Death Threats in Norway
The Brussels Journal (via) reports that, following a series of death threats, Norwgian Christian magazine, Magazinet, has withdrawn the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons from its website.
Editor, Vebjørn Selbekk, told the Norwegian daily Dagbladet - which has also published the cartoons on its website - that:
“The e-mail with the pictures of the burnt body is the most frightening. But I am not afraid. This is of course unpleasant, especially for a family man. But I cannot go around being afraid”
Magazinet also interviewed two leading Norwegian cartoonists, one of whom, Morten M. Kristiansen said that he had received many protest letters in the past whenever he mocked Christ.
The same applies to cartoons about Muhammad, but lately the protest letters from Muslims had increasingly become threats, including death threats in e-mails from places such as Iran.
Carsten Juste, the editor of Jyllands Posten told Magazinet that he does not regret publishing the cartoons.
“We cannot regret it. We live in a country where freedom of expression is recognized and we live and work in Denmark under Danish laws. The nature of the reactions has shown how necessary this debate is.”
He also goes on to remark that, although the paper didn’t initially receive a lot of support from the Danish media, their attitude began to change after all the arbitrary demands that the newspaper apologize for the publication their attitude began to change.
“Fortunately most people now realize this is an important issue about freedom of expression and, as a consequence, we have been getting more and more support.”
In other news, Danish tabloid, Extra Bladet has gotten hold of a 43 page report being hawked around the Islamic world by Danish Muslim leaders and imams to “explain” how offensive the cartoons are.
In addition to the original twelve cartoons, these religious leaders have added an extra three incredibly amateurish and deliberately offensive cartoons depicting Muhammed as a paedophile demon, with the snout of a pig, and being sodomised by a dog. Apparently, the 12 original pictures were not deemed bad enough to convince other Muslims that Muslims in Denmark are the victims of a campaign of religious hatred.
Tuesday 17 Jan 2006 | Paul | Denmark, Norway
i wonder why the norwegian newspaper reprinted the cartoons! what on earth they will gain from this!
Do they want a wave of terrorist attacks on north europe?!
Cant we just live in peace together?!
Interesting that you call foe everyone to live in peace but suggest that publishing things that you don’t like justifies terrorism.
What sort of peace is that?
Well.. and to be correct… Publishing things of sort instigate terrorism!!
Not every thing u see right is absoluely right… trueness is relative thing!
If u don’t have high symbls or moralities to respect, mind that there are nations on Earth that have..and that are very proud of thier history and moralities..that in no way allow freedom to insult!!
We don’t have to justify with you! Specially peoples who use tissue in washroom rather then water. Above all you keep fingering Muslim and when they take action you verbalize us terrorist.
About peace please don’t even think of that coz as long as you keep fingering Muslim you will get action one or the other way.
Also if you knew the meaning of ISLAM you would not bother to write here against, coz ISLAM = PEACE. Now you can judge your self who is what?
#4: If Islam=Peace, how do you explain death threats issued against people who offend Muslims?
Are we Back into the Vikings Era?!
I was observing with great dismay the pity and shock in the faces and souls of the majority peaceful, ordinary, Moslems due to the “civilized” and “free” filth in the Danish newspapers, and later on in the Norway’s, about Prophet Mohammed and Moslems.
While doing so, I was incidentally reading the dark history of your ancestors, the pagan Vikings, who raided and looted most of Western Europe between the 8th and the 11th centuries. In fact, I just compared your grandfather’s history at that period with the history of Islam. Shockingly, I found that all the Scandinavian people were barely walking animals when Prophet Mohammed enlightened the entire world, early in the 7th century, with the most civilized message and teachings ever.
Therefore, I am writing to you as a Moslem who used to be a “moderate Moslem” but is seriously considering to be another Bin Laden, as is the case with so many Moslems around the globe today.
I just keep wondering why you, the people of the west, tend and claim to be “scientific”, “civilized”, and “fair” in studying everything, but when it comes to Islam, you ignore all your claims and blindly leave them behind?!
Did your “gang” journalists, cartoonists, or even your closed-minded governments, ever try to be scientific or civilized when analyzing Islam or the life of Prophet Mohammed?!
Did they ever understand what civilization is?!
Civilization is not just knowing how to process cheese or manufacture some goods, furniture, or equipment.
Rather, civilization is, most importantly, the real strive to be fair, humble, compassionate, and, at the minimum, logical and scientific in analyses and judgment of others.
What hurts the feelings of every Moslem on earth is the fact that your stupid journalists and politicians are pushing us extremely hard to stop being “moderate”, while unfairly accusing Islam and Prophet Mohammed of being a source of terrorism.
When a Moslem sees your representation of “moderate Moslems” in one of your stupid the caricatures, he/she must think repeatedly NOT to be a “moderate Moslem” any further. So, who is the source and agitator of terrorism?! (The cartoon shows a Moslem prostrating, with his forehead on the ground, and two “civilized” “Vikings” looking at him and asking one another: is he praying to Mecca?! Then the other said laughingly: No, he is burying his head in the sand! The cartoon shows the Moslem with the phrase “Moderate Moslem” written on his ass!)
In addition, when it comes to the European bloody history compared to the entire world, well-documented figures tell the full truth. You, the “civilized” Europeans killed in less than 200 years much more than what all other societies killed in 5000 years! Just remember how many you, the “civilized Europeans”, killed of innocent people everywhere during the 20th century alone!
Surprisingly, you always, and in every occasion, claim shamelessly that you are “peaceful” “Christians”!
Did Jesus teach you to kill more than 30 million people in just one century? If so, then Christianity must be the bloodiest religion on earth. Otherwise, since Jesus never called for any such thirst for blood, you must not be Christians nor shall you twist the truth and accuse the most peaceful religion, Islam, of being the source of all terror on earth!
Not only that, but you falsely claim that you promote and protect the freedom of speech and worship.
Alas, you do so just when it serves your ill and bloodthirsty personalities and fake, naked, “civilization”.
Just as a simple example, consider what will happen if someone would dare to express any little doubts, in your media, about the extent of the exaggerated Holocaust, regardless of how authentic, scientific, and peaceful his/her argument is. On the other hand, consider the extremely limited freedom of Moslem women to cover their heads with humble scarves in the west. Or consider the freedom of a Moslem to speak against the prevailing western culture, even if he/she does so with full wisdom and professionalism!
I know that you would say: if you do not like our culture, then do not come to our society. That is fair, but you do not stop there, unfortunately!
You are in fact, the “civilized Europeans”, intermingling with all our affairs under the faked covers of “freedom”, “human rights”, “women rights”, “dogs rights”, “insects rights”, and “everything-except-Moslems rights”. On the other hand, you do not accept, or even imagine, that we have the rights to object, try to preserve our cultural identity, or even defend our selves against your intermingling and bloody aggressions!
Can’t you leave our culture, our Prophet, and us alone, if you cannot be fair and civilized enough?!
Can’t you try, at least once, to be fair and logical in understanding our culture, the dreams of our innocent children, and the worries and struggles we encounter as human beings like you?!
Just to cite an ongoing example, don’t you fell ashamed when you compare what the dictator Saddam Hussein did in Iraq with what you, the “civilized Europeans” did in the same country?
It is true that he was bloody and killed thousands. However, you “western” “civilized” “Christians” killed at least hundreds of thousands in Iraq and imprisoned the entire country, with the false claim that you came to free them?! Perhaps to free them of their dignity and lives?!
I know you would say: it is the Americans who did all that! Nevertheless, don’t forget that they share with you the same thinking, the same culture, and the same worldview. They are basically people who came from Europe and inherited all your diseases. You are simply the same; you are the same “western” “civilized” “Christians”!!
To be fair, I admit that there are western, Christian or Jewish people who are really civilized, humble, fair, and act ethically, like Robert Fisk of the UK, Naom Chomsky of the US, and John Esposito of the US, among others. However, these are very limited in numbers and influence and are exposed to hardship by your “free” civilization one way or the other.
Please leave us alone, or otherwise the revenge would be so immense that you cannot cope with it when it knocks your doors.
Just remember; you are simply creating millions of Bin Laden, whom you know very well.
And remember; weak doesn’t remain always weak and strong doesn’t remain always strong!
Moslems are awakening everywhere, partly due to your stupid actions and intermingling. Hence, one day, they will take their revenge, if you do not deal with them NOW with respect and fairness. And the revenge, if you keep charging us, will be beyond your stupid immagination!
Finally, I find it ethically a must to warn you that everybody outside your cultural domain see what is going on as a clear indication of the disastrous decline of your ill, naked, crime-based, drug-based, materialistic, and unethical “civilization”, if you still have any at all!
Comics are supposed to poke fun at everyone, regardless of creed or color. It’s called “satire”.
Webster’s Dictionary defines cartoons as,
“2 a : a drawing intended as satire, caricature, or humor
7#
and what is teh funny and humor in drawing a man with a bomb? or a man with a sowrd? claming that this terrorist man is the leader and inspirer of 1.2bilion people all around the world?
I see this as a propaganda against Muslims.it can be understood this way - and this way only:
Muslims are dangerous..stay away form them!
Ok we are dangeros..so pull out ur trops from our land ..and take the Israeli immigrants with u!
I agree 100% with Mudir Garni, thank you Mudir for your excllent, wonderful, eye-opening analysis. Please write more…
What the hell ? It’s ok to show videos where you decapitate innocent people, show throughout OUR technology and media, but it’s not ok that we have some fun at your “prophet” ? Nonsense !
And you said it yourself - if you don’t like it - go back to your lands. I wouldn’t give a dime if you blow yourselves up in your own cities - enjoy the 77 virgins.
But don’t dare threatening like this, consider yourself a guest in this “modern” world. If it wasn’t for Europe & US, arab world would still pushing sticks for fun and not typing on this forum. Actually, 90% of the muslim people are pushing sticks and rocks for fun and purpose.
Freedom of speech is for everybody and everything, at least in our “civilized world”. You have absolutely no right to come and tell us what’s right and what’s not. Are you gonna pull down a filter on our media so that it suits your needs ?
If there’s any media that i’d like to see shut down - it would be Al Jazeera, for showing freely unbelievably brutal and inhuman images of decapitation of innocent people.
There isn’t a single person that can convince me that satire is worse then killing a person like an animal and then playing it proudly on satellite television. ISLAM = PEACE ? THAT kind of peace ?
Are you lecturing us on history ? You should check what the Osman empire did do the world and then come talk about Vikings ravaging Europe.
Muslims HAVE to understand that this printings were done by a tiny little extreme-rightwing-christian netpaper, NOT supported by the norwegian government. I hadn’t even heard of the newspaper “magazinet” untill recently. Many rightwing-christians are obsessed with a jihad against other religions, before it was judaism in Europe, now it’s muslims. But our socialdemocracy and our government which most people voted for have NO responsibility what small private newspapers print. Our freedom of speach is ranked higest on the list over countries in the world. That does not mean one have do show disrespect for other religions, if muslims want an appologize, they have to turn to the newspaper itself, not jugde the entire norwegian people who are more friendly to palestinians than many other european countrtries. You have no right to burn my flag, i am not responsible for these drawings, and you are not allowed to threaten our people, like many palestinians has done. What we see here is a clear evidence of clash of sivilizations, no understanding for each other cultures, religions or the way different societies are ruled. Lack of dialog and friendship have made the distant between the western coutries and the arab world too big.
IF Norway, and the government should shut down some private papers, we would be sued in the court for haman rights in Hague. The freedom of speach is as holy in our country as your prophet. So ask the Magazine to appologize, i don’t want to appologize for what some few christian fundamentalists are doing.
well put
To: nonsense…
I hope you come to your senses dear and realize what you wrote was very harsh and really is “nonesense”. In my openion the biggest problem in the world is misunderstanding & miscommunicaton. The West misunderstand the East and especially the Arab & Muslim world. And the Arab & Muslim world misunerstand the West in many aspects. The trouble makers in both sides are small percentage and we shouldn’t generalize. People should stop being carried away when writing in these forums and forget logic and lose the sense of fairness. America is the land of immigrants and surely a unique country because of that and should stick to its principle of giving freedom to all people regardless of their race and religions.
Most Muslims are frustrated because they feel they are being misjudged and faught against for many many years whether by their own goverments or by the West. They feel very bitter that America and Europe support Israel while they know that what all the crimes that Israel is commiting against civilians are agains human rights & etc. And many of them turn to wrong directions to express their frustration and oppression, I know it is wrong & there is no justification for innoncent people’s killing, but we have to understand the reasons for their actions. I read alot about the prophet Muhamad and I fall in love with his character, I urge all fo you to read about him, I am sure you will admire him and if you have questions or not sure about anything ask, as I did, and you’ll find answers, don’t just judge wrongly. The prophet Muhamad forbade the killing of civilians in wars, let alone in other times, and he forbade cutting trees, or interrupting religous people in churches or places of worship during wars. And many times he warned Muslims of being extreme.
In the West, espeically in America, people get their information through bias media channels who support Israel & always bring the worst and the dark sides of Muslims or Arabs. In reality, Muslims are not as horrible as we see them in the Media or movies, trust me. They are wonderful, humble, smart, full of principles and respect, we just need to get close to them & know them better. And one important thing is that we should differenciate between their corrupt secular goverments and between the people.
More to be said…..
thanks all …..
Sara
To: supersone
Excllent points you raised!! thank you. What you said is right. I am a Muslim and I agree with you that you shouldn’t apologize for what others did. You are 100% right. And your flag shouldn’t be burned, what few Muslims did by burning Norway’s or Denemark’s flags is wrong. They shouldn’t generalize and take action agains all people, it is not fair and against the very basic Islamic teachings that commands Muslims to be fair, just and forgiving. God or Allah is always with those who are just, wether they are Muslism or none-Muslims. I read alot about the amazing, really amazing stories of justice that the Muslim world enjoyed under the ruling of the early honest Muslims leaders, not the leaders of today who are only Muslims by name, but they don’t apply alot of what the Islamic teachings.
I also agree with you that there is a huge “clash of civilazations”, and it is very sad, we should work towards achieving conformation and understanding of civilazation instead. The West should understand that Muslims shouldn’t be expected to be like them in everything, these are people with history, civilaztions and unique cultures, as long as they are not doing harm to the world, everyone is free to practice and belive in whatever they want to belive. The main goal is to have a peacful world.
whateva, get over it, get a grip
I look at the burning Norwegian or Danish or even Swedish flag and embassy is a coward act. Because Scandinavian are small countries with peaceful people. Muslims know Scandinavian will not act back and this in their culture is a piece of soft meat to bite and you will see the worst things will come to happen next. In their culture, if you are weak, you are justfied to be eaten, beaten and killed. It is easy to understand this culture just by looking at how Muslims treat the weak people: the women and the children.
Yeah! Islam is really a religion of peace! Don’t belive me? Check out http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Default.htm
Islam the religion of peace and tolerance. A religion that preaches to kill is a gateway to Paradise. That you can marry a woman use her then divorce her in under an hour. That teenage girls who fall pregnant can be buried up to their neck in a pit, then stoned to death. Who kill animals in a most dreadful way. I could go on. But tell the victims of the stabbings on an Israeli bus this week about Islam and peace.
hello peace with u all
i wonder why do u hate us to this level?
i know not all of u hate us ..but u have the clue to change this problem …
why we cant live together in peace …im one of the muslims that u call them “terrorists” …i wanna to speard the peace …so am i terrorist ?!
as there is the bad …there is the good …and i want u to know that muhammed is aprophet as the jesus ..and we respect the jesus because he is our prophet to … in islam ..u must respect every one ….really u can visit any website of islam like www.islam.org …. thankx for listening to my replying ..
my e_mail is : mohamed_sayed483@yahoo.com …for any reply …i welcome any one to chat with me ..
____________________
thankx
Hypocracy: Moslem modia continually portray judaism and jews as sub-human, in Afghanistan they destroyed icons of the Great Buddha ( items of historical significance ) and everywhere they are in power oppress the rights of religious minorities and impose edicts of intolerance and stupidity on their own brainwashed populations.
So, a newspaper runs a few cartoons on their precious prophet and they all go balistic!!!Burn churches, embassies, kill people, threaten, maim, bomb….
Down with all gods!
Atheist
OH YEAH. AT LEAST WE DIDN’T BRING AIDS TO YOU . AND WE DIDN’T BRING GAY AND LESBIEN TO YOU WHO IF THEY GO ON FOR A WHILE MORE, THEY WON’T BE A NATURAL BABY BORN. PLUS DON’T CONFUSE ISLAM AND MUSLIMS. MUSLIMS ACT ON THEIR OWN ACTIONS . ISLAM DOESN’T TELL YOU TO KILL WOMEN OR BURY THEM. BUT IT’S OK THAT YOU SAY THAT. BECAUSE THE MORE PEOPLE THAT ATTACK THE ISLAMIC RELIGION THE MORE THE ISLAMIC RELIGION GET’S STRONGER. OH BY THE WAY THANK YOU FOR KEEPING THAT UP BECAUSE YOU ARE PULLING ALL MUSLIMS TOGETHER AND THAT MAKES ME PROUD . AND FOR YOUR’E INFORMATION IF THEIR IS ANYONE THAT CREATES TERRORISM ,IT’S PEOPLE LIKE YOU WHO DOESN’T HAVE HISTORY. HISTORY WAS CREATED IN OUR COUNTRIES. UNFORTUNITLY AMERICA IS BEING ABUSED BY AMERICANS. EVEN THOUGH AMERICA IS THE MOST GRACIOUS COUNTRY, THE MOST BEAUTIFULL COUNTRY. AND BACK IN THE DAYS . EVERYONE WAS NICE. BUT YOU MADE THEM MEAN. AND YOUR’E ONLY MAKING THE NEXT GENERATION MEAN. BUT DON’T SLEEP . THE NEXT GENERATION IS ONLY 30 YEARS AWAY. HAVE A NICE DAY ALL . AND PEACE BE UPON WHO EVER WANTS PEACE.
Mudir Garni,
I agree with you totally on the analyses of the hypocrisy of the socalled loving Christians. Christianity hasn’t been one bit more civilized than any other religion.
However, the modern Western societies - even if overtly identified as “Christian” - have been forcefully pulled in the direction where our civilizations are today by secular and atheist forces. Atheist and secular forces have LIMITED the absolutist, religious fanaticism that Christians had during medieval times.
It’s really very simple. Different monotheistic religions tend to be unable to co-exist because each party is SO insistent that THEIR brand of theism is the real deal. Hell, them religious people have been at each others throats for thousands of years, and what we secular people have said is this: stop your incessant fighting among yourselves and understand that Free Speech and Freedom in general is the new rule and it is ABOVE ALL of your gods.
With free speech and freedom from oppression we can ALL live together and keep our wars to “wars on words”, because the logical end-point of every debate is no longer fucking Religious War or Jihad. THAT is the price of living in the West: the religious nut CANNOT go about his usual bigoted business and wage physical war on everyone who disagrees with him or even insults him. He gotta take one for the team once in a while and just suck it up, so that we don’t have to wage REAL WAR on each other.
WERE Moslems to succeed in pushing Western societies in the direction of more religious thinking Moslems would be the first to die in the ensuing war between Christianity and Islam. Is this really what Moslems WANT? Do they really want to wage WAR on the societies that have ALLOWED them to practice their religion peacefully throughout the West? I would think not, but in that case you Moslems better start working with us SECULARS because we’re the ONLY thing standing between you and a majority of bloodthirsty Christians.
There are so many ignorant people in the world … we have so much to learn from each other, yet we generalize stereotype and hate. Personally I don’t think Denmark or any government had anything to do with the printings of those pictures, but I still feel that people should not abuse freedom of speech to disrespect peoples religion. In order to live in peace we have to respect the way other people choose to live. If there wasn’t opression there would not be people lashing out and rebelling against those opressions by blowing themselves up to peaces. Also I think the leaders of those terrorist groups use religion and the belief to make Muslim people do stupid things because no where in the religion of Islam does it say go kill yourself and you get 77 virgins or whatever .. it only says if you die because you were persecuted or opressed during your struggle against it than you’ll be rewarded .. but media always exaggerates everything. TURN OFF that idiot box and read something for intelligence sake. Everyone in America is an imigrant some way shape or form, people came to this country for different reason, none of us can tell the other one to go back to their land.
Halvor, I just want to make a tiny remark to you .. So when the isreali government violates all kinds of human right laws it’s ok? So when the isreali army opresses the palestinian people it’s ok? Our government already supplies isreali government with all kinds of war supplies .. 3 billion dollars of tax payers money go to them .. plus foreign aid money that they get, which is enough money for every isreali family to have 500 dollars in their pockets. Not only are the Isreali government going to have curfews for the palestinians and build a barrachaid wall the size of 3 storie buildings, which blocks Palestinian people from getting any medical aid .. And you’re going to tell me these people are just going to sit there and take it? of course they will go and blow themselves up! Imagine if something like this happened in America to a minority group? Our government makes a law about illegal Mexicans crossing the border and all Mexicans walk on the street imagine something like that happening of course people will lash out against it .. it is human nature! Where did I get my info you’re going to ask here is the proof : John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt .. read their books on Foreign Policy .. One of them was forced to resign as a result of writing these things .. Isreali Lobyists are strong in this country .. that’s for sure!
Sorry not you Halvor … it was supposed to be for John!
Hey what’s those dutch news paper guys problems. How can they do that to take something someone loves so much and do that ot it is horrible. Islam is a pecaful religion in our religion the depiction of the prophet is haram which means not aloud basically. Sure cartoons are supposed to make you laugh but these kinds of cartonns are sickening and should be destroyed understand everyone. This is my opinion.
Aamir,
If Islam is a peaceful religion, can you explain why Magazinet received death threats in the first place?
You go on to say “n our religion the depiction of the prophet is haram which means not aloud basically.” That’s fine, if you feel you shouldn’t draw pictures of Muhammed then don’t draw them. But that doesn’t give you the right to impose your beliefs on the rest of us.
Cartoons can also be drawn to make a point and the point of these cartoons was to highlight an issue of self-censorship in the face of intolerant violence. Given the reaction to them, I think that the cartoons were not only justified, but necessary.
Why do on Israeli television people say that in muslim coutries they have been publishing offensive cartoon about SHARON,publishing cartoon about SHARON is completely different then publishing cartoon about Prophet Muhammed because israeli newapaper are been publishing offensive cartoon about YASIR ARAFAT for years.
The reason i think muslims found this offensive because muslims do not characterize Prophet Muhammed,or any other Prophet for e.g muslims have never characterize Jesus Crist or Prophet of Jews and never will because Islam forbids them to do so
Hi Farumz,
You say “muslims have never characterize Jesus Crist or Prophet of Jews”
So how do you explain this?
hm. sad how people turn to demeaning things that are different about other people such as race, sexual preference, and religion, purely for their own amusement. People are entitled to their own beliefs, but sometimes they need to realize its a bad idea to publish their beliefs in a fucking newspaper. You dont exploit the media to insult a religion that has millions of devoted followers, then expect not to be threatened by those followers. Personally, I believe that if the newspaper is stupid enough to do something like that, they completely deserve whatever consequences the muslims feel necessery. Some christians dont realize that judaism and islam are different interpretations of the same abrahamic monotheism, theyre all worshipping the same fucking god.
islam is the most peaceful religion, but its worthless towrite to the enemies of islam bcoz they have not been given that power to understand such religion.
Just some points to consider:
1-Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right but it has its limits. In most Western countries, hate speech such as antisemitism is illegal because it promotes violence against a certain community/race/culture.
Had the cartoons criticize Islam that would be ok under freedom of expression laws. After all, Jesus and Judaism are often criticized and mocked in the West. But these cartoons went beyond that. They implied that all Muslims are terrorists. Given the islamophobia that has invaded the West since 9/11 to publish anything like this has only one result: to promote prejudism, bigotry, and violence against Muslims.
2-The clash of civilizations thing is very true. Mulims need to accept that freedom of speech has to be respected, but Westerners need to understand that religion is sacred in the Arab world and to mock religion is taboo. I mean, if you know your neighbor hates noise, you have the freedom to be noisy in your house, but basic respect and, yes, *civilized* ways tell you that you shouldn’t do that. It is basic manners…To do otherwise is deliberate disrespect and provocation.
And yes, if you provoke others, you will get a reaction…pretty obvios, no?
3-The reactions from SOME Muslims were very wrong. And that includes some posters here. Death threats, violence, burning flags are all unnecessary and they only confirm the stereotypes of Muslims as unciviized barbarians and backward people and, yes, terrorists. These stereotypes are NOT true of most Muslims, but these radical Imams and their radical crowds are very vocal and impulsive and they create a very bad image of Muslims. I think these peoples’ reactions did much more damage to Islam and the public image of Muslims in the world than the cartoons themselves! But these people don’t represent 1 billion Muslims.
It was more than justified for Muslims to be offended, but diplomacy and peaceful process would have sufficed. All the violence only weakened their case (and their image) around the world.
And the flagburning was totally uncalled for…you just can’t blame a whole country for the actions of a newspaper. Norway is not a dictatorship like mosr Muslim countries. Thus, the government can’t force anyone to do anything unless they break the law. In this case, the government should have understood that the cartoons were a form of hate speech and sued the newspaper, but apparently the government did not consider the cartoons were a form of hate speech…
4-It is very hypocrite of many Muslims to complain about this when anti-semitism is more than accepted in the Arab/Muslim world…if you insult other cultures then you can’t complain when they insult you…
Of course we can’t blame all Muslims for these, as in many cases it is the government that promotes these ideas (for example, in Iran), but it’s very important for all Muslims to demand the respect of other groups in their countries before they demand the same respect.
5-Islam does not promote violence. Unfortunately, not many people live the true Islam that was preached by Muhammad, and many Muslim authorities refuse to adapt their religion to modern times and pretend to live forever in the Middle Ages. Most Muslims are moderate and Muslims have not been more violent than non-Muslims in history. However, there are many misconceptions about what constitutes true Islam and the people in power and religious experts in many Muslim countries
have ver backward and extremist interpretations of Islam and they impose them on the people by converting their radical and backward ideas into laws.
But in most Muslim countries the law is not derived completely from Islam (it is mixed with Western ideas) and Islam is interpreted in more moderate and flexible ways. This is the case in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Irak, Morocco, Algeria,and even the Palestinian Territories. Lebanon, where I come from, has a Muslim majority along with 30-40% of Christians, and we have a secular government and most Lebanese Muslims are moderate and modern.
Thus, the backwardness and the promotion of jihad are not Muslim things, but the more radical interpretations of Islam that exist in certain countries or among certain groups. If it was something inherently Muslim it would be present in every Muslim country or among the majority of Muslims…and it is not.
6-Eventhough terrorism is never justified, it is important to view it in its right context. American foreign policy in the Middle East has been about keeping the rich in power oppressing and mistreating the poor masses in the Arab World. They have also created and supported extremism on a constant basis. They created extremism by invading Irak and starting a horrible civil war, by supporting Saddam whenever he did what they wanted. During the time when Saddam was gasing the Kurds (the very crime the US killed him for!), Reagan made a statement saying that Irak was a good friend of the US. The US has also fought against Arab nationalists, prefering extremists such as the Sha of Iran (which they put in power) as long as those extremists did what was good for the US…they also support Israel, regardless of how many war crimes and terrorism Israel engages in. Thanks to the US, Israel is the country in the world that has violated the highest number of UN resolutions. In other words, when the whole world, including prestigious human rights institutions like Amnesty International, say that Israel is commiting crimes and terrorist acts, the US says “no, only if it’s the Arabs we call it terrorism; if it’s Israel it’s called self-defense”.
Is anyone surprised that after 4 decades of injustice and violence some Muslim extremists have so much power and hate and are popular among many Muslims who see no other way of getting justice? I’m not a proponent of terrorism. I think it’s despicable. But I’m not surprised that it exists and don’t think it is the result of backwardness and extremism only, like most people in the West believe…
The West, and especially the US, is in great part responsible for the creation of Islamic terrorism..
Hi Martha,
I’m not going to re-hash all the arguments of a year ago but your statement: “Had the cartoons criticize Islam that would be ok under freedom of expression laws. After all, Jesus and Judaism are often criticized and mocked in the West. But these cartoons went beyond that. They implied that all Muslims are terrorists,” is wrong.
One of the cartoons portrayed Muhammed with a bomb in his turban. Another was derogatory about Danes and two of the cartoons were critical of the newspaper that published them.
Fundamentally, though, no-one deserves to be on the receiving end of either threats or violence just for publishing cartoons.