Not getting it, Muslim style
Muslims are ticked off over some cartoons
In his State Of The Union address, Bush reiterated the curious claim that ‘they hate us for our freedoms’. There’s some evidence for that, or at least that they don’t understand our freedoms.
Muslims (and some Christians) in Europe are calling for laws prohibiting saying anything offensive about religion, after a series of editorial cartoons were published in a Danish newspaper. I have not been able to find the whole collection but one of the cartoons depicted Muhammed driving a truck with an enormous bomb on the back. I wonder how Westerners like that cartoonist got the impression of Islam as a violent religion?
Updates and links:
- I moved the list of links up to a new post: Blogosphere to Muslim world: ‘Bite Me’
- I edited that last sentence for clarity - it originally read; “I wonder how Westerners got the impression of Islam as a violent religion?“ On a hasty reading it could give the opposite meaning of what I meant.
- Just an aside - a thorough read of the Bible would provide plenty of fodder for similar depictions of the Christian deity. But I visit Al-Jazeera frequently and have not seen such depictions. There are plenty of images of Western leaders as bloodthirsty killers, though.
In response to your sarcastic I wonder how Westerners got the impression of Islam as a violent religion?, I would have to guess that we got that idea when they flew planes into the World Trade Center. Or perhaps it was before that, in 1993, when they exploded a bomb UNDER the WTC. Maybe it was the bombing of our Embassy in Tanzania? Or wait, I’ll bet it was the USS Cole incident.
Those are the things that make ME think Islam is a violent religion. I swear, I never even SAW the cartoon in the Danish newspaper.
Posted by MorningGlory on 02/02/06 at 03:52 PMGee, MorningGlory, I thought I was clearer than that but you know how it is before the morning coffee. I was NOT saying the cartoonist is responsible for the violent reputation of Islam; exactly the contrary. When people think of Islam they remember all the examples you gave, and death threats to cartoonists too. Muslims should think about that before the next time they give shelter and succor to one of their more radical members.
No surprise they just want the cartoons censored. They literally do not understand what freedom of speech is all about and why it exists. It doesn’t occur to them to mend their violent ways.
Posted by george.w on 02/02/06 at 06:41 PMDOF, glad we got the confusion straightened out. You had me worried there for a minute! I’ve also posted a correction on my site, so my readers know that you haven’t gone off the deep end.
HT,
MGPosted by MorningGlory on 02/02/06 at 07:39 PMOh, but there are so many deep ends to go off - I’m probably off at least some of them!
Posted by george.w on 02/02/06 at 08:09 PM
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