Stupid people
Well, there were two things that annoyed me over the weekend, so I'm going to vent on one of them here, maybe the other later, but I'll cut it so you don't have to read unless you feel like it.
The cartoons.
The media are doing it for ratings as well, but it is pretty damn obvious that in this case it is important to stand up to the threats of violence and intimidation and show that in a free state nothing has a right not to be ridiculed!
This most definitely is about free speech. Just because there is no law against saying something, if one can't say it anyway because of fear of violence, or because of some politically correct view that everyone has to be "respected", then you don't have free speech. We want to move away from the state as described by The Clash in Know Your Rights back in the day :You have the right to free
Speech as long as you're not
Dumb enough to actually try it.
That's why it's important to stand up to religious fundamentalists , political parties, and cultural groups, whatever their persuasion, when they claim they should not have to put up with ridicule! We must not just give lip service to free speech!
I find the reaction of many moslems to the cartoon far more offensive than the cartoons themselves ever could be. It doesn't matter how derogatory a cartoon is, that's no excuse to burn buildings, invade sovereign territory, and threaten to kill people. This is worse than the disgusting actions of Ayotollah Khomeini in issuing a fatah on Salmun Rushdie. In that case, most moslem clerics out of Iran denounced Khomeini's actions. But in the current environment it seems the intelligent clerics are either being ignored or are too scared to truly work for their faith by speaking against the wave of protest. Not that I blame them, these mobs turn on their own just as easily as on the perceived enemy.
A cartoon is just lines on paper, if someone is so insecure in their faith that they have to threaten people over lines on paper, then it is they that have the problems, not the cartoonists. Anyone who truly had faith, no matter what their faith was, would not be bothered by a cartoon or any derogatory portrayal of their faith.They would just pity the person responsible, who had ruined their own path.
Pagans and Rastafarians, among others, are also continually insulted by jokes and poor portrayals of their faith on TV and in other media as well.The difference is that they don't get as much press coverage if they complain. Not that many would bother. Most Christians now also realize the virtues of tolerance. The Islam I was taught about was also a tolerant one, the infidels are perhaps to be pitied because of their lack of faith, but nothing they do can affect the path of a man of faith, unless he acts against the tenets himself.
It is just an excuse for violence, by people who like violence, faith has absolutely nothing to do with it despite the protestations of those involved.
They really are shooting themselves in the foot over this. If a fuss had not been made in the first place, far fewer people would have seen the cartoons, and because some moslems are effectively acting exactly as implied in the cartoons, they are making the cartoons more powerful as a weapon against Islam.
By fighting these cartoons moslems are making it more likely that Islam will be destroyed. Which is, as far as the terrorist leaders are concerned, is a good thing. The terrorist leaders know that they would never survive in a world where Islam was accepted and respected by everybody, they can only survive by convincing their followers they are fighting a war against people who will kill them all if they had a chance. Like any revolutionaries, they wouldn't know how to deal with actually winning that war, they rely on the image of the beleaguered fighter.
On Close-Up last night a young moslem claimed that they had a right to be respected.
Absolute Crap.
You don't have a right to respect, you have to earn respect, and you don't do that by going crazy over a mere cartoon, that just makes people think you should be locked up and sedated.
Of course, the real reason this blew up, is all to do with Iran's stand-off with the US over it's production of enriched uranium. The US believe they will get more support from the the rest of the world to prevent Iranian weapons production if Islam, and thus Iran, are portrayed as dangerously unstable, and Iran believes that by showing that Islam is persecuted, they demonstrate the need to arm. Both sides find this useful.
I am reminded again of Donavan's Universal Soldier :He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war,
and without him always killing cant go on.
When will those on the streets realize that they are just disposable pawns and refuse to give their bodies to Ares?
The cartoons.
The media are doing it for ratings as well, but it is pretty damn obvious that in this case it is important to stand up to the threats of violence and intimidation and show that in a free state nothing has a right not to be ridiculed!
This most definitely is about free speech. Just because there is no law against saying something, if one can't say it anyway because of fear of violence, or because of some politically correct view that everyone has to be "respected", then you don't have free speech. We want to move away from the state as described by The Clash in Know Your Rights back in the day :You have the right to free
Speech as long as you're not
Dumb enough to actually try it.
That's why it's important to stand up to religious fundamentalists , political parties, and cultural groups, whatever their persuasion, when they claim they should not have to put up with ridicule! We must not just give lip service to free speech!
I find the reaction of many moslems to the cartoon far more offensive than the cartoons themselves ever could be. It doesn't matter how derogatory a cartoon is, that's no excuse to burn buildings, invade sovereign territory, and threaten to kill people. This is worse than the disgusting actions of Ayotollah Khomeini in issuing a fatah on Salmun Rushdie. In that case, most moslem clerics out of Iran denounced Khomeini's actions. But in the current environment it seems the intelligent clerics are either being ignored or are too scared to truly work for their faith by speaking against the wave of protest. Not that I blame them, these mobs turn on their own just as easily as on the perceived enemy.
A cartoon is just lines on paper, if someone is so insecure in their faith that they have to threaten people over lines on paper, then it is they that have the problems, not the cartoonists. Anyone who truly had faith, no matter what their faith was, would not be bothered by a cartoon or any derogatory portrayal of their faith.They would just pity the person responsible, who had ruined their own path.
Pagans and Rastafarians, among others, are also continually insulted by jokes and poor portrayals of their faith on TV and in other media as well.The difference is that they don't get as much press coverage if they complain. Not that many would bother. Most Christians now also realize the virtues of tolerance. The Islam I was taught about was also a tolerant one, the infidels are perhaps to be pitied because of their lack of faith, but nothing they do can affect the path of a man of faith, unless he acts against the tenets himself.
It is just an excuse for violence, by people who like violence, faith has absolutely nothing to do with it despite the protestations of those involved.
They really are shooting themselves in the foot over this. If a fuss had not been made in the first place, far fewer people would have seen the cartoons, and because some moslems are effectively acting exactly as implied in the cartoons, they are making the cartoons more powerful as a weapon against Islam.
By fighting these cartoons moslems are making it more likely that Islam will be destroyed. Which is, as far as the terrorist leaders are concerned, is a good thing. The terrorist leaders know that they would never survive in a world where Islam was accepted and respected by everybody, they can only survive by convincing their followers they are fighting a war against people who will kill them all if they had a chance. Like any revolutionaries, they wouldn't know how to deal with actually winning that war, they rely on the image of the beleaguered fighter.
On Close-Up last night a young moslem claimed that they had a right to be respected.
Absolute Crap.
You don't have a right to respect, you have to earn respect, and you don't do that by going crazy over a mere cartoon, that just makes people think you should be locked up and sedated.
Of course, the real reason this blew up, is all to do with Iran's stand-off with the US over it's production of enriched uranium. The US believe they will get more support from the the rest of the world to prevent Iranian weapons production if Islam, and thus Iran, are portrayed as dangerously unstable, and Iran believes that by showing that Islam is persecuted, they demonstrate the need to arm. Both sides find this useful.
I am reminded again of Donavan's Universal Soldier :He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war,
and without him always killing cant go on.
When will those on the streets realize that they are just disposable pawns and refuse to give their bodies to Ares?