No-Appeasement-Attitude
I know, I know, it has been very quiet on our little English blog for a while. That’s mostly because it has been anything but quiet on our German blog Gegenstimme for almost two weeks now. When Jürgen decided to post the 12 caricatures of the prophet Muhammad he had no idea what he had started. He had merely taken to heart a suggestion by the Brussels Journal:
The best way to end the whole cartoon affair would be for as many websites, blogs and papers in Europe just to publish the cartoons in an act of defiance to extremists.
Since then many blogs have followed to show their support and protest the unbearable appeasement of Islamic fanatics. Tens of thousands of people have come to check out the pictures on Gegenstimme. Many of them stayed for some heated discussions and some even felt obligated to leave death threats in the commentary section. Considering the current riots all over the world we don’t take those threats lightly. We are aware that we’ve entered an area that is ruled not by common sense but by blind rage and hatred. It only takes one uncompromising maniac to make our lives miserable or worse.
We couldn’t care less about the caricatures. Frankly, some of them don’t even make sense to me. But there’s a difference between a protest that is founded on deep religious believes and a declaration of war which is going on right now. To make it short: Voice your opinion whenever and wherever you like, but do not try to convince me by force!
The pictures will stay and so will our no-appeasement-attitude.
P.S. Check out this excellent comparison of caricatures on Politically Incorrect!
A lot of Muslims were offended at the portrayal of Muhammad with a lit fuse in his Turban. They are missing the point: the cartoonist was not comparing Muhammad to a terrorist, he was pokng fun at the folks who see Muhammad as the spiritual father of Islamic terrorism.
This is where we have to dig in our heels and just say “F*ck ‘em if they cannot understand satire and feed ‘em fish heads if they can’t take a joke!”.
It is a great tradition in modern, enlightened free speech that we use satire and irony to express opposite views. When bigots like the TV character Alf Garnett (Archie Bunker in America or Alfred Petzer in Germany) voice their bigoted views of foreigners, blacks or Asians, the point is to poke fun at the very folks who hold these views.
Yes, these drawings were a provocation, but nothing compared to the provocation of issuing a Fatwa against Salman Rushdie or with threatening the cartoonists with death.
Comment by ralphieboy - February 4, 2006 @ 11:07 pm
ralphieboy, this is an irony rich environment. Europeans in general and Scandinavians in particular have coddled the Islamofascists. Kinda reminds me of the old Tom Jones song about the woman that takes in a sick snake only to be bit by it. “take me in tender woman sssssighed the snake”. To the Islamofascists Buhdists in Thailand, Christians in New York or Indonesia, Animists in Sudan, Hindus in Kashmir, Moslems in Jordan, secularists in Europe are no different than a Jew on a bus in Tel Aviv. And thats a major irony for the European Left and all who’ve made common cause with fascisms newest encarnation.
Comment by Del Hoeft - February 5, 2006 @ 1:02 am
DH,
I remember a movie coming out in Germany called “Beruf Neonazi” (Neo-Nazi By Profession), which caused quite an outrage here, prompting protests and cries of “No tolerance for intolerance!”.
Although the point of the film was to let a fascist goombah ramble on about his cause and his party, convincing any sane person that he was several cards short of a full deck.
But this subtle irony was lost on the locals, who insisted that the film be banned or shown only in context with a “discussion round”.
Now the extreme Islamists are asking us to tolerate their intolerance again and provoking us with death threats against citizens excercising their right to free expression and religious affiliation.
If you want to live under Sharia, then live in an Islamic country. If you don’t want to be exposed to caricatures of the Prophet, then don’t read any western newspapers.
Comment by ralphieboy - February 5, 2006 @ 1:47 am
I also was offendend when Kanye West told his make-up artist to make him look like Jesus Christ in his last hours. I almost wrote something about it but it coincided with the 12 pictures of the prophet and so I got distracted. I would have supported any protest regarding that matter. But I would not have supported a demand that government puts a stop to it. And I certainly woudn’t have supported any violent protests.
The great thing about Freedom, democracy and free speech ist that I can stand up in front of anybody and say “You’re talking crap!” But it should be left at that.
Comment by Michael Meyn - February 5, 2006 @ 8:17 am
People who find their religion vitally threatened by a few scrawled lines of ink on a page of paper are truly in sorry shape.
Comment by ralphieboy - February 5, 2006 @ 10:56 pm
ralphieboy,
i totally agree! Especially as most of those “protesting” have never seen them…
Comment by Loc - February 6, 2006 @ 3:16 pm
check out Ralf König’s take on Mohammed in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
http://www.faz.net/s/RubCC21B04EE95145B3AC877C874FB1B611/Doc~E1F1F8E0F8B864946987584CD5EB69328~ATpl~Ecommon~Sdetail_image~Aimg~E1.html?back=/s/RubCC21B04EE95145B3AC877C874FB1B611/Tpl~Eaktuell~Sressort§Phtml&btrg=/s/RubCF3AEB154CE64960822FA5429A182360/Doc~E1F1F8E0F8B864946987584CD5EB69328~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent§Phtml
I would recommend a gneral EU rule that any cartoon figure portrayed with a turban and/or a bomb must bear the caption: “This is not a portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad, please do not burn any more embassies in your righteous rage and indignation!”
Comment by ralphieboy - February 7, 2006 @ 12:32 am
That drawing is great
I suggest Jürgen puts it on the Gegenstimme
Comment by Loc - February 7, 2006 @ 2:51 pm
Yeah! Great! You’re right, Loc. I’ll put it on Gegenstimme
Comment by Juergen Krafzik - February 7, 2006 @ 6:50 pm