O...M...G... (Can I Still Type That, or Will Allah Come Get Me?)
No suitable lyrics for this post, so I'm foregoing the tradition.
While I've been sitting around my empty apartment all morning waiting for the moving company to deliver my stuff, I've been reading some coverage of the "cartoon riots" that have been spreading across the Muslim world. The list of countries that have experienced riots / flag-burnings / embassy-stormings / slogan-chanting / jihad-vowing JUST TODAY include:
Iran
Iraq
Syria
Lebanon
Afghanistan
India
Indonesia
Australia
I haven't really been following this story very closely since it seemed, well, silly until now, so I'm not sure if there have been demonstrations in Europe but it seems more than likely. After reading about how violent some of the protests have become, including attacks on Christian neighbourhoods in Beirut, I decided that I needed to have a look at these cartoons. Since they have "offended" (I think that's the wrong word, since when someone "offendeds" you in the civilized world you typically write a strongly-worded letter in response) these Muslim extremists enough to form molotov-cocktail-tossing mobs, I imagined that they must be something truly nasty and hateful...the kind of nasty and hateful that I can't even begin to imagine, since I can't imagine ANY newspaper ANYWHERE printing ANYTHING about my religious beliefs that would convince me and 200 of my buddies to storm an embassy. I was even prepared to give the the benefit of the doubt, since I don't pretend to have a deep understanding of their faith and these people do seem to enjoy a good flag-burning, whatever the occasion.
But when I finally saw the cartoons (have a look here if you're interested) my only reaction was...IS THAT IT?????
It is absolutely unimaginable to me that so many people are so upset by these CARTOONS that they would form violent mobs and attack the citizens, embassies, and personal property of other countries. Yes, I can understand that drawings of their prophet are forbidden by their religion, and I can understand how the cartoons would be offensive in the "hey that offends me, let me write a letter expressing my feelings to your newspaper, or perhaps start an intelligent dialogue about the problem" meaning of the word. But firebombs and rioting?????? All that these people are doing is proving the cartoonists right, and showing that a significant (I'm not saying majority) number of Muslims are absolutely fucking crazy.
The fact is, the world is a diverse place with very diverse values. Many many many things about fundamentalist (I'm not saying mainstream) Islam deeply offend me, like their treatment of women, approach to education, and incessant need to blow shit up. Likewise, many many many things about fundamentalist (I'm not saying mainstream) Christianity deeply offend me, like their literal interpretation of the Bible and incessant need to hold bake sales. But we all have to learn to live with people that don't share our own views...fundamentalist Islam (thankfully) is not the official and sole religion of the world, and these people need to understand that they have no right to enforce their twisted beliefs on the rest of us through violence. Similarly, us Westerners have to understand that our way of life is also not the official and sole way of life for the world, and that our beliefs may seem twisted to a large number of people, and that maybe invading Middle Eastern countries is not the best way to promote tolerance and understanding between our cultures.
At any rate, holy shit (oops I just offended myself...JIHAD ON ME!!!), it's a cartoon...maybe these people should be focusing their anger on the repressive regimes that keep them locked in abject poverty, their desperation fueling the uncontrollable rage that their leaders channel towards the West and use as a bargaining chip on the international stage. A little bit of inward-focused anger in some of these countries (Iran, Syria, I'm looking at you) would do a lot more for the wellbeing of the Muslim people than declaring holy war (there's a great term) on a couple of Danish cartoonists.
While I've been sitting around my empty apartment all morning waiting for the moving company to deliver my stuff, I've been reading some coverage of the "cartoon riots" that have been spreading across the Muslim world. The list of countries that have experienced riots / flag-burnings / embassy-stormings / slogan-chanting / jihad-vowing JUST TODAY include:
Iran
Iraq
Syria
Lebanon
Afghanistan
India
Indonesia
Australia
I haven't really been following this story very closely since it seemed, well, silly until now, so I'm not sure if there have been demonstrations in Europe but it seems more than likely. After reading about how violent some of the protests have become, including attacks on Christian neighbourhoods in Beirut, I decided that I needed to have a look at these cartoons. Since they have "offended" (I think that's the wrong word, since when someone "offendeds" you in the civilized world you typically write a strongly-worded letter in response) these Muslim extremists enough to form molotov-cocktail-tossing mobs, I imagined that they must be something truly nasty and hateful...the kind of nasty and hateful that I can't even begin to imagine, since I can't imagine ANY newspaper ANYWHERE printing ANYTHING about my religious beliefs that would convince me and 200 of my buddies to storm an embassy. I was even prepared to give the the benefit of the doubt, since I don't pretend to have a deep understanding of their faith and these people do seem to enjoy a good flag-burning, whatever the occasion.
But when I finally saw the cartoons (have a look here if you're interested) my only reaction was...IS THAT IT?????
It is absolutely unimaginable to me that so many people are so upset by these CARTOONS that they would form violent mobs and attack the citizens, embassies, and personal property of other countries. Yes, I can understand that drawings of their prophet are forbidden by their religion, and I can understand how the cartoons would be offensive in the "hey that offends me, let me write a letter expressing my feelings to your newspaper, or perhaps start an intelligent dialogue about the problem" meaning of the word. But firebombs and rioting?????? All that these people are doing is proving the cartoonists right, and showing that a significant (I'm not saying majority) number of Muslims are absolutely fucking crazy.
The fact is, the world is a diverse place with very diverse values. Many many many things about fundamentalist (I'm not saying mainstream) Islam deeply offend me, like their treatment of women, approach to education, and incessant need to blow shit up. Likewise, many many many things about fundamentalist (I'm not saying mainstream) Christianity deeply offend me, like their literal interpretation of the Bible and incessant need to hold bake sales. But we all have to learn to live with people that don't share our own views...fundamentalist Islam (thankfully) is not the official and sole religion of the world, and these people need to understand that they have no right to enforce their twisted beliefs on the rest of us through violence. Similarly, us Westerners have to understand that our way of life is also not the official and sole way of life for the world, and that our beliefs may seem twisted to a large number of people, and that maybe invading Middle Eastern countries is not the best way to promote tolerance and understanding between our cultures.
At any rate, holy shit (oops I just offended myself...JIHAD ON ME!!!), it's a cartoon...maybe these people should be focusing their anger on the repressive regimes that keep them locked in abject poverty, their desperation fueling the uncontrollable rage that their leaders channel towards the West and use as a bargaining chip on the international stage. A little bit of inward-focused anger in some of these countries (Iran, Syria, I'm looking at you) would do a lot more for the wellbeing of the Muslim people than declaring holy war (there's a great term) on a couple of Danish cartoonists.
posted by Dexter at
11:02 a.m.
3 Comments:
I don't know, man. I can't wait until Islam becomes the world religion. Then Wal-Mart will finally declare jihad on high prices!
By
Anonymous, at 5:38 a.m.
Hmm, you may have a point. In fact maybe the world would be a better place if we all performed jihad in our daily lives. Like today when my laser broke, instead of calmly trying to fix it, I could have blamed the capitalist pigs in America and declared jihad on someone. Maybe even torched a car!
By
Dexter, at 8:44 p.m.
I don't know if "the world would be a better place", but *I* would certainly feel better if I could go "jihad" now and again.
On the other hand, if that were the case, then by now and by my hand or those of countless others in IT, there would be charred remnants and a smoking crater where the pink symbol is here:
http://tinyurl.com/75vxc
ps., too bad about the unfortunatel demise of the Neil Diamond post. I enjoyed that one.
-BelieveITorNot8
By
Anonymous, at 12:07 a.m.
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