by Right Thinker
In World War 2 American forces had to employ nuclear weapons and physically invade the islands of Japan to take control of the government, industry, media and the population. American armed forces fought for four long, hard years tooth and nail across the expanse of the Pacific Ocean to reach their goal, making many stops along the way. The Philippines was a big hurdle as was Okinawa but the point of this story is that we had a finite military force that had to actually go to their destinations and win a fight.
Now look at Islam. The majority of Muslims are seen as poor, backwards, uneducated 3rd worlders trapped in the deserts of the Middle East. And why should they leave? As reports of freedoms and democratic principles being VOLUNTARILY surrendered, I find myself awe struck but the power of fear, terror and intimidation that is the core export of Islam.
Without ever leaving the Middles East, Muslims have brought to their knees some of the most powerful Democracies in the world. The message to the world is abuse Christians, Jews, whoever, but don’t you dare say anything the least bit disrespectful of Islam. And the world obeys.
The left falls all over themselves, they can’t self-sensor fast enough to appease the Islamic “invaders” who haven’t physically invaded. College newspapers and world-class newspapers alike treat Islam like it was their own children while beating the dead horse of a few Catholic priests pedophiles. Web sites are being shut down all over the world, not in China, Russia, Cuba or Venezuela but in places like Sweden, which HAD the honor of having the world’s 9th freest press. We are talking about Canada, Malaysia, the U.N., the entire E.U., Poland, Ukraine and a disgusting form of self censorship here in the U.S.
Americans are expected to find a tank with a statue of the Virgin Mary submerged in a mixture of urine, blood and feces as an example of modern art but a cartoon of an Arab standing quiet and resolute with the caption Mohammad is suddenly an international incident.
Let me ask you who are putting Islam on a pedestal while kicking Christianity and Judaism while they are down: When did Sharia become the law of the land? When did free speech become a vehicle to protect and promote Islam?
Since you cite the left in being the first to crumble, I’m assuming that The Weekly Standard, FoxNews and other GOP outlets ran the cartoons. If not, then what’s their excuse?
My guess is they are in the business to make money, just like the rest of the publications and TV media that passed on showing the cartoons. When you publish or broadcast something that’s going to alienate part of your customer base, you’d better be ready to explain why the numbers are down when your boss starts asking questions.
Not running the cartoons here in America or anywhere else has nothing to do with fear or the first ammendment. The fact is, all of these entities have muslim customers, and pissing on them is a bad way to boost sales.
The Dutch ran the cartoons, Muslims made fools out of themselves in front of the entire world…so, we need to keep pouring salt on the wound? The rest of the non-muslim (and most of the muslim world as well) world isn’t impressed by what those idiots are doing to their own countries.
What you’re confusing with the first ammendment is whether or not republishing the cartoons is in good taste.
Since you cite the left in being the first to crumble, I’m assuming that The Weekly Standard, FoxNews and other GOP outlets ran the cartoons. If not, then what’s their excuse?
I’ll research this but I assume self censorship is also at play if they didn’t run the cartoons. THe Las Vegas paper ran the cartoons on Feb. 7.
My guess is they are in the business to make money, just like the rest of the publications and TV media that passed on showing the cartoons. When you publish or broadcast something that’s going to alienate part of your customer base, you’d better be ready to explain why the numbers are down when your boss starts asking questions.
I highly doubt that the one-tenth of one percent of the readership has enough economic sway to force their values on the editors. When you figure that anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of Americans subscribe to some version of Christianity/Judaism then, according to your argument, we should never see any anti-Christmas or anti-Christian material. So this doesn’t hold water.
Not running the cartoons here in America or anywhere else has nothing to do with fear or the first ammendment. The fact is, all of these entities have muslim customers, and pissing on them is a bad way to boost sales.
Again, this is ridiculous, there isn’t enough money in this micro-demographic to make a difference. Almost 50% of Americans lean to the Right, you are arguing that there would never be any biased info because of fear of economic loss. But we all know the media is far left.
The Dutch ran the cartoons, Muslims made fools out of themselves in front of the entire world
Fools, the entire world is now so affraid to run the cartoons there is a huge wave of censorship. Fools or no, the world has been successfully intimidated.
so, we need to keep pouring salt on the wound??
They run anti-Jewish, anti-Christian cartoons and articles all the time and you wanna talk about more salt in a wound. This issue is completely one sided and the rules are clear, only respect for muhamad or you are threatened with death.
What you’re confusing with the first ammendment is whether or not republishing the cartoons is in good taste.
I almost spit my coffee all over my screen, when did the NYT, or any other news agency, ever consider good taste before publishing anything? Abu Ghraib over and over, Joe Wilson, National Security exposure, Gitmo over and over, Cheney hunting accident, need I say more?
First thing I want to mention in response is that I own a home, enjoy uninterupted electricity, clean water, heat and cable TV…I can attend some of the best schools in the world and find a good job. These people rioting have nothing compared with what I have, and their future is bleak. I sympathize with their plight and understand the power religion can weild in places where poverty is everywhere. If one of those rioters had been born in my shoes and vice-versa, who am I to say that I wouldn’t be doing the same exact thing? I condemn the leaders of these countries and their religion for turning people into lunatics. They’re not inherently evil…it’s all learned behavior. Someone had to teach them to hate.
Take a trip to your local prison and talk with an Aryian inmate. 9/10 they were raised in a racist household and that’s why they’ve got a shaved head and swastika tatoos. Chances are, the hate they were taught is also why they’re in jail in the first place!
No offense, but the Vegas motto is “what happens here stays here”. Freedom is the name of the game there, and if people aren’t offended by legalized prostitution, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to bat an eye over the printing of that cartoon. Kudos to them for running it, but the financial consequences of doing so isn’t the same there as it is in other parts of the country.
It doesn’t matter what religion the readers are. If the idea of purposely inciting Muslims is offensive to the reader, they may boycott whoever ran it.
You honestly think everyone is scared of these people? I think you’re evaluating this incorrectly. The fact that there is a group of people who will burn down their own country over this would make me not want to run it. Why incite more violence? Because I can? What kind of a reason is that?
Most people aren’t thinking about this on a Larry Flint level.
So we’re supposed to go tit for tat with these wackos? Are Jews and Christians rioting over it? No. Why? Because they’re not insane! These people set off bombs in crowded places, so the fact that they publish hatefull material doesn’t surprise me in the least.
This is a ‘turn the other cheek’ situation…being the bigger person. I have a right to stoop to their level, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing. What baffles me about this entire thing though is that THIS is what our religion is supposed to teach us to steer clear of!
Those were news stories – things the public had an interest in knowing. Perhaps not the people who voted for Bush, but I sure as hell was interested in knowing about it.
As for the cartoon…do I need a reminder of the fact that fanatic Muslims are assholes? I for one knew that long before these cartoons were published.
In response to the Danish Muhammad cartoon controversy, the Iranian confectioner’s union has ordered its bakeries to rename “danish” “Roses of the Prophet Muhammad.”
Reminds me of “freedom frys” The problem is that people are so caught up in symbolism that they ignore realty. Interesting that the two countries with the worst international image are Iran and the US.
Another thing in common with Iran:
At the same time the United States is having an internal debate about whether or not to bomb Iran (or take some type of military action) to stop their nuclear program the US is siding with Iran in a debate at the United Nations to “deny UN consultative status to organizations working to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
How is Christianity better?
LAGOS, Nigeria – Christian mobs rampaged through a southern Nigerian city Tuesday, burning mosques and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence that followed deadly protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad over the weekend.
I hate to say it , but the time is coming when a Christian jihad will begin especially after years of Muslim terrorism around the world. Christians will not be idle forever I assure you.
I hate to say it , but the time is coming when a Christian jihad will begin especially after years of Muslim terrorism around the world. Christians will not be idle forever I assure you.
I disagree, Christianity is based on forgivness for you enemies where Islam is based on everyone else is the enemy and they must be enslaved, pillaged and forcibly converted or killed. Christians will not rise up on their own, it goes against their true peaceful nature.
How is Christianity better?
So, one instance of a community finally fed up with murder and oppression and you equate them with the oppressors. Here are a few reasons Christianity is better:
No cutting off of the clitoris of women
No stoning to death of rape and molestation victims
No view of women as property
No ignorance of science (most of Christianity)
No plans to ahnihilate the Jews
No terrorist training camps
No terrorists in general
No bombing of schools, markets, airplanes or embassies
No nazi like view of religious superiority
No quest for world domination
No cutting the hands off of thieves
These are a few that came to mind, there are a lot more.
Right, Islam and Christianity aren’t apples and oranges. Both can be positive in a community, both can destroy a community, it’s mostly a matter of degree.
Look back at history to find Christians committing attrocities against ‘non-believers’…there are plenty of examples to refer to.
Right, Islam and Christianity aren’t apples and oranges.
No, it’s more like tire irons and mayonaise. Islam is the opposite of Christianity, you can see it in the tenants and by-laws of each. Polar opposites.
Both can be positive in a community, both can destroy a community, it’s mostly a matter of degree.
But for completely different reasons and causes. Islam works by force and oppression to destroy an exisiting community to make an Islamic community.
Look back at history to find Christians committing attrocities against ‘non-believers’…there are plenty of examples to refer to.
Yes, that was history and we all acknowledge that it was wrong. What I don’t understand is Islam is doing what Christianity did centuries ago but no one seems to care. You, yourself, just noted about Christianity’s past as something to avoid and you use this to legitimize Islam’s aggression. I don’t get it.
If you didn’t like what Christianity did centuries ago, why do you defend Islam doing worse things today???
What civilizations has Islam anhilated recently?
Islamic jihadists have murdered a lot of people in the last 30 or so years.
As have warlords in Africa…I asked about what countries Islamist fanatics have taken over, what populations have been wiped out by these people?
Christians during the Hundred Years War did a lot worse than these shmucks! Right was comparing the two, and with history being what it is, the shoe doesn’t fit.
Not saying they’re right or nice people…just putting it into perspective. Religion, regardless of what flavor, when exploited for political gain or power grab, is capable of attrocities.
Ignoring one for the sake of a present-day end is ridiculous. Of course a murdered abortion doctor can’t compare with the thousands killed on 9/11, but both acts are prompted by a psychosis brought on by fanatic religious beliefs. Pretending that fanatic Christian beliefs are healthy compared with another religion’s is opportunistic and political.
Mind control is mind control, whether it’s religion, abuse, intimidation or whatever gets the job done. Unhealthy in any form, when the masses are driven to fanaticism through a carrot on a stick, bad things happen!
We make the mistake of focusing only on the 9/11 attackers, demonizing, yet fail to take a step back and ask the question ‘why’?
I don’t attribute that mass murder to our past actions as much as I do the fact that people who have nothing much to look forward to besides the afterlife can be talked into just about anything as long as the time is right.
Sick bastards with brains on lease from some jerk with a slick sales pitch…that’s what we’re up against, and through the fight against Islamo-dicks, we can become just as drone-like and obedient as the enemy if we’re not carefull!
The idea that Christianity is above such behavior is something that doesn’t wash at all when you look at history. In fact, Christians have probably killed more people than Muslims have…of course, if someone were to research this and provide numbers, they’d be labeled ‘anti-Christian’.
I could give a shit…I used to be a born-again Christian, and still read the bible regularly. Anyone can judge my thoughts as they see fit. I don’t aim to remove religion from anyone’s life, I’m just reluctant to drink the kool-aid on this one.
Anyone who destroys their own country over a cartoon is under serious mind-control…and just because we’re living in a century where someone else is the villian doesn’t mean that history goes out the window! Let’s get real about this and condemn all fanatical religion, regardless of it’s label. Fundamentalist Mormons marry underage girls and enslave them for life, fundamentalist Christians ignore science and take gay children, put them in camps, brainwash them in an attempt to ‘turn them straight’…imagine that!
God made you a certain way, but that way is wrong, and insted of being yourself, you need to struggle through a life of shame and threats of hell for all eternity…John Dobson…he’s alright, but the Muslims are sick…I don’t see much of a difference.
Hatred for what they don’t understand, don’t want to understand…stoke up a cauldron of that and you can get anyone to do anything.
All religions have had followers who have done hideous things and no one denies that fact. At the moment jihadists are having their go at murder and mayhem. people are afraid to practice real love and compassion!
Check this out;
Right’s Link
To put it simply, radical Islamists have won a war of intimidation. They have cowed the major news media from showing these cartoons. The mainstream press has capitulated to the Islamists — their threats more than their sensibilities. One did not see Catholics claiming the right to mayhem in the wake of the republished depiction of the Virgin Mary covered in cow dung, any more than one saw a rejuvenated Jewish Defense League take to the street or blow up an office when Ariel Sharon was depicted as Hitler or when the Israeli army was depicted as murdering the baby Jesus.
I’ll ask again–If you didn’t like what Christianity did centuries ago, why do you defend Islam doing worse things today???
Free Speech has taken a huge hit worldwide!!!!
Oh, but don’t you dare wait 18 hours to tell the press Cheney accidentily shot someone in a hunting accident on the weekend. Liberal priorities are very amusing.
Cheney’s accident and the cartoon are two seperate issues. Just like the NSA wiretapping and the port deal with UAE are two seperate issues. And FoxNews was on the Cheney story constantly as well, so it’s not like the right-wing press is above flocking to something largely inconsequential…hell, Terri Shiavo and Natalle Holloway come to mind.
That wasn’t the crux of your point here, so I’ll let it go at that.
This is Bennett and Dershowicz’s opinions. Personally, I don’t see how it’s relevant whether or not we reprint the cartoons, regardless of what uneducated poor Muslims do, or BETTER YET, what their so-called leaders do to incite them and get their attention off of the fact that their government is worthless.
I understand the desire to hold these people to the same standard as we hold Americans to, but that only shows a misunderstanding of who and what we’re dealing with.
These aren’t people who had 12 years of quality education, 4 more years of college, all the while competing in team sports…running water and uninterrupted electricity, no warlords oppressing your parents…
Right, think about it like this…you buy a dog that’s lived outside it’s entire life. It pisses on your rug. Do you blame the dog, or the fact that it doesn’t know any better?
Right, think about it like this…you buy a dog that’s lived outside it’s entire life. It pisses on your rug. Do you blame the dog, or the fact that it doesn’t know any better?
Then how can you say the Christians of the past few centuries were so bad? Government wasn’t any better during the Crusades so I thin this is more of an excuse.
Humans don’t need a great education to have humanity. What education and wealth did Ghandi or John the Baptist have? Paying people to be human beings is quite a stretch and sets a bad precident. How long are we going to have to pay muslims to treat their fellow human beings with dignity and respect? If anyone has an “excuse” to blow up crowded markets, schools and churches it’s the Jews.
There is no legitimate excuse for waging a guerilla war against innocent civillians.
you buy a dog that’s lived outside it’s entire life. It pisses on your rug. Do you blame the dog, or the fact that it doesn’t know any better?
Are you saying that muslims should not be held to any higher standard than those of animals? Do treat muslims like dogs to get them to obey the rules of the house or just take them out and shoot ’em? Pissing on a carpet and blowing up a school bus have different levels of severity.
Right, we can’t ever expect to bring peace to the Middle East unless we approach them on their level. That doesn’t mean that everyone over there is a psychopath, but expecting positive results from printing an inflamatory cartoon that mocks their religion is foolish.
Either the goal is peace, or it isn’t. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, ’embrace democracy for your own good, but here’s what we REALLY THINK of you’!
We grew up in a society where religion and government are seperate, whereas theirs is one in the same. When we make fun of their religion, it’s not like making fun of an American’s religion, where you’re mocking their faith…to them, you’re mocking their entire way of life.
Seriously, to hold a grudge against western society for not reprinting the cartoons is ridiculous.
Who’s got an axe to grind with these people? Just about everyone I suppose, but what’s the goal? Is the goal to get them to embrace democracy on our level, or their own? Or is the goal to simply perpetuate a fued that never ends?
Maybe I’m just slow, but the entire point of this mission we’re on the middle east (so I thought) was to bring peace to the region. Are you on board with that being the goal Right?
Because if you are, then what good does it do to reprint the cartoons?
Either the goal is peace, or it isn’t. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, ‘embrace democracy for your own good, but here’s what we REALLY THINK of you’!
The cartoons came from Denmark, we are America. Are you saying the entire world has to get together and agree to a complete and voluntary self-censorship in order to appease the conquering aspirations of Islam? This is totally insane.
How about, be good and play nice or accept the consequences!!! I won’t surrender to Islam and I don’t think anyone else should either. Would you be so pro-appeasement if this was Catholicism we were talking about? Liberals would be calling for the nuking of the Vatican.
Right, we can’t ever expect to bring peace to the Middle East unless we approach them on their level.
Their level is murder, rape and the enslavement of other religions and cultures. Remember the dhimmini?
You can’t say, ‘embrace democracy for your own good, but here’s what we REALLY THINK of you’!
Weren’t you against the UAE deal because it will be run by Arabs/muslims?
Seriously, to hold a grudge against western society for not reprinting the cartoons is ridiculous.
Seriously, to hold a grudge against western society for reprinting the cartoons is ridiculous. Is this what you meant?
Because if you are, then what good does it do to reprint the cartoons?
How do you tell someone how important democracy is when you won’t even follow it yourself? It’s a practice what you preach issue and a not surrendering to bullies and intimidation.
RT: How do you tell someone how important democracy is when you won’t even follow it yourself? It’s a practice what you preach issue and a not surrendering to bullies and intimidation.
Are you kidding me? Democracy, here in America? Europe does it better than we do here!!!
Bill Maher gets booted from network TV for what? Everyone in the country goes ape-shit over Janet Jackson’s tit. The religious folk got a South Park episode pulled recently ‘Bloody Mary’. Senator Stevens R-Alaska, pushing for the FCC to regulate pay cable.
How long before they go after satelite radio? Let’s get real here Right…Bill O’Reiley is calling for a different person’s job every night it seems. Why? Because people are OFFENDED…
Let’s not pretend that freedom of speech is always applauded here in America. Seriously…the bullshit fake-drama over the Janet Jackson thing, and then the desperate houswives opening to monday night football, the towell…
Bill Maher said the 9/11 hijackers weren’t cowards…because they weren’t!!! Just like the school shootings, again, not cowards! Psychopaths? Sure. But coward…the word doesn’t even fit!
He gets booted off of network TV for that?!?!?! And by who? The same people who bitch and moan today because newspapers everywhere aren’t running the cartoons. Hypocracy!
Freedom of speech…until you say something that offends me, then I want you to shut up. That’s how America works Right. Turn on FoxNews on any given night and see it in action.
Democracy? Follow it? Where then is it written down the rules of Democracy, applicable to all situations?
Any political theory has to be adjustable or else it ends up on the trash heap. No plan or system survives contact with reality. One would think, Chris, you would understand that…
As for freedom of speech are you any different than Fox news, or whatever network it is you dislike? What about CNN? You want to hear what YOU want to hear-that is not freedom of speech that is selective intake-a huge difference.
I haven’t watched a second of CNN in over a year! All cable news is garbage. Sound bytes, blah blah blah…spend an entire day on Michael Jackson or Natalee Holloway, yet barely mention GENOCIDE in Darfur!
It’s all crap – – – – and in terms of freedom of speech (besides Austria obviously), there’s more to be had in a handfull of European countries than there is here.
Right bemoans the PC gestapo, yet what was he saying when Bill Maher said the 9/11 terrorists weren’t cowards?
Just turning the tables Washington – – – we do pick and choose when to hand someone a bullhorn or shut them down based on content here in America, and censorship does take place.
Which countries Chris? As a person who loves Europe, I am anxious to see which ones allow, in your opinion, freedom of speech to the extent that you propose.
Cheers!
good blog