to Hind Samy

Submitted by Sidda (United States), Mar 27, 2006 at 18:39

Hind Samy, the whole purpose of the cartoons was a test of self-censorship. Danish media has many times before satirized other religious beliefs, including Christianity, without any riots or death threats ensuing; therefore, this exercise must be seen in context. From the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:

"In late 2004, a University of Copenhagan professor of Moroccan Jewish descent, was kidnapped in broad daylight and brutally beaten by three Muslim youths for the "crime" of having read from the Quran during a lecture. A few months later, a Danish publisher used anonymous translators for an essay collection critical of Islam for fear that any named assistant would suffer a similar fate. And in an incident immediately preceding Jyllands-Posten's decision to run the cartoons as a test of self-censorship, Danish artists refused to illustrate a children's book about Muhammad.

"These indicents, all disturbing, don't even scratch the surface of the appeasement Danes have made to accomodate the people who unleashed violence against them. In Copenhagen's public schools, the only food available to students--regardless of their religious affiliation or lack thereof--are Halal. In Denmark, a country which enjoys well-deserved praise for the courage with which citizens came together to save its small Jewish community during WW2, Danish Jewish students today cannot attend certain public schools because their very presence is viewed by administrators as "provocative" to radicalized Muslim peers. The country's only Jewish school, Copenhagan's 300-pupil Carolineskolen, founded in 1805, nowadays is constrained to operate behind a double ring of barbed wire." The article continues at:

http://www.defenddemocracy.org/in_the_media/in_the_media_show.htm?doc_id=362654

Accusations of racism don't seem to be as effective as they once were. In so many cases, they are used by one group of people to intimidate another group, and to shut down all debate of legitimate areas of concern. People are catching onto that now and are generally able to recognize when there is a legitimate, real case of racism or bigotry, and when it is the former.

Just as common sense, I would say that if Danish media NEVER before did any kind of cartoons or satire involving religions other than Islam, it would be reasonable to wonder whether Islam was being singled out. However, that is obviously not the case. And, as the previous paragraphs of my post indicate, there was a growing sense that Danes were feeling as though their rights to freely speak and express themselves were increasingly being restricted by some in the Muslim community. And it was not only native Danes feeling this way, but some Muslims:

"Naser Khader, the Damascus-born son of a Palestinian father and Syrian mother who has served as a Danish parliamentarian from the Social Liberal party since 1994, now lives under round-the-clock police protection because he committed the "crime" of giving his daughter a kafir (infidel) name. Compounding his "apostacy," he founded a moderate Muslim group with over 700 members, Democratic Muslims, after the outbreak of the "cartoon jihad" to campaign against Islamic establishmentarianism. Imam Ahmad Abu Laban--the same character who instigated Middle Eastern anti-Danish riots with his portfolio of doctored cartoons--then labeled Mr. Khader and his supporters "rats in a hole." One of the members of Khader's new group, Iranian refugee Kamran Tahmesabi, recently told a Belgian newspaper, "It is an irony that I am today living in a European democratic state and have to fight the same religious fanatics that I fled from in Iran many years ago."

So, again, in order to understand the motives of the Jyllands-Posten in publishing those cartoons, it is necessary to understand the current climate of intimidation that exists in Denmark at the present time. As you correctly pointed out in another post, Hind Samy, it is the Danish government's responsibility to set policies that will protect their people and their culture and to ensure complete assimilation of all immigrants into Denmark. And it is up to Denmark to decide what to do with those who are unable or unwilling to respect the traditions and values of Danish society.

I have no doubt there are many good Muslims who only wish to practice a personal religion and live their lives in peace. However, there is a significant minority in the West who wish to impose their belief system on us. If they manage to gain power, either through violence or democratic means (votes), they will institute aspects of Sharia Law or Sharia Law in its entirety on the Western countries that have welcomed them. Tolerance and diversity is not a suicide pact; no Western country is under any obligation to commit cultural suicide.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".