(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?
I hope you keep bumping this story to the top Kate.
There have been images made of Muhammad for centuries.
IMO, if the MSM in Canada will not show those images during this debate then they cannot even PRETEND anymore to be unbiased journalists.
I understand the fear but at some point even lily livered left wing Canadians should STAND UP (they won’t).
Canadians have let others take it on the chin (and worse)in the WOT.
Today is a good day to change that.
Jose, you’ve made some good points, but I don’t share your optimism about the Iranians or any of the ME masses arriving at democracy anytime soon.
Bloggers are intimidated in Iran. Western music is now banned. I haven’t seen any street protest there with the new regime in place.
Just look at the Russians for a lesson in how precarious democracy is with some groups. Putin is systematically restoring Stalinesque repression. He has taken over all of the tv stations, stolen Yukos, put Khordorkovsky – who was funding democratic parties – in prison, and has suspended provincial govenor elections. The Russian sheeple seem perfectly willing to give their freedoms back. No protest. Public opinion polls show the majority support Putin.
Islam is democracy adverse. You basically have to renounce the religion to become a secular and democratic person. Russian culture has always had a a strong aversion toward individualism long before communism. Capitalism has amplified suspicion and envy which has always been below the surface there. Like Islam, Russians are very shame-based in their behaviors.
The liberties, individualism and capitalism we embrace aren’t necessarily wanted as a whole by others.
Penny “Islam is democracy adverse. You basically have to renounce the religion to become a secular and democratic person”
Well since “secular person” is often used to denote an athiest yes you would have to renounce Islam (or any religon for that matter) to become one. There is however no fundemental conflict between democracy and Islam.
Jose
Let me state myself better. Islam had no Jesus to give permission for a secular society with “render unto Caesar…..”. The Koran insists on a theocracy.
Turkey is only secular because Attaturk imposed it. The Shah of Iran was moving in that direction. The populace embraced the mullahs after his departure.
Anyway you slice or dice it, Islam will resist a secular democracy.
The whole point of Iraq is see if a secular democracy can stick in the ME. The Shiia are the wild card.
“There is however no fundemental conflict between democracy and Islam.”
I’m not so sure about that.
Are there any truly free and democratic purely Islamic nations in the world at all? Have there ever been?
I mean aside from non-religious-based nations that happen to have a Muslim majority.
Has there ever been a fundamentalist Islamic nation that was democratic? I cannot think of one.
That’s why I’m not so sure as to whether the above statement is correct.
Just look at Canada: separation of church and state is a big deal these days and, in fact, the Christian religion seems to be under pressure from the left in general to lie down and submit– to what seems to be a new godless religion in the form of dogmatic leftist doctrine– to the point that it ceases to exist.
But then again, it’s my observation that the “left” as a loose coalition of Liberal gov’ts, the MSM, the courts, etc. only accept democracy if they believe it’s going to go their way. No wonder the left is so vehemently opposed to referenda on controversial social issues. The left simply must have its way… hmm… that makes me think of President Ahmadinejad, whose own religious dogmas must be supreme to all else; anyone who resists his will is subject to execution. Certainly far different in degree, but the similarity appears, in my view, between the Western left and ultra-orthodox fundamentalist Islamofascism.
Therefore, I think the left, as well as the moderate Muslims, needs to stop and think long and hard about the directions they’ve been taking up to now. They both seem to be too silent and submissive to the horrifyingly intimidating tactics of the murderous Islamofascists.
Moderate Muslims must decide if they want to have a “pure” or “fundamentalist” Islamic religion or if they’re going to adapt to the reality of the contemporary world. Understanding that the Islamofascists want to return the whole world to the Dark Ages or whatever, they now must proceed to oppose the tyrants and oppressors who act supposedly in the name of Allah, if indeed Islam is to be a “religion of peace” rather than of absolute intolerance of all who aren’t purely “Islamic” in the most extreme sense of the word.
The fact is that the non-Muslim world will never accept what the likes of Bin Laden, Hamas and Ahmadinejad want for the world.
If the Islamotyrants proceed with a full-scale Jihad, there, unfortunately, would be no option but to wipe them out with nuclear weapons. We had to do similar in WWII as a matter of the survival of freedom, democracy and human rights in the world. We cannot be intimidated.
We, the Western World, including moderate, peaceful, tolerant Muslims, need to make it very clear to the Islamotyrants that we will destroy them if they proceed with Jihad. Period.
They need a serious, believable ultimatum, backed up by a new arms race. And their allies, China, North Korea, etc. must also get the message.
Don’t tread on us.
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