Danish PM Calls for Global Calm

It is indeed a global crisis- Islam versus the right to free speech. The crisis is heightened by the Westerners who are ostensibly all for civil liberties such as these who are nevertheless rushing to the defense of Islam. "But it's offensive to Islam", they cry. Here's some news: Western civilization as a whole is offensive to Islam. Maybe we should just blow it all up.

At least when most oppressive regimes censor their own citizens, they have the decency to stop at their borders. But apparently unless Denmark can put the cartoonists on trial for blasphemy, embassies will burn.

I applaud the Danish government for not giving in to pressure to censor it's people. Denmark seems to be one of the only remaining countries with any sort of backbone lately.

If one is optimistic about this, one can assume that the morons out buring things don't represent typical muslims. Surely it's the case that most muslims were annoyed by these cartoons, if they saw or noticed them, but let it pass like any reasonable person would, when confronted by something offensive. If all of us burned down stuff everytime we saw something offensive, much of the world would be a smoldering ruin.

What is particularly puzzling to me is why these folks are so anxious for a fight with a culture that can reduce their culture to a smoldering ruin, at the push of a button- and will certianly do so if pushed hard enough.

Tolerance is a very useful trait. We need to practice it. I hope these people will come to agree before it is too late.

If one is optimistic about this, one can assume that the morons out buring things don't represent typical muslims. Surely it's the case that most muslims were annoyed by these cartoons, if they saw or noticed them, but let it pass like any reasonable person would, when confronted by something offensive. If all of us burned down stuff everytime we saw something offensive, much of the world would be a smoldering ruin.

What is particularly puzzling to me is why these folks are so anxious for a fight with a culture that can reduce their culture to a smoldering ruin, at the push of a button- and will certianly do so if pushed hard enough.

Tolerance is a very useful trait. We need to practice it. I hope these people will come to agree before it is too late.

And good for Denmark for not backing down.

There should be a law to gevern the limits of freedom. We cannot rely every offence on the pretext of freedom of expression. It is an aggression which touched and offended one and a half billion people in all over the world. They should respect the beliefs and feelings of others.

The West is practicing a double-standard policy, discrimination and hypocracy. Now they say we cannot ban papers from saying whatever they want to say even if it is a violation to others' beliefs and feelings. They didn't condemn this aggression by the Danish paper, whlie they condemned people when they said that the holocaust is but a fib although this may be true. However, they left no stone unturned because some people expressed their opinion which may be true. They pretended to be human and maintain human rights in time they violate human rights. Is this Justice? Where is the human consciousness, where is respect to others? or we just pretend to be civilized?

It is to be mentioned that those who kill and explode are not representing Islam, they represent themselves only because this is banned in Isalm. Islam bans shedding even a drop of blood. It instructs to live peacefully with all people regardless of their beliefs, but all are in accordance to the law. Those extremists are wrong-doers and backward. they are filthy creatures: Wahabbis, Bin Ladins, etc. they are murderers. Tolerance is a main element in Islam. So we cannot generalize and say they are Muslims. No they are not, rather, they are enemies of Islam and all religions and humanity as a whole.

Nick said:
> one can assume that the morons out buring things

> Tolerance is a very useful trait. We need to practice it.

Yes, we do.

If the Muslim community is ignorant to the fact that the Danish government had nothing to with the newspaper cartoons and the non-Muslim community is ignorant to the fact that it is terribly insulting to depict the Prophet Mohammad in a cartoon, I don't see how this matter can be resolved.

There's a big difference between publishing a cartoon and buring stuff down. Maybe I'll start a religion that makes messy hair sacred. In that religion, depicting people with short hair or styled hair is deeply offensive.

Are you gonna stop brushing your hair because I'm going to burn stuff down if you do?

It's a Sick Sad Little World full of Sick Sad Little Minds running around burning with righteousness fueled by ignorance. Violent protest of non-violent transgressions are primitive and absurd on their face. If only Islam would follow the lead of great men like Martin Luther King they may actually be listened to instead of shot at in self-defense.

The framers of the US constitution knew that there were two great evils in the affairs of human kind. Large government and Large religion. The document spent most of it's time putting limits on both. Today we are the witness of the problem of both. Large government using large religion to oppress freedoms.

Living in Denmark this of course takes up all media attention at the moment. The current stand by the danish government not so much being discussed as is the question:

Should the drawings have been published in the first place?

Needles to say freedom of speech allows it - but why do it just to offend people? Were the publisher so stupid as not to foresee people being offended? Probably not! So why publish to offend, just because you can?

What I would like to know is how can the notion that the Jewish holocaust never happened be such a prevalent belief amongst middle-eastern muslims?

There is a mountain of evidence which supports the fact that millions of Jews, Roma, and other groups deemed by Hitler as being sub-human were systematically executed.

This is a documented fact, not some "conspiracy" foisted upon the world by the "global zionist conspiracy" or whatever.

Maybe these people need to do a little research. But then, I'm sure it's far easier for the radical islamists to use Israel and the jews as a convenient bugaboo to stir up their political base for whatever agenda they might have.

The real hypocrisy is amongst Israel's neighboring arab states who denied asylum to palestinians in order to keep the israel/palestinian "political football" in play.

The terrible irony is that the actions of these angry and violent Muslims are proving the Danish cartoons to be truthful characterizations. Not that all Muslims are violent, but that there is an element of Islam that resorts to violence as if it were a familiar and well-loved garment. It's very ironic that their protests against the cartoons are validating the caricatures.

They should respect the beliefs and feelings of others.

That prophet guy is banned in Muslim countries only. Following their arguments would mean anything banned in 1 country shouldn't be allowed elsewhere, which is ridiculous. These protests have nothing to do with a cartoon. They are pushed by influential political and religious leaders, who use the cartoon as simply an excuse to bring people to violence, in order to push their own agenda.