That’s what it’ll take to really end this. 100,000 Danes marching in downtown Copenhagen wearing t-shirts with the offending cartoons boldly emblazoned on them for all to see. You can kill one Theo van Gogh. You can knock off a cartoonist here or there. But you’ll never beat us all. So you might as well give up now, ’cause we never will.
Until that day, here are the cartoons that started it all.
* After Wretchard’s original post, I am Spartacus over at The Belmont Club.
UPDATE (Feb 11/06): Walid al-Kubaisi, a moderate Muslim living in Norway, essentially agrees with my thesis. He thinks that the cartoons shouldn’t have been published in the first place, but now:
“The only way to protect freedom of expression is for as many newspapers as possible in Europe to publish the cartoons. The Islamists cannot boycott the whole world. They cannot ask the whole world to apologize.”
Read the whole thing here. You’ll be disappointed to learn that Carrefour (a French hypermarket chain with stores in Taiwan) is boycotting Danish goods in its Middle Eastern franchises. Shame on them.
UPDATE #2 (Feb 11/06): That was fast. News is out that the t-shirts are now available here. Sadly, I don’t get a cut.
Sure beats those "Never Trust Democracy" t-shirts that were all the rage among the pro-capitulationist parties here in Taiwan.
UPDATE (Feb 12/06): Apropos from No Pasaran!:
UPDATE (Feb 19/06): A Pakistani Muslim cleric helped to further Islam’s already stellar reputation for peacefulness by offering a $1 million bounty to anyone who murders one of the Danish cartoonists. Making this post’s proposal all the more urgent.
UPDATE (Mar 2/06): A Danish website displays the cartoons accompanied by "We’re Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister.
Twisted Sister. Now THAT takes me back.
Crank it up.
UPDATE (Apr 12/06): Borders Books in America refused to carry a magazine printing the cartoons. Here’s a satire about Borders’ decision.
i-14
I am very very disappointed that you have chosen this path to demonstrate your support for free speech.
You believe you are “making a point” in showing how free thinking you are by engagin in this childish, in-your-face display of insensitivity? Are you showing how great free speech is by reprinting these stupid cartoons?
I can’t help but feel free speech is undermined when there are more of stupid ideas than good ideas that goes around, such as 10000 people running around with offensive t-shirt.
This is a first draft of my response to Falen’s comments. Those wanting to read the final version should refer to my post, “Why I Too, am Spartacus”:
http://foreignerinformosa.typepad.com/the_foreigner_in_formosa/2006/02/why_i_too_am_sp.html
Falen,
Actually, the “cartoon controversy” is nothing more than manufactured outrage. Muslims themselves have drawn Mohammed over the ages, and PLENTY of images of him have appeared in the West previously. If Muslims were truly upset about ANY depiction of Mohammed, then shouldn’t they direct their attention first at the books within their own libraries? But I’ll talk more about the staged aspect of the situation in a later post.
As a matter of free speech I think it’s entirely valid to show the petty nonsense that Muslims are going ape over. You do understand that they’re rioting over something that they’ve never actually seen, don’t you? OVER CARTOONS FOR CRISSAKES! It’s entirely valid to show the cartoons and allow people to make up their own minds about whether their actions are justified, or maybe just a wee bit out of proportion.
(I won’t even mention the hypocrisy involved when Muslims demand that their ever-so delicate sensibilities be catered to, while they spew the most vile anti-Semitic cartoons in their own countries.)
Beyond this however, is the question of national sovereignty. It’s a fact that blasphemy restrictions exist in countries of the Arab world. I’ll explain later why I think they’d be better off without them, but I accept that their blasphemy laws are on the books, or the societal taboos are in place. So if I visit Saudi Arabia, I promise not to corrupt anybody and set them on the path to hell by showing these cartoons to them. Having said that though, by what theory of national sovereinty do Saudi blasphemy laws somehow migrate to the countries within the home of the Enlightenment?
European intellectuals have busied themselves for years worrying about the effects of American “cultural imperialism”. They would do better to be a little less concerned about Big Macs and EuroDisney than about the women in their midst being raped for not wearing veils or the theocratic goons murdering their countrymen and attempting to impose their mores regarding blasphemy.
Finally, and most importantly, is the question of freedom of religion. Freedom of religion means the right to believe in God, to not believe, and yes, to think that belief itself is a crock. Islamofascist intimidation represents nothing less than a deliberate attempt to rob a free people of their religious freedoms. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Disobedience to tyrants is obedience to God.” That applies to religious tyrants as well.
Surrender is the easy and cowardly way out. That holds true whether the the enemy happens to be Islamofascists or dictatorial butchers casting their hungry gaze at an small island of free men with a population of only 23 million.
If there is a benevolent God, then it is MY belief that He wants us, His creations, to be free. To accept Him of our own free will. Which means that we are free to make mistakes, and to sin. It also means that we are free to love, as well as to mock Him.
Which of course leads to an interesting question. Islamofascists CLAIM their religious beliefs do not allow ME (a third-party, a non-believer, and someone living on foreign soil!) to mock Mohammed. But MY beliefs inform ME that I have the FREEDOM to reject God. Why exactly, should their theology take precedence over mine?
To my knowledge, China never had religious wars. I could be wrong. Please then, allow me to explain that the consequences of the Thirty Years War were catastrophic. Germany’s population before the war was 30 million – by the end it was 3 million. And it was all because Catholics and Protestants each claimed the right to force each other to conform to their own theologies.
NEVER AGAIN.
Moreover, to my knowledge, pre-communist China never had a Dark Age (at least in a religious sense). Again, I could be wrong. Perhaps you’re not aware of the fact that in those days, Europeans were broken on the wheel for heresy. This punishment consisted of tying the victim to the wheel of a cart, and breaking all of his limbs one at a time with a metal bar.
I believe the bar was made of lead.
NEVER AGAIN.
These two reasons are why I think you are so uncomprehending of the importance of religious liberty to Westerners. (Pre-communist) Chinese history may simply not have the abundance of examples that lead to the conclusion that religious freedom is an absolute necessity for a peaceful society. Consider: if Muslims get their (admittedly minor) blasphemy prohibitions enacted now, they will be inevitably be tempted to demand more later on. Other religions will follow suit.
What will the result be? Eventually, religious inquiry itself will be stifled, as theologians discover that new interpretations violate theocratic taboos.
The followers of religion may complain about freedom of religion when their religion is insulted. Quite frankly, I don’t blame them. But they should reflect on the fact that the freedom that allows others to mock their most cherished beliefs is also the very same freedom that allows them and their theologians to argue and debate the nature of God, and of man’s relationship with Him. It gives them the right to change their minds. It gives them the right to belong to a religion that continues to grow and innovate, so that it doesn’t lose relevance for its practioners. For change and progress cannot happen without thought preceeding the deed. And that thought cannot happen without freedom.
You’re welcome to think that I’m some kind of gleeful provocateur who enjoys making fun of other people’s religions. Maybe my reasons for showing the cartoons mean nothing to you. They happen to mean a lot to me. And I’m sorry if you find that childish.
Foreigner, I think you have it right. Falen does not seem to understand the significance of what is going on. The Islamists are staging a direct challenge to the concepts of freedom of the press and freedom of religion and must be stopped right here and now.
I was appalled and disgusted by such works of “art” as “Piss Christ”, and that one with the Madonna covered in elephant dung, but never ina million years would I have considered taking violent action. Heck, I wouldn’t have even gone out for a peaceful protest over those two, and I counter-protest the left regularly.
This-is-a-BIG-deal. It goes to the very heart of what the West stands for.
People have a right to make the artwork you mentioned, and those who are sufficiently disgusted have the right to protest it.
They can even say that the artists will go to Hell. But they cannot actually SEND them there.