Mensch tracht, und Gott lacht

Monday, February 06, 2006

Maim That Toon

And so those peace-loving Muslims didn't understand why the West put the cartoon before the whores and one thing led to another and the sinner-men Danish got burnt.

I register my general disgust in this column over at The American Spectator.

If references aren't enough for you and you need samples, here, knock yourself out:

One of the sad byproducts of totalitarian governments is the silencing of true reportage. Newspapers and television networks had people in the Soviet Union and Saddam Hussein's Iraq who were constrained by governmental censorship from delivering the truth to their readers and viewers. Much the same occurs even today in China and Cuba. What ends up happening is that they become de facto propagandists for those rulers by conveying the good news and scuttling the bad.

Now the same thing is happening via the Muslim riot. Western media will be intimidated into silence by the fear of mischief. Which is to say that Islamist thugs will achieve in communications what they achieve in politics, winning by terrorism what they cannot win by war.

9 comments:

James F. Elliott said...


I'm sorry you'll have to narrow it down a bit more.


That's an awesome retort. Buzz, you totally got pwned.

Barry Vanhoff said...

The reactionary Muslims look bad...

Not sure why you say that ... please explain.

Barry Vanhoff said...

Remember the kerfuffle over the Koran?

If this is the "typical" reaction, I would not call it extreme, but instead the norm.

James F. Elliott said...

The whole situation is disgusting. The Danish and other papers that printed the cartoons are hiding behind "freedom of speech" as though that right abrogates all personal responsibility. I was unaware that "free speech" means "free to speak without responsibility or respect."

It's equally true that the response from the Muslim world has been intolerant and irresponsible, and Western media should not be afraid to say so. Failure to do so would be, as Martin Peretz of The New Republic wrote, "lazy multiculturalism," letting an aggreived party off the hook for a reaction outside of all proportion to the insult. The protesting cries of the Muslims are similar to the cries of many fundamentalists, Christian, Jewish, or political: They demand respect for their viewpoint without respecting the right of the non-believer to adhere to a different belief. Their own reaction is just as intolerant as that which they protest.

That said, the assignation of such a reaction to solely religious motivation is woefully lacking in understanding of the various historical, sociological, and political systems at play. Blanket condemnation as a "primitive culture and religion that has been at war with everyone since its violent inception" is just as lazy thinking as that of enabling apologists. Both should be stamped out. Hard.

Tom Van Dyke said...

I was unaware that "free speech" means "free to speak without responsibility or respect."

You haven't been reading The Reform Club comments section, James.

Jay D. Homnick said...

Let's be honest. We all love these situations because we get to use the word kerfuffle.

And brouhaha. Melee. Fracas.

Not to forget everyone's all time favorite: foofaraw.

Matt Huisman said...

As I said before that very same paper earlier refused to print similar cartoons about Jesus because it thought they were inflamatory.

Anyway we can squeeze Denmark into that Jesusland map?

James F. Elliott said...

"From my understanding it's a small hard right paper and not indicative of the general population of Denmark."

Actually, it has the largest circulation in Denmark and is politically aligned with the ruling party, which won in a landslide thanks to burgeoning xenophobia.

Jay's right: We do get to use some awesome words at times like these. "Brouhaha" is one of my favorites.

James F. Elliott said...

Holland! Holland! Not Denmark. Crap.