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You know things are getting weird when I find myself agreeing with Michelle Malkin, the doyenne of rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth Conservatism (and only slightly less rabid and unbalanced than Ann Coulter). Malkin is to reasoned, rational, and intelligent debate what Josef Mengele was to medicine. In short, the woman is a barely disguised Conservative attack dog who just happens to have a forum for spreading her propaganda talking points to the four winds.
Nonetheless, she has her knickers in a twist over what she’s calling the Cartoon Jihad, the destructive rampages spreading through Islamic countries over, yes, cartoons. Now, don’t get me wrong; I understand that Muslims tend to be a bit touchy about depicitions of the Prophet Muhammad…but strangely enough, they seem to be OK with cartoons that lampoon Jews. Apparently, consistency and fairness are tenets of Islam. And could it be that there just must be a political agenda at work here?? Manipulating the foaming-at-the-mouth masses for political gain? Whodathunkit??
What may have begun as a legitimate protests of some cartoons by observant Muslims has deteriorated into rioting and destruction by thugs and criminals looking for an excuse to create havoc. The Cartoon Jihad is no longer about cartoons allegedly depicting the Prophet Muhammad. No, now it’s just another excuse for the disaffected, the unemployed, and the morally out of whack to destroy, burn, and even kill if the mood strikes and the opportunity presents itself.
Personally, I’m tired of hearing that this is about Muslims being offended by cartoons. Taking offense does not allow one carte blanche to riot, destroy, and kill in the name of defending your beliefs. Until and unless these thugs learn to act like civilized human beings, they deserve to be treated like the common criminals and garden-variety zealots they are.
There comes a point when reasonable people need to stand up and scream “ENOUGH”! Sometimes it becomes important to remember that good and decent people should under no circumstances tolerate intolerance. Sadly, it would seem that Western governments and media outlets are falling all over themselves in condemning the cartoons published in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten. Granted, as political cartoons go, they’re pretty silly and not particularly well drawn- not to mention unfunny in the extreme. I frankly don’t understand the fuss, but then I’m not a radical Muslim with anger control and boundary issues.
The US government, American media outlets, and even former President Bill Clinton have roundly condemned the cartoons, somehow conveniently forgetting that free speech is a cherished American value. When last I checked, it was still part of the Bill of Rights. Yet, when the going gets tough, how many run away from the values that we should be standing up and defending?
It’s bad enough that Muslims are rioting something as silly, meaningless, and pointless as political cartoons. What makes it even worse is that so many in the West who profess to stand for free speech and expression are furiously backpedalling, afraid of angering those who already have problems controlling their anger, ignorance, and intolerance. Apparently, righteous anger trumps free expression (especially when oil supplies could potentially be compromised)…particularly when a complete lack of moral courage and the absence of a functional backbone is involved.
If good and decent people will not stand up to those willing to burn, destroy, and even kill to “defend” their beliefs, we cannot be surprised when this sort of thing becomes a regular diversion for Muslims. Denmark is not a Muslim country, and it has a tradition of free speech and expression. There is nothing in these that represent transgressions of Danish law. Frankly, Muslims are free to take offense, but they have no right to expect the rest of the world to lives by the rules and tenets of Islam. If you’re upset by the cartoons, that is your right, but your rights end there. To demand the retraction of the cartoons, or, worse, to riot and destroy in the demonstration of your righteous anger is just plain wrong. Sometimes, the price of being informed is occasionally being offended. Does that mean you have the right to commit murder and mayhem? Hardly.
Deal with it…and get over yourselves, already.
