Middle East shows it's TRUE colours

This should be interesting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060213/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_holocaust_drawings

 

Oh look; Arabic newspapers have printed cartoons lampooning the Holocaust. Heavens to Murgatroyd-that's never happened before!
Know what's even more interesting? On Saturday night there BBC2 repeated a classic episode of comedian Dave Allen's series from 1971. All the usual jokes were there; anti-Pope, anti-priest, anti-British, some downright racist (by modern standards)caricatures. So far I haven't seen a single riot in the streets by Christian fundamentalists; no sacking of the Irish Embassy, no burning the Irish flag, no calls for Dave Allen's murder. Am I just watching the wrong news items, or do some of the rest of you know different?

 

That's pretty interesting - the Iran paper's calling us out!! Got to admit that there's a lot of hypocrisy with respect to freedom of speech when it comes to certain things - Nazi's, the Holocaust, african-americans, homosexuality, etc - the list goes on. I think the simple point is about respect. I mean - it's just about good taste. Of course, you can't justify the response to the Mohammed thing.

No one wants to see the Holocaust made fun of, of course, and you'll see a lot of people react to it - possibly with violence? We expect that kind of stuff from the Third-World press - but what about the Western media?

See if freedom of speech really holds true. Some topics need to be treated with kids gloves -the Holocaust is one of them. Every major media network in the West acknowledges it. Why should it be different with Mohammed? Should everything be fair game?

 

Not only was the Danish newspaper excercising its right, it was also depicting some TRUTHS about the Muslim world:

 

Freddie,
I can't help wondering if the Muslims are more offended by the cartoon telling a few home truths.

 

Better watch out Friedrich, don't want anyone going Jihad on your bum over that!

 

I don't care what one billion Muslims think about that cartoon. It's my RIGHT to post it and say that I think it's true.

And that's why, despite of being deeply offended, I will NOT, never, ever, advocate for the censorship of people like reverend Phelps (see http://www.godhatesfags.com ) or these anti-Catholic brats ( http://lionofjudah.tribulationforces.com/world_religions/catholic.html ).

Besides, the Danish cartoonist was excercising his RIGHT. Some Muslims are KILLING people and blowing up ambassies. Why is it so hard for many people to see what side's right?

 

But how can we shove our western sensibilities down their throats?
What are the options - pacify them or what? Continue to piss them off? I don't know. I'd like to think there's a simple solution beyond "kill 'em all."

 

My belief is that had we treated each other with respect, then this would not have happened. What point does that cartoon make? Was it proper? I think not. So, even though the cartoonist may have had the right to print it, does that make it right? If it offends, then I say no. It is just that simple. I believe an apology is required here.

 

And who is going to decide what is offensive and what is not? The State, the Church, the media?

In that case, politicians will try to ban political cartoons, which are in most cases directly and openly insulting; nutriologists will try to ban junk food; pseudo-christians will try to ban gay bars and sinagogues; conservative opera conductors will forbid 'unnatural' male-sopranos… because they find it all 'offensive'.

I am no advocate of carpet-bombing Mecca (which would be a REAL offense) and of killing nobody, but there's a moment when you have to take your stand.

 

I would think that in this case it is simple to understand that particular cartoon would be found offensive and should not have been published. We all know anything sponsored by the govt usually turns to crap but as individuals, we are able to discern what is or is not acceptable. Evil begets evil.

 

So, this guy, who's expressing his opinion (as granted by the Law) and honestly making a living out of his job, is thus responsible for the death of people? So, from now on, just shut the f**** up if you don't want to outrage fanatics…

The victory of extremism and terrorism over civil liberties! Wonderful!

There is NO excuse. I bet many Jews find offensive this depicting and mockery of Moses and God's Laws:



Yet I don't see any Jews blowing up ambassies…

Christians may be offended by South Park mocking Jesus Christ:



Yet they don't treathen entire countries.

Nor Catholics whine about disrespect against the Head of our Church:

 

Gottfried is on the money gentlemen, sadly through my experiences over in the mid-east these cretins only think they know the truth behind a gun, talking is out of the question, it has been going on for thousands of years with both the Muslims and Jews and Gentlies killing one another in the name of truth and peace .......... so sad

v/r E

 

Who is ramming anything down Muslim's throats? The cartoons were published in western countries, which aren't subject to Islamic laws. Can anyone name ONE Middle East paper which reprinted them?
If Muslims live in a western country, they abide by that country's rules-NO-ONE else's. If they want to start this Sharia law BS, they know where the airport is; no-one's forcing them to stay in a country which offends their 'religion' so much. And we all know how much chance there is of an exodus anytime soon!

 

If it weren't for the oil these guys would be eating camel shit and nobody would ever hear about them.

I'm going to to ebay now to try and dig up a copy of "Four White Feathers", the Alexander Korda version

 

Sarcastic remark


Question what really is behind all this?
Answer Evil

I rest my case

[ 14. February 2006, 07:26 AM: Message edited by: Richard42 ]

 

Anyone has the right to be offended by anything they see as problematic. As well, everyone is free to respond in any way they wish to what they deem offensive. Hold a rally? Great. Boycott products? Go ahead. Write your own cartoon? Fantastic.

Where I have a problem is that people are now justifying the killing of these cartoonists. Some Muslims think it's justified to kill anyone from Denmark over these scribblings. Pardon my french, but that's fucking ridiculous.

 

Well what do you expect from a lot of backward thinking hot heads!

 

Sounds like the same fellas who said that Holocaust was a good thing ( in Iran that is )...

 

The exercise of religion is the manifestation of a very basic human need to respond to the creator. We all have that basic instinct or desire. Every culture responds to it. Most religions think that they have it understood and are practicing it the way it is intended. In my opinion all of them have some part of it wrong. If any one of them is right, the others are at least partially wrong, if not completely.

The exercise of power through these religions is really the question here. That is another human desire, power. The use of religion as a means to exercise power over people and to have those people exercise power over events has been going on as long as people have been in organized religions.

People exercise that control and lust for power. They manipulate people's need for a spiritual organization and for earthly leadership. People abuse power, and will shamelessly manipulate anything they can to obtain it. Our studies of the Second World War show us many examples, mostly they are not religion based, though. The leaders in the Middle-East are representing many new examples. They are stirring up people in the name of religion to obtain power. This is not for the glory of any god or prophet, not for the betterment of their religious standing or to obtain religious freedom. This is about power.

This period in history will be looked back on by people the same way the crusades are looked upon now. We now see it was about the power of the men in the seats of power, the pope and the kings. Some of the participants may have had pure motives, but they were pawns to a bigger power play, just like the poor people getting whipped into a violent frenzy destroying things and sacrificing their lives now for these fundamentalist leaders. I don't know how long this will last. The crusades lasted a long time. This could drag on even longer.

How do we stop it? How do we shorten the duration of the conflict these people are manipulating? I don't know. Shoot one leader and another pops up. For every martyr that blows himself and others to pieces another aspires to take their place. Moderation is the key, but how do we moderate the power these people exercise over the masses they control. The people have to turn away from them to something else, they have to be given a better alternative to achieve their need for worship and leadership. Maybe putting a democracy in place will allow this to happen, maybe not. Germany was a democracy before they decided that they needed a strong leader more than they needed freedom of choice. It is going to be an ugly couple of (insert time frame of choice, months/years/decades/generations).