I saw on the news this evening a leader in the Muslim community of Denmark being interviewed about the conflict between the Muslim world and Denmark. As everyone knows by now, the Muslim community is a tad upset that a Danish newspaper has published cartoons that Muslims found offensive. In the interview this representative said the Muslim community is demanding the Danes change their society to accommodate Muslim beliefs and values. DEMANDING. He said, 'We demand this country change their values.' That's actually what he said, with a straight face and as though that were a perfectly reasonable thing to say. This conflict has been going since September 2005 because of some cartoons published in Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper. When the Muslim community demanded the paper not publish the cartoons, the paper stood for freedom of speech and instead of apologizing for printing the cartoons, they printed a series of the cartoon. The cartoonist has been threatened, beaten as have journalists and editors of the newspaper. They have maintained they have the right to print the cartoons. In the beginning, the newspaper was under some pressure from the EU, UN and former President Bill Clinton who made statements that the newspaper was being insensitive to Islam and feared a new holocaust that would victimize Muslims. Meanwhile, the Muslim outrage has spread. They are demanding sanctions against Denmark. They are demanding a boycott of all Danish goods. They are demanding.... They are demanding.... They are burning and stomping on Danish flags ..... They are making bomb threats .... They are beating the employees of the newspaper ..... They have given Denmark 48 hours to apologize or else ..... They are rioting in the streets .... They are swearing vengeance and murderous riots ..... They are threatening to mobilize millions of Muslims worldwide .... Some other European papers have printed the cartoons on their front pages in support of Denmark and freedom of speech and a refusal to be dictated to by Islamic dogma. Only the French retracted their support under pressure from the Muslims. We wouldn't expect more from the French. It was extraordinary for them to make the protest to begin with. The fact they caved less than 24 hours later might be a record even for them. I guess they are still remembering their inability to control the riots in France a few months ago and the fact 20% of their population is Muslim. Now that some of the other European countries are lining up in support, it will be interesting to see if the European Union, the United Nations and Bill Clinton continue to pressure Denmark to appease. Or will they also decide that freedom of speech should be supported. None of them seemed to have a problem with depicting Jesus in a sculpture of cow dung. That was a work of art and anyone who was put off by it was declared to be a religious fanatic. No one burned the museum; no one beat up or threatened to kill the 'artist'. It was just disgusting, but the guy had the right to be disgusting and people had the right to not go see his exhibit. A young Muslim in Brussels has published a poster depicting the Virgin Mary with her breasts exposed. While some Catholics have protested his work, his life has not been threatened. In fact, he's receiving government subsidies for his work. Apparently, the Muslim community does not feel the same way about freedom of speech or tolerance as Western cultures. There's a storm coming.
More in-depth information this can be found at the The Brussels Journal Updates in the Brussels Journal are here. Scotsman.com News has a series of articles on this. Check out The Face of Muhammed: The Moment of Truth
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Other blogs on the Jihad against the Danes: Little Green Footballs The Jawa Report Don Surber Dr. Sanity Freedom Folks In the Bullpen Theodore's World The Median Sib The Uncooperative Blogger Infidel Bloggers Alliance My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Classical Values ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Open Posts Jo's Cafe Right Wing Nation Free Constitution
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