Since I don’t know much about Danish law, I’m guessing that the country — like many EU counterparts — has laws against fomenting religious or racial hatred. Do they only cover acts that take place in Denmark, or do they apply to Danish citizens wherever they may travel?
If it’s the latter, would the imams who took their dossier to the Middle East be prosecutable? Would it be smart of the authorities to bring such a case to trial? And what does the answer to that question say about the rule of law versus mob rule?
A large share of the Arab world lives by an honor code that people from the West consider “tribal”. A code honoring and demanding retaliation, this is what these people feel, who they are.
They are speaking a different language. There is no debate, because debate is no fundamental part of their culture and education. There is only honour and god. This exposed honour button is difficult to miss, especially for people who want to peddle hatred and violence.
For the time being, I don’t think there is a solution unless one or the other caves in ideologically and decides to speak the other’s language.
This of course presupposes that the Danes will allow (or have allowed) those imams back into the country. I don’t see why they should.
I believe this to be a good introduction to this self righteous discussion:
“In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten.
Zieler received an email back from the paper’s Sunday editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: “I don’t think Jyllands-Posten’s readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them.”
The illustrator told the Norwegian daily Dagbladet, which saw the email: “I see the cartoons as an innocent joke, of the type that my Christian grandfather would enjoy.”
“I showed them to a few pastors and they thought they were funny.”
Read the rest of it at : http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/more-on-hypocrisy-of-west-and.html
Juan states also:
For those waxing holier than thou over the Muslim caricature riots, it is worth looking at the (very incomplete) Wikipedia list of riots for the late 20th century and early 21st century. The answer is obviously “yes” to the question of whether Westerners riot. Mostly over race.
Thanks for this link Hans, I hadn’t seen it.
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A large share of the Arab world lives by an honor code that people from the West consider “tribal”. A code honoring and demanding retaliation, this is what these people feel, who they are.
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Eddie Barzoon, you might want to rent and watch _A Few Good Men_.
For what it’s worth, I agree with the business about an honor code, and I agree that this is a stupid, pathetic, primitive one to run a society. Where I disagree is the implication that this particular stupidity is limited to the Arab world and not part of the west. It’s the same problem as complaining that the issue is Islamic dogmatism — the issue is religious dogmatism, and the fact that, today, this is most publicly Islamic dogmatism should not blind us to the fact that the issue is religion generically.
There are Christians in the US who think god is telling them to blow up abortion clinics;
there is the unholy alliance of the Vatican with the US government to condemn far more people to death from AIDS and unwanted pregnancies than have ever died at the hands of Islamic fundamentalists;
there are Hindu lunatics who think the way to bring India into the 21st century is to kill any Muslim they can;
there are Buddhist lunatics who think the best way to solve Sri Lanka’s civil war is to kill every Tamil man, woman and child.