The Collaborators

Terrorism 107 Comments

(moved back to top with updates)
Jeff Goldstein;

[S]uddenly, free speech is not a universal right worthy of the crafting of puppet heads and the defacing of Starbucks� windows, but instead is a culture-specific gift that needs to be filtered through the religious precepts of the culture of the Other. Unless, of course, that �Other� happens to be, say, Evangelical Christians. In which case, such extremists MUST BE SHOUTED DOWN with free speech.
Pretzel logic, clearly�and the dilemma that is at the root of an incoherent philosophical system that favors the sociology of group identity over the universality of individual rights. Ironically, George Bush, each time he argues that freedom is universal, is acting in a manner far more progressive than self-styled progressive activists.
Again: note the crux of the debate, as framed by the voices for Muslim protest, and take care to listen for the broad-stroked rhetoric�usually more carefully crafted by those who have perfected its vocabulary, cadence, emotional appeals, and key words�of the �tolerance� movement, the justificating force that cynically underpins all identity politics:

“The 12 cartoons … have caused an uproar in the Muslim world and drawn a new cultural battle over freedom of speech and respect of religions.”

Translation: �Free speech is good so long as it tolerates our right, as an identity group, to dictate which free speech is authentic and allowable. Otherwise, y�know, we get to torch shit.�

You’ll see some (though not all are guilty) of that pretzel logic on display here, including an admonishment to those republishing cartoons that we are “not being helpful”. One suspects that, if sent back in time some 60ish years, such people would have been completely at home in “occupied” France.
Damian Penny has more on these voices of surrender. (At this rate, how long will it be before we begin to hear calls demanding Salman Rushdie apologize to his offended Islamist “critics” ?)
Sunday Morning Update
Another day, another embassy torched. “It was not immediate clear if the building was empty”.
MIchelle has a lot of new links, including this one to Steyn;

One day, years from now, as archaeologists sift through the ruins of an ancient civilization for clues to its downfall, they’ll marvel at how easy it all was. You don’t need to fly jets into skyscrapers and kill thousands of people. As a matter of fact, that’s a bad strategy, because even the wimpiest state will feel obliged to respond. But if you frame the issue in terms of multicultural “sensitivity,” the wimp state will bend over backward to give you everything you want — including, eventually, the keys to those skyscrapers.

Read this Opinion Journal piece, as well.

Jyllands-Posten decided to publish the cartoons after complaints from an author that he could not find an illustrator who dared to draw images of Muhammad for his book. It was this atmosphere of fear and intimidation that the newspaper wanted to highlight.

In the meanwhile, we line the streets to bear witness as tens of thousands of “moderate Muslims” begin counter-protests around the globe in support of cultural diversity and religious tolerance.
Oh? Was that a pin dropping?
Also – the so-called prohibition against depicting Mohammed – is a little consistency from our “Muslim brothers and sisters” too much to ask?

107 Replies to “The Collaborators”

  3. All of this shit going on can lead right back to the morning that those bastards flew those planes into the towers that morning…thats what we..thats you and me are dealing with ..Islam..satans perfect plan on earth…

  4. I am particularily angry that sleepy Canadian newspapers aren’t standing together in favour of Western civilization on this one. Even two newspapers in tiny New Zealand had the gall to publish the cartoons.
    Our political correctness knows no bounds. Does it?

  5. I just signed the online petition. While looking at the different comments came accross this one that may be of interest:
    #8530 Here is the address for the persons responsible for this mindless conflict: http: //www.wakf.com/ please write them it’s all in danish, but i’ll guide you through. Start by clicking on “kontakt os” (contact us) in the left side of the screen. Then, in the following screen, you’ll see a map and some phonenumbers. beneath them it says “Skriv til os” (write us) click it, and you’ll be asked for (from top to bottom) “Dit navn” (your name), “telefon nr.” (telephone number, which you dont have to write), next one you’ll recognise, “Tr�ffes bedst” (can be contacted between), “vedr.” (topic) and finally “indhold” (here you can write them). Please dont embarrass the west by writing racist remarks and such. Give them something to think about instead. The Imams of this faction were the ones who travelled to the middle-east and showed’em the cartoons. WRITE THEM Danmark
    I have not verified if the information is correct.

  6. It’s okay to fly airplanes into buildings, blow up embasies, trains, buses and any other target of convenience full of innocent people minding thier own business, but a cartoon gets these people all bent out of shape.
    Funny religion that Islam!!!

  8. Entozoa’s self-considered distaste of all things unsettling to him, and of any conflict, is irrelevent to anyone inclined to defend the laws and traditions of one’s own civilization.
    There is not one good reason on earth why a newspaper in northern Europe should have its content vetted in any sense by Islamists.
    It’s about respect.

  9. It is what Europe has done for far too long, with us blindly marching in her footsteps.
    The irony of course is that the progressives are advocating tolerance for a culture far more intolerant than anything that could be offered by us (Christians or otherwise).
    Coupled with the widening disparity between Muslim and Western birthrates, the progressives will tolerate themselves right out of existance — along with the rest of us.
    http://ripple-rock.blogspot.com/2006/02/and-myopic-marched-on.html

  10. Ripplerock “Coupled with the widening disparity between Muslim and Western birthrates, the progressives will tolerate themselves right out of existance — along with the rest of us.”
    Muslims are going to have lots of babies wether you get along with them or not. Muslims are here to stay so you better get used to it.
    George “nuke islam!”
    Do you guys really want to stand shoulder to shoulder with people saying things like this? The muslims aren’t the only ones that need to do some chilling.

  12. Why We’re NOT posting the Mohammed Cartoons

    Yes, we have the right to post them.
    No, the few we’ve seen are not, in our opinion, hate speech.
    But, we don’t like cartoons like this one.
    Why should we upset our Muslim brothers & sisters in the same way for no good reason…we …

  13. South Africa court bars Mohammad cartoons
    The Star (Malaysia) ^ | 2/4/06 | Andrew Quinn
    Posted on 02/05/2006 4:51:44 AM PST by jalisco555
    JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African court has granted a request by a Muslim group to bar publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad which have caused outrage among Muslims worldwide, an editor’s group said on Saturday.
    The South African National Editor’s Forum (SANEF) said the judge’s order covered most major media companies in the country and amounted to “pre-publication censorship” by the court.
    “Freedom to decide what gets into the publication has been taken away from the editor and put on the shoulders of the court,” SANEF Chairman Joe Thloloe said.
    The Sunday Times newspaper, one of those covered by the ruling, said it had not decided whether to publish the cartoons but had refused a request by the Council of Muslim Theologians to promise not to use the images.
    The Council then approached the court for the temporary restraining order, which was granted late on Friday. >>>
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1572138/posts

  14. Charles Martel knew the danger of Muslim fanatics why don’t we?
    As for so called peace loving muslims, to be a muslim is to follow a “prophet” who was in fact a brutal, murderer. How can you follow a guy like that and still be called peace loving?
    When God tells me that Mohammed was His prophet then I will accept it. Until then he is just another big mouth clown.

  15. Examples of Anti-Semitic Cartoons in Arab Media
    Anti-Defamation League ^ | governsleastgovernsbest
    Posted on 02/05/2006 4:16:56 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
    In the wake of the current Muslim rioting and attacks on western embassies in reaction to the cartoons depicting Mohammed, I thought it would be instructive to see how the Arab media have depicted Jews and Jewish leaders. Popping the term “anti-Semitic cartoons” into Google yielded innumerable examples. Below are a number of cartoons that the Anti-Defamation League assembled a few years ago:
    And of course we all remember Jews around the world storming various Arab embassies. Oh, wait. No we don’t . . >>>
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1572132/posts

  18. Why doesn’t some Canadian take the Muslims before the Human Rights Tribunal–oh, forgot–that is only for white anti-Liberal Christians to be sanctioned–everyone else is free.
    We cannot talk about free speech while this country has such onerous laws against it.
    I in no way condone the burning of Embassies and such–but here the heavy hand of PC is used against us–we are just more ‘civilized’ in the objections that are foisted on us.

  19. Clearly, the peresent “outrage” is being orchestrated – given that the cartoons were originally published last September.

  20. Kate: It is unclear to me that the “voices of surrender” and appeasement of Islamic extremists will continue indefinitely.
    At some point, the overwhelmingly non-Islamic majorities living in Western countries may resort to a populist backlash against Muslims living in their midst…. at some point ordinary people may well rebel against the mental, intellectual, and political constipation arising from Islamic extremists’ demands. Think of the Resistance movement in many Nazi-occupied countries during WWII.

  21. Last night CTV ran the cartoons, albeit, briefly. The police in the UK are under serious pressure to charge people after the demonstrations there. It would most likely be “incitement to murder.”

  22. Last night CTV ran the cartoons, albeit, briefly. The police in the UK are under serious pressure to charge people after the demonstrations there. It would most likely be “incitement to murder.”

  24. The response to radical Islamist violence by the lefts intelligentsia apologists is laughable in its ommisions.
    The Danish Imans who went on a ME tour to expose these cartoons along with some others they threw in can only be described as an attempt to initiate violent reactions. The left fails to recognize that this is not a spontanious reaction rather it is a calculated campaign.
    Secondly the apologists from the left fail to acknowledge that the primary target of suicide bombers in Iraq are other Iraqis. The Sunni and Shite branches of Islam are suspicous of and at odds with each other. The biggest threat to a stable Iraq is civil war. Do they honestly believe that if America abandoned Iraq tomorrow that a sudden peace would fall??
    Christianity has suffered the radical interpretations of it’s leaders through the ages, see the Spanish Inquisition for one. The fact remains that christianity needed to grow beyond the dogmatic interpretations of it’s religous leaders. Islam is no different.
    I guess it is no surprise that dogmatic adherance to the Koran would be defended by those who have devoted their lives to the dogmatism of the Church of Reason. Hell these folks are so out of date they still believe that socialism will work against all evidence. Theoretically it should. The intellectual posturing and pontificating is a sad attempt to deny the reallity of the world in which we live.
    Dogmatism, be it religous; political or intellectual is akin to tunnell vision. It’s time to pull the blinders off and see things for the ugly reality that is.
    Syncro

  25. Anone else see this in the Calgary Sun?
    “Imam Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, says he’s thankful the kinds of cruel caricatures of his faith’s Prophet Muhammad — which have now run in several European papers — would likely never be printed in this country.

    “I am really thankful the laws in Canada are so clear about these anti-racism and anti-violence issues … this is why Canada is the model for other countries,”     Soharwardy said yesterday.
    ********************
    To clarify, a Canadian Muslim cleric just said that our lack of free speech – in the form of “anti-racism” laws – is one of the more positive aspects of Canada, for Muslims at least.

  26. Steve in BC,
    Food:
    Arla milk, cheese etc.
    Danish crown (meat)
    Lurmaerket Butter
    Danish Bacon
    Thor Fish
    Danisco Food
    Candy:
    Toms (chocolate)
    LAgermann
    Galle & Jessen
    Beverages:
    Tuborg Beer
    Carlsberg Beer
    Aalborg Aquavit (snaps)
    Medicine:
    Novo
    Cigarettes:
    Prince (Don’t start smoking)
    Clothings:
    H2O
    Hummel
    Per Reumert
    Shoes:
    Ecco
    Jaco
    Danish Design:
    Royal Copenhagen
    Georg Jensen
    Stelton
    PH-lamps
    Lego (toys)
    Brio (toys)
    Raadvad (knives etc.)
    Trip Trap
    HTH- kitchen
    Morsoe (Fireplaces)
    Royal Danish Porcelain
    B & G Porcelain
    Vesta (Windmills)
    B & O radioes/televisions etc.
    Other:
    Watco Danish Furniture Oil
    Buy Danish yarn.
    LEGO

  27. There is a difference between being able to publish something that is important or useful, and demanding the right to publish some thing that its main use is to irritate others.
    We have the right to say a lot of things about a lot of people, we generally do so when it serves some purpose, and don’t when it doesn’t.
    I agree with jose, “the muslems aren’t the only ones that need to do some chilling”

  29. All newspapers and TV stations in the FREE world should arrange to publish the cartoons the same day. Seeing the attacks going on against Danish consulates, especially Beirut this am, it would not surprise me to see calls in Denmark to expel all muslims from their country.

  31. >>>>>> “… but we do know of Tamil terrorists.”
    Chretien/Martin knew of Tamil terrorists! They accepted $$$$$$$$$$ from Tamil terrorists.
    Report Newsmagazine, The: A Tamil Tiger by the tail; Martin’s …
    Access the article, ‘A Tamil Tiger by the tail; Martin’s ethnic organizer thinks
    today’s terrorists are tomorrow’s heroes.’ from Report Newsmagazine, The, …
    http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3543/is_200211/ai_n8358507 – 24k – >>>
    “The right to laugh at gods (Danish newspaper cartoon from an Indian perspective)
    The Indian Express ^ | Sunday, February 05, 2006 | Tavleen Singh
    Posted on 02/05/2006 8:14:28 AM PST by Gengis Khan
    Last week newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, in a gesture of solidarity with Denmark, reprinted the Danish cartoons that have enraged the Islamic world because one of them depicts the Prophet Mohammad, and any depiction of him is considered blasphemy in Islam. In Paris, the newspaper France Soir added a cartoon of its own of Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim and Christian gods seated on a cloud under a headline saying �Yes we Have the Right to Caricature God�.
    In Europe, from where I write this piece, the controversy made headlines but could have been played down in politically correct Bharatvarsha. So, for those of you who may not have followed the story here is a precis. In September a small Danish newspaper called Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons in one of which the Prophet Mohammed was shown wearing a bomb-shaped turban. This caused a furore in the Islamic world and Libya, Saudi Arabia and Syria have withdrawn their ambassadors to Denmark. Many Islamic countries demanded an apology from the Danish government, which has pointed out that in a free society a government cannot apologise on behalf of a newspaper or tell it what to print.
    As someone often accused of targeting Muslims in this column, I have followed the Danish cartoon controversy with interest. I believe it strikes at the root of the difficulty us infidels face in dealing with Islam and Islamists. Irreverent infidels like me, and there are many of my kind in free societies, believe that religion and the gods must be kept within the realms of literature and even cartoons. I believe the fatwa against Salman Rushdie was an outrage and the murder of Theo Van Gogh an act of barbarism. The Dutch filmmaker was killed in 2004 because he made a film on violence against women in Islamic societies.
    Is it not time we stood up against Islam�s repeated attempts to impose its will, values and ideas of blasphemy on the rest of us? Is it not time we demanded that Islam retreat to the private sphere it inhabited before the advent of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Osama bin Laden? Is it not time that the Islamic world recognised that its ideas of blasphemy are different to ours? We infidels can laugh with and at religions and gods and we must stand up for the right to do so.
    Increasingly, because of the rise of Islamic terrorism, we see Muslims perceive themselves as victims of an international conspiracy to malign them and their religion. At the World Economic Forum�s annual meeting in Davos, two weeks ago, I attended a session on Islam and the World and was surprised that nearly all the panelists expressed a deep sense of grievance. One gentleman of South Asian origin but living in New York said, ��Just look at the way today�s terrorists are described in the international media�as Islamic terrorists. This has never happened before, the IRA were never called Christian terrorists.��
    Maybe not, but we do know of Tamil terrorists.” http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1572217/posts

  32. Quick- someone do a “Last Temptation of Mohammed” film or perhaps a picture of Mohammed with elephant shit. I can’t believe the Toronto Star hasn’t published the cartoons yet.
    Is this country so tolerant that we will tolerate intolerance?
    The true lesson in this is that violence does indeed solve problems. Very sad. I’m off to consume some Carlsberg beer and popcorn.

  33. “Warren Kinsella joins the maple syrup-sucking surrender monkeys:”
    It’s really too bad Stock didn’t think to firebomb Kinsella’s house, so he might reconsider how hurtful his mocking of Day’s religion was, and take it all back.

  35. There is a difference between being able to publish something that is important or useful, and demanding the right to publish some thing that its main use is to irritate others.
    Well, Don, if an image of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban serves as a metaphor for Islamic behavior – and one only has to examine the body count over the last 30 years, let alone 9/11, Beslan, London, etc. – then, I as a citizen in a freedom of speech country should have every right to draw that and publish it. That’s our right in a secular democracy. If self-censorship as practiced by Islam makes you feel a better person that’s fine. God knows, we never want a Muslim to suffer a moment of “irritation” like we Christians and Jews have from time to time with offensive cartoons/movies/tv shows.
    Your attitude is basically one of shooting the messenger. The Danish cartoonist exercising his right of free speech is to blame rather than the primitive murderous fascist response. What a sad exercise in muddled logic.

  36. Capndan: Funny religion that Islam!!!
    YES, indeed Islam is a riot!!! Monty Pyton is no more ‘cos no longer needed.

  37. Thanks, Kate. (This comment, minus a few additions, is also posted after the petition information you provided but I think it bears repeating here. I signed the petition–well into the nine thousands–I’ve bought Tuborg for my husband (I wish the Danes made wine!) and am off shortly to buy some Arla cheese.) I’m a teacher in the public gulag–whoops! system– somewhere in Canada. It’s a microcosm of the surrender monkey mentality of the appeaser states: the worse the kid, the more the system excuses and downloads the responsibility for the kid’s egregious behaviour onto the teachers, whose hands are tied more and more by politically correct, bureaucratic red (duct) tape. There’s almost nothing left in the discipline cupboard because we have to pretend that everyone’s equal and we’re not supposed to hurt anyone’s feelings. (Funny, teachers do all the heavy lifting and no one seems to care about our integrity, our rights, or our feelings.) Despite enough Behaviour Codes and Safe [for the bullies] School Policies to sink a ship, gross irresponsibility on the part of parents or kids is constantly glossed over and, unless it’s at the classroom level, it’s rarely effectively dealt with. (I recently told both administrators at my school to quit with the excuse making and the devising of cover-ups for my most challenged student–of a visible minority group–who, in general, has responded very well to my tough love approach.) Despite their prominent “Equity Policies”, the public school systems of this country practise hypocrisy of the worst kind: the “victim” card is allowed to be played over and over again by the most irresponsible participants. The unions are of little use as they enthusiastically share the boards’ “smelly little orthodoxies” (George Orwell). Irony of ironies, the real victims–sacrificial ones, at that–are those who take seriously their obligations to behave in a responsible, moderate, and fair manner. Oh, Canada. Kyrie eleison.

  39. A modest proposal.
    How about the all the west’s newspapers doing full page presentations with a centre dividing line with an equal number of our quite harmless doodles on one side, and the routine vicious jew-pig-headless infidels on the other. Sort of an equal time, balanced, er, “inclusive” view. And do it continuously, even have a permanent section, say, every Wednesday, like that.
    But seriously, our kindly compassionate lefties probably have no idea about those ME cartoons, not being able to imagine the lack of sweetness and light.

  40. Just read that 200 of our Canadian Muslims turned up in Halifax to protest at the Danish Embassy. Women on one side, men on the other chanting freedom yes, insults no.
    Pretty mild as such things go but where were they on 9-11 and all the other dates when their religious brothers butchered innocent people?
    Funny group this to get so riled up by a set of pretty crappy cartoons.
    As for our Western collaborators..here is our true enemy. University bred,bored, rich spolied brats with out a practical brain in their head. The type that would return from Germany in the 30’s clutching a peice of paper and proclaiming peace in our time.
    I hope there is some guts left in the Western World as it feels a bit like The Lord of The Rings Plot. We need to lance these wormtongues in our midsts and remeber the values our fore-fathers died for.

  43. So an Arab Muslim is walking along the beach and stubs his toe on an object. Picking it up, he discovers it is a lamp. As he rubs it clean, a genie appears, thanks the Arab for freeing him from the lamp, and grants him one wish. “Anything you desire, master, wealth, wine, fame, women, but only one wish” says the genie.
    The Arab thinks for a moment and says “My neighbor has a goat that is better than mine, make it die.”
    And this, folks, is the type of mentality we’re dealing with…

  45. “Steve in bc” is right — Stephen Harper needs to speak unequivocally (no Jack Straw sensitivity) in favour of our western (as in occidental) values. That’s why we voted for him.
    Thanks to Harry for the list of Danish products.
    As I suggested in the other thread, perhaps that list should be on the main blog?
    Mark Proudman

  46. Yes, thankyou for the list of Danish products which I will be purchasing on grocery day. Since the proprietors in Toronto have seen fit to dispose of all Danish products, I will be using the little Chinese convenience store in the neighborhood. My small contribution of protest to the behaviour of the Muslim community here in Canada as well as their loving brethern who are acting out. Speaking of acting out, they are burning Danish embassies in the Muslim countries because of these cartoons, but why are they lobbying stones at a Maronite Catholic Church. This doesn’t make sense. Why, I’ve deducted from this scenrio is that barbarians just needed an excuse to carry on their extremism. The cartoons is the reason they are giving – ohhh – but it is so much more than that. Just imagine a world wide war on the pretense of 12 cartoons. Idiots.
    Back to this political correct jibberish that some of our do-gooders keep spouting here on this blog, wake up and smell the coffee. Do Christians, Jews, Buddhist, Hindus etc. cause havoc when they feel we are dishonouring their gods. Of course not, you see they are civilized. Back to my statements in the previous blog. We have to stop the immigration of Muslims to this country. We have to keep a very close eye on those that are here in the present. We have to deport all who even have a whiff of extremist views. If we want to live in a country that for some time has been free we must take drastic measures to keep Barbarism at bay. I sure hope our new PM strenghens our military and our borders. Not just to fight the terrorists in those foreign lands, but the ones right here in Canada. God Bless Canada.

  49. I sure hope our new PM strenghens our military and our borders.
    I hope you Canadians can someday get your guns back. Free people in a free society should have a right to protect themselves if government fails to do so.

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