How do Islamists protest the depiction of Mohammad as a bomber? By fire bombing embassies of course. Talk about reinforcing stereotypes.
As I've said before, it's not a bad thing for this issue to come to the fore. It is long past time for Europe to discover that they are at the forefront of a cultural clash. In their grand utopian vision, no one culture is superior to any other and if they simply live and let live everybody can get along. Only now, however, they are discovering that there is a sect within their society that does not recognize or respect such diversity and will resort to violence to bend the will of their host so as to conquer (yes, conquer) that society from within.
Freedom of speech is something that is cherished within Western society, yet it is barely tolerated, if at all, in Islamic society. Just try bringing a Bible into Saudi Arabia and you'll discover what I mean.
In the article by Tim Rutten I linked to below, he discusses how it will be up to moderate Islam to help bring Islamic society into the fold with the rest of the civilized world. Judging from responses I've heard from the moderate Muslims so far, the signs aren't encouraging. While they always begin with the condemnation of violence and say they believe in free speech, they move on to the "but" part of their argument. The "but" of course is that such free speech should be done responsibly and care must be taken so as not to insult Muslims. They still don't grasp the fundamental meaning of freedom of expression in a free society.
If something as basic as freedom of speech is still such a foreign concept to moderate Islam, it just proves we still have a long way to go and perhaps the clash now occurring in Europe will help point us in the right direction in this debate.
As I've said before, it's not a bad thing for this issue to come to the fore. It is long past time for Europe to discover that they are at the forefront of a cultural clash. In their grand utopian vision, no one culture is superior to any other and if they simply live and let live everybody can get along. Only now, however, they are discovering that there is a sect within their society that does not recognize or respect such diversity and will resort to violence to bend the will of their host so as to conquer (yes, conquer) that society from within.
Freedom of speech is something that is cherished within Western society, yet it is barely tolerated, if at all, in Islamic society. Just try bringing a Bible into Saudi Arabia and you'll discover what I mean.
In the article by Tim Rutten I linked to below, he discusses how it will be up to moderate Islam to help bring Islamic society into the fold with the rest of the civilized world. Judging from responses I've heard from the moderate Muslims so far, the signs aren't encouraging. While they always begin with the condemnation of violence and say they believe in free speech, they move on to the "but" part of their argument. The "but" of course is that such free speech should be done responsibly and care must be taken so as not to insult Muslims. They still don't grasp the fundamental meaning of freedom of expression in a free society.
If something as basic as freedom of speech is still such a foreign concept to moderate Islam, it just proves we still have a long way to go and perhaps the clash now occurring in Europe will help point us in the right direction in this debate.
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