where everything not required is forbidden. Why not let them make the commitment to western values before granting “moderate” status?
AJ is sounding a Call to Chill
And While I’m not on board with all of it I do think the call to Chill needs some back and forth and a little bit of calm in the Danish-Cartoon-Jyhad.
And the French riots provide an indication of what to do and what not to do. First thing to …
There is certainly something to be said for cutting off the oxygen flow to a fire, but in this instance, we’ve got countries like Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia not only fanning the flames, but instigating the mess.
All three countries are totalitarian and control access and means. Syria also dominates Lebanon via its proxies. Those countries do not want this to go away, and are trying to literally fan the flames.
With all due respect Mr. Karzai is not a moderate mulsim.
I would venture to suggest Salomon Rushdie and his translators were.
If I recollect most of them are dead and he is still on a hit list.
We keep hearing about these moderate muslims. I did not see them those protesting at the UN the other day, those were not moderate but shrewd.
They were demanding and apology and were just no using violence yet.
With all due respect to you and your wisdom , religion has nothing to do with any of this.
Societies create structure and civilizations for the good of the majority. Things either add to life ( marriage for example )
or take away ( disease or crime). How they affect that structure and what we do to deal with them are the pertinet questions.
Religion aside would you tolerate this form a group of branch davidians or mormoms. Black Panthers, Nazi extemists.
I doubt it.
What would happen if people said it’s their religion. What will you do if people decide Hitler and Stalin and Tojo were prophets doing God’ work.
Would then every body would be screaming Separation of Church and State. I think most of us would do the logical thing. Maybe not though. ( Probably why societies and empires destruct)
So why is Islam tolerated.
To be honest I think Islamic immigrants should be banned from America not because I think they are inherently bad. NO, I feel that their religion will always come before political, social and logical realities. Never mind how it will interfere with that Wall of Church and State in our USA.
It will always come first and maybe second or third.
You may not want to see a clash of civilizations started over a cartoon war, but the war has been going on for centuries. Just ask the Catholic priests who regularly get beheaded in the Philipines over the last several hundred years. Only God knows how many other places,
WE ARE AT WAR..
Reality is what it is not what we wish it to be. The only grey is what we human beings make it in order to balance out the world. Unfortunately in large part of the moslem world balance is not allowed to exist.
(Turkey is an Isolated case and I would posit it is only because of the military , a structured organization)
What Society or religion would kill women who defend themeselves against rapists.
It’s there way or else. They only tolerate the infidel until they can reeducate him or tax him and put him on a leash.
We do not always know the difference which way is right or wrong. But conversely if we always think in our best interests the majority of the time we should prosper.
Logic tells me Islam is bad for the good of the World that is all I need to know unfortunately,
Now all that remains is to act or not.
And as for these tenets of Islam you feel are good things what are they?
If they are not practiced by the majority of the followers I suggest that they don’t mean a damn thing.
With All Respect
K
These folks are experts at staging these events. Just take a look at Pallywood.wmv
HERE’S THE EVIDENCE; YOU DECIDE
What we present you here is raw material, and we invite you to help us analyze it. We provide you with site maps, and we have broken the material down into manageable and coherent segments, by the position of the cameraman. What you see here are the “rushes†taken by a Palestinian cameraman working with the equipment of, and for, a major western media outlet. This represents the second day of “rioting†in the territories, since Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount. During that day, according to witnesses on both sides, the Israelis never left their compound (see map). At the end of the day, firing broke out, and the Palestinians claimed five dead and many wounded. In the Western press, this day appears as the beginning of the “Second Intifada,†the day both the West Bank and Gaza exploded in rage and violence against Israel.
(Excerpt) Read more at seconddraft.org …
SBD
Dutch Islamists FIGHTING FREE SPEECH WITH FREE SPEECH
al la the Kos Kids,Atrios, Tooles and Rall.
American Thinker linked to this – I think it is great that some of them are realizing – and now want to fight “free speech with free speech”.
They don’t seem to have hang of it .
THIRD PARAGRAPH IS DECLARATION OF NEW CARTOON WAR
– like the defendent bringing the bloody knife to court!
::::::::::
Dutch Islamists post cartoons depicting Anne Frank, Hitler in bed
By News Agencies
A Belgian-Dutch Islamic political organization posted anti-Jewish cartoons on its Web site in response to the cartoons of the prophet Mohammed that appeared in Danish papers last year and offended many
Muslims.
The cartoons were posted on the Arab European League’s site on Saturday. It was not working Sunday morning because of exceeded bandwidth.
snip
The Islamic site carried a disclaimer saying the images were being shown as part of an exercise in free speech rather than to endorse their content – just as European newspapers have reprinted the Danish cartoons.
One of the AEL cartoons displayed an image of Dutch Holocaust victim Anne Frank in bed with Adolf Hitler, and another questioned whether the Holocaust actually occurred.
Click here: title
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/678639.html
The Reichstag Fire and the Cartoon Wars
On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag building, assembly location of the German Parliament, was set on fire by an arsonist. Hitler and Goring appeared on the scene shortly thereafter, blamed the Communists, and used the event as a pretext to
A lot of people, many who have previously shown themselves to be very capable of clear thinking and to have decent analytical skills, seem inexplicably determined to put words in your mouth (or into your blog copy, as the case may be), AJ.
Step back, guys. Go back and read the entire cartoon capers material again, and think about what AJ is saying. It’s a clear, straight-forward, “Don’t fall into the enemy’s propaganda and PR trap.”
Jeesh! I went through this same type of nonsense about 20 years ago, with an op-ed in the Chicago Sun-Times about capital punishment, with suddenly having letter-writers inserting the abortion issue (which wasn’t even touched on) in the mix and concluding that, since I opposed the death penalty I must favor abortion.
I still haven’t figured that one out, but it’s analogous to some of the apparent assumptions in this cartoon brouhaha!
Merry I see you point.
Do you believe we are already in a war for civilization If so do we want to win. I you think we are not at war. Don’t worry if it’s not the cartoons it will be Koran’s in the Toilet Bowl.
Or maybe Abu Gharaib, Oh we did that too.
We can apologize or make excuses till doomsday because it does not matter what AJ says because they will always find another match.
In order for us to learn we have to look at things not as something new but as similar to something else.
If we do we will see they know exactly what they are doing.
After all this incident actually happened months ago. It has taken them this long to implement their intelligence plan. They have been planning for decades if not centuries.
Well Planned Rioting Continues-Now With Death Toll
The rioting and demonstrations are an attempt to open a second front – one that exposes all of Europe to the kind of rioting seen in France for a month this past November.
Bloodyspartan,
Yes, of course, I know we’re in a war. If I had my own druthers right about now, I’d very likely opt for turning a goodly part of their stomping ground into a parking lot.
But that’s not the point here. This is AJ’s blog, and the comment section is ostensibly a place for AJ’s readers to comment on his articles, to add (our) own two cents and/or to insert links or sources for additional data on his topic of choice.
His view in this cartoon instance was clear and straight-forward: “Don’t give the rat bastards an easy propaganda coup; don’t fall into their trap.”
That’s the nutshell version. Essentially, the “comments” options are (1) agree; (2) disagree; (3) add some relevant information and/or source links.
An irrelevant rant about other aspects of the WOT, Muslims in general, or prior sins of current allies is not an option, because it implies that the blog host somehow doesn’t understand the “wider picture.”
No regular Strata-sphere reader should be laboring or lecturing under that misconception.
Merry Whitney