[BRIEF NOTE] On the Danish Cartoons

[rfmcdpei]

The people attacking the cartoons on the grounds that they're blasphemous haven't tried nearly enough to explain why blasphemy--by members, by non-members--shouldn't be permissible, or to justify why threats of violence should spilled out willy-nilly. The people defending the cartoons on the grounds of freedom of speech aren't bothering to address

Comments

[angel80]

She has an interesting link to an archive of just about every image of Mohammed ever done, including many from Islamic sources and a whole episode of Southpark! I don't have enough bandwidth to watch the latter, but if I know Southpark at all I'm sure it sends up Jesus just as much as Mohammed.

I'm sure all this is not so much related to blasphemy v. free speech as it is to a general feeling of oppression and hypocrisy of the West against Muslims. On somebody's blog I saw a photo of a demo in London. A person exercising their right to free speech, holding up a poster saying 'free speech go to hell!' Logic just doesn't come into it - on either side.

[gamoonbat]

What makes the clash of civilizations "Huntingtonian"? That reference went right past me.

[gunlord]

I'm not sure if this is what rfmcdpei was specifically referring to, but this is what I thought of when he mentioned "Huntingtonian."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_Civilizations

[gamoonbat]

Thanks. It sounds like I should read this article. It might give me background on where U.S. policymakers have been coming from, if nothing else.

[schizmatic]

You know, I tend to be of the belief that out of a general sense of civic responsibility one should generally avoid blatantly insulting a man's religion. But by the same token, certain Muslims really, really need to learn to deal with things that offend their religious sensibilities without getting homicidal.

[timgueguen]

Perhaps Malkin will come here and have a brain cramp when she sees all the horrid "libruh" stuff here.

[talktooloose]

I like what you have to say here about two entrenched sides firing at each other without any intention engagement or the goal of enhanced communication.

That being said, I'm SO over fundamentalist religion. I've been over stupid, over-simplified editorial cartooning for a while.