Million Miles

My ventilator. Read, comment and judge me not.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

The Racist Cartoons

This man completely nailed the issue with his skillful writing. He has also confirmed my view of Muslims being targeted out in the same way as Jews were during the 1930s Europe. Read on...

By Eric S. Margolis

THE disgraceful racist cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed originally published by a sensation-seeking Danish newspaper have produced an international firestorm of hysteria and racism.
Mobs of enraged Muslims have rioted from Morocco to Indonesia and burned Danish and Norwegian embassies. Editors of other European newspapers that ran the offensive cartoons piously insist they did so to defend the sacred right of free speech.

This writer detests any form of censorship, including so-called ‘hate laws’ that are really modern forms of heresy and blasphemy statutes. But free speech, as the great American jurist Felix Frankfurter said, does not include the right to scream ‘fire’ in a crowded movie theatre.

And that’s just what the European newspapers did. They were trying to boost circulation and pander to anti-immigrant right-wingers by attacking Islam.

Nor is it a coincidence these grave insults occurred in Denmark. Its current rightwing government has been close to President George Bush, sent troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, and has adopted an unfriendly policy towards Denmark’s small Muslim community and the ummahh. While the Danish government had no direct responsibility for the cartoons, it helped foster a climate of hostility to Muslims.

This whole ugly business is really about anti-Islamism — the modern version of 1930s anti-Semitism. Today, promoting hatred and scorn for Islam and Muslims has become the only socially and legally acceptable modern prejudice in western society.

Just questioning the Jewish holocaust in Germany or Austria results in a jail sentence. Doing the same in Canada gets you thrown in prison or expelled. In the West, it’s totally a taboo to say homosexuality is wrong, or women are less intelligent than men. But it’s OK to slander Islam.

The Danish paper that ran the racist cartoons ‘to defend free speech’ refused in 2003 to run satirical cartoons of Christ, saying ‘it would provoke an outrage.’ So much for claims of defending free speech.

America’s four leading evangelical Protestant leaders, reverends Jerry Falwell, Franklin Graham, Pat Robertson, and Marvin Olasky preached a ‘crusade’ against Iraq. Graham branded Islam ‘an evil and wicked religion.’ They called the prophet ‘a terrorist.’ Among American evangelical Christians, 87 per cent supported invading Iraq and hoped to convert Iraq’s Muslims to Christianity.

Italian propagandist Oriana Fallaci churns out best-sellers calling Islam a dirty, backwards creed of violent thugs. In Paris, a Jewish newspaper editor, who should know about promoting hate against minorities, ran the Danish cartoons in his newspaper.

In liberal Holland, it’s cool to despise Muslims. In America, pseudo-historians and professional hate-mongers wage jihad in the US press against all things Islamic.

One Danish cartoon of Prophet Mohammed shows him with a long, hooked nose, thick lips, a sinister, malevolent glare on his ugly, semitic face and a curved dagger in his hand. Change the caption ‘Prophet Mohammed’ to ‘Jew swine’ and you have the exact double of Nazi anti-Semitic hate cartoons of the 1930s.

That’s what this is all about. Modern anti-Semitism, reborn. What Europeans are saying through these cartoons is, ‘we hate Muslims. We want all Muslims out of Europe.’ In the 1930s, Europeans held the same sentiments for Jews.

There can be no doubt all Muslims and Islam have been gravely offended. But having said this, too many Muslims have been reacting hysterically by rioting and burning embassies. The Prophet Mohammed and Islam don’t need rioters and arsonists to defend them.

In an act of pure childishness, Iran’s largest newspaper says it will solicit and run cartoons of the Jewish holocaust, proving there is no sickness as contagious as stupidity. This is no way for adults to behave.

Muslims suffered 150 years of the most brutal European imperialism and exploitation. Millions of Muslims were slaughtered by European and Russian colonialists, though we never hear about this green holocaust. Europe’s 20 million Muslims are third-class citizens. Muslims have every right to anger.

But where were all these angry Muslims when Serbs were massacring 250,000 Bosnians, gang-raping thousands of Bosnian Muslim girls and women, and blowing up mosques? Why have there been almost no protests over Russia’s horrifying genocide in Chechnya? Over, outside Pakistan, protests against India’s brutalities in Kashmir. Or the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and Australia’s annexation of East Timor?—Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2006

posted by Niqabi at 9:14 PM

3 Comments:

Reza said...

Thought provoking. The Author has a point and he outlines the reasons for us to be angry well But he ends on the question putting the ball in the muslim ballpark instead of the Non muslim ballpark, which makes me think this article was meant to mellow the pro muslim reader and throw some questions at him/her. Well written but asked too much of muslim anger rather than asking why is the hate from the west being propogated. The ball should be in the Non muslim court with that question.

11:54 PM

Anonymous said...

"Australia’s annexation of East Timor"

Um sorry when did this occur? The East Timorese voted for independence and the poll was organised by the Indonesian President at the time.

East Timor is independent of Indonesia, and should never have been under Indonesian control to begin with . Get over it.

8:05 AM

Umar said...

pretty good read, but RE: the last paragraph: aren't those some of the issues on bin Laden's list?

Someone wrote this on this other blog:

Anonymous said...
Denmark has a long record for supplying aid to many muslim countries and supporting Palestine. All of this has been completely forgotton because 12 people in the country drew some cartoons.
I have been defending muslims in many discussions because I have felt that they are in fact not treated properly by the US and Europe.
But honestly, I feel a bit stupid now because with these reactions to cartoons - not murders, blown up mosques or torture, DRAWINGS! - you have all exploded into a rage. I am sorry but such reactions do not deserve respect.

Oh, and for the record, feel free to eat Kinder chocolate. It's not Danish.

And I wrote this in response:
Umar said...
anonymous - I share some of your views.

I think the overall reaction of Muslims worldwide has only served to strengthen the stereotypes people have of us.

Historically speaking, these kinds of attacks on the person of the Prophet are nothing new. Such things happened during his own lifetime. (Think back to Abu Jahal)

We should have acted in such a manner to showcase to the world the true characteristics of the Prophet.

7:09 PM