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-- Jihad on Denmark - freedom of expression rears its ugly head once again...
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Posted by Philby on Feb-08-2006 06:03:

Re: Gaza shopkeeper stocks up on Danish flags to burn

quote:
Originally posted by Fir3start3r
Here's one dumbass trying to play both sides of the coin...


hehe i think thats brilliant


Posted by Fir3start3r on Feb-08-2006 06:07:

Re: Re: Gaza shopkeeper stocks up on Danish flags to burn

quote:
Originally posted by Philby
hehe i think thats brilliant


On a pure busy level sure, the demand is definately there!

But he might as well be handing them a pack o' matches, some lighter fluid and waving, "Happy burning!" on the way out...


Posted by kamil on Feb-08-2006 06:23:


Posted by LazFX on Feb-08-2006 06:34:

quote:
Originally posted by kamil


ha ha ha ha that is so funny,


Posted by Yohan on Feb-08-2006 07:49:

This thread is getting too serious.

DISCLAIMER! If you're easily offended by non PC jokes, don't read

Leave a Message in the Anonymous Muslim Man Complaint Box



Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

I saw on the TV that there is a show now with a woman host. This is not very bad by itself because the woman was dressed in accordance with the laws of Islam and did not expose herself and inflame the lust of any male guests. However, this woman was having a talk with guests and things got a bit out of control when the woman host said "no, I don't think so" to one of the guests. I was so mad I told my wife to drown herself in the bathtub while I finished watching the show. Then, later in the show, the host says "you are wrong" to a doctor! I could not believe it!

Please see if you could beat this woman with a chain and I thank you in advance.

Inshallah Muslim Man Complaint Box,

My child was drawing pictures for school and this is forbidden. What makes the situation worse is that the picture was of our whole family and also blessed Mohammad. It was not a very clear picture of Mohammad and I think his likeness would be considered obscured by the scriptures. Just to be sure I hanged my son and burned his body and then my brothers burned the school and also hanged the teacher. What I want to know is what can be done about the ability to draw? Any child can go about creating blasphemous rendering of Mohammad! This is lightning in the hands of the unprotected. My son is in the afterlife now because of these crayons and "construction" paper, which I say is "destruction" paper. That is a little joke, but I am not laughing. Something must be done.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

This is a complaint in general about women these days. Things are getting out of control with the influences of the West and they are more willing than ever to speak their minds. Yesterday I thought I heard a woman whisper "Ally McBeal" in a marketplace to another woman and then their heads turned to each other like they might be making eye-contact through the mesh screens hiding their eyes. I do not know if anything can be done about this, but I would like to find myself a good Muslim wife.

Also death to America, death to Israel, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

I am a devoted Muslim man living in the heart of the beast. I live within the Jew-cursed border of the state of Jew Jewrsey in Jewmerica and I am very unhappy. The other day I heard an American man say that Islam is not a religion of peace. This is intolerable and doubly so when the laws of America prevent me from cutting out his tongue, setting fire to his house and taking his wife as my own. I demand that something be done about this and also death to Israel.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

I am a devoted follower of the Prophet Mohammed living in the occupied land of Iraq. I am not an insurgent, I am just an honest man trying to live my life. There is an American by the name of Pete Reynolds who sometimes buys baklava from my shop and he is very nice. The problem is I found out a few weeks ago that he was an atheist when I was talking to him. I know it is my duty to kill all infidels, but I was wondering if exceptions could possibly be made if the infidels are particularly friendly. Perhaps I could simply wound the infidels or hurt their feelings very badly. He was fat as all decadent Westerners usually are and I think maybe I could have made some rude comments about that to him and he might have even killed himself. Anyway, no biggie, he was beheaded a couple days ago when the United States refused to release Jalal "The Red Hand of Allah" Al Harami. Get back to me when you get a chance.

PS - Death to Israel

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

Hey, I don't know if you noticed, but my entire family lives in a ******* bomb crater eating leaves all day. I know Death to Israel, Death to America and all that but do you think you could take a look at installing a floor in my crater or something? I'm on your side, I'm Muslim, I just think we need to prioritize better. Maybe ease back on the "death to X" stuff and look into paved roads and running water. When I can afford to buy a car I promise to load the trunk full of fertilizer and drive it into a Jewish wedding. Let's just get me to the "buy a car" part first.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

Waddup mah G-had niggaz. I'm ridin' high in U to the A to the E and I just wanna kno what a nigga can do to drop dem bombs on tha club. My main Mullah nigga MC Ishuan got hot tracks like napalm and he be wantin' to roll on up with some OBL samples but a nigga be livin in caves and crap. Get me tha GPS and I'll send tha stretch hummer out to pick his *** up. Hit me up on my blackberry and it's on like Alizzy Jizzyerizzy.

D2A, D2I, TTYL

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

I like cowboys and I think that means I have to cut my hands off. That kind of sucks.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

My daughter was raped by my neighbor and we burned her alive because she was tainted. My issue is that I think I should be able to rape his daughter back instead of having to burn my perfectly good daughter. So she was raped, so what? All of her parts still worked. She could still cook a meal. She could still find a good husband. She could still catch a beating like a net. I think this situation is unfair.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

the offensive against Christmas in the United States is stalling. Our enemies at Fox News have caught on to our plans and they are hunting down our operatives. Just last week Yasser was caught by the pig dogs trying to set fire to a Holiday Store in the McCormick Mall. Their nativities are multiplying unchecked! Please send reinforcements!

Also if there are any openings I would like to request a transfer to the Death to Israel division. This is pretty much a BS job.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

Megadittos! Hey, I was just wondering if you could look into moving Sunnis out of the "fidel" category and over to the "infidel" one. I think they are collaborating with the West because I saw one talking to a Russian who I don't think was Muslim and he also didn't look overly serious about killing Israel. Just look into it when you get a chance.

Dear Muslim Man Complaint Box,

I am displeased with the way that Shi'ites drive because they drive one way and we Sunnis drive a completely different way.

Desperately Seeking Fatwah in Damascus


Posted by trancaholic on Feb-08-2006 08:41:

quote:
Originally posted by djdarren


There's quite a lot of inaccuracies and misrepresentations in that article. The problem with that is:
quote:
Originally posted by paranoik0
If that is an accurate desciption of how events occured, it means the journalists were arrogant and just looking for controversy to sell. That is indeed not the best of attitudes.

And if this is the kind of "reporting" you get in supposedly secular Turkey, then I can start to understand why tempers are flying and most of the Middle East is impossible to reason with. Sad, really.

quote:
Originally posted by djdarren
by the way about this freedom of speech.im totally supporting it but there should be strict borders. freedom of speech must not insult human beings.

How about this: It insults me when people are speaking on behalf of others without their consent. Hence, Imams all over the world should STFU about women and their place in society. But as that would limit the Imams' ability to practice their belief, that would insult them, and hence I should STFU. But then they are insulting me again, and they should STFU, and so on.
Do you see the problem with your definition of "free speech"?



Btw. at first, a lot of US media outlets patted themselves on the back as they "didn't need to provoke, as they felt secure in their protection by the first amendment". Now, however, it looks like the US media will have to do some soul searching:

quote:
NY Press Kills Cartoons; Staff Walks Out

The editorial staff of the alternative weekly New York Press walked out today, en masse, after the paper's publishers backed down from printing the Danish cartoons that have become the center of a global free-speech fight.
Editor-in-Chief Harry Siegel emails, on behalf of the editorial staff:
New York Press, like so many other publications, has suborned its own professed principles. For all the talk of freedom of speech, only the New York Sun locally and two other papers nationally have mustered the
minimal courage needed to print simple and not especially offensive editorial cartoons that have been used as a pretext for great and greatly menacing violence directed against journalists, cartoonists, humanitarian aid workers, diplomats and others who represent the basic values and obligations of Western civilization. Having been ordered at the 11th hour to pull the now-infamous Danish cartoons from an issue dedicated to them, the editorial group�consisting of myself, managing editor Tim Marchman, arts editorJonathan Leaf and one-man city hall bureau Azi Paybarah, chose instead to resign our positions.
We have no desire to be free speech martyrs, but it would have been nakedly hypocritical to avoid the same cartoons we'd criticized others for not running, cartoons that however absurdly have inspired arson, kidnapping and murder and forced cartoonists in at least two continents to go into hiding. Editors have already been forced to leave papers in Jordan and France for having run these cartoons. We have no illusions about the power of the Press (NY Press, we mean), but even on the far margins of the world-historical stage, we are not willing to side with the enemies of the values we hold dear, a free press not least among them.
This was not an easy decision. I've been reading the Press since 1988 and have dreamed of running it for nearly as long. The paper's editorial staff has worked impossibly hard hours and has come quite a ways in only a few months towards restoring the paper's tarnished editorial reputation and credibility. I'm proud of the work we've
done, and wish we'd had time to finish the job. I wish the Press all the best, and hope that under new ownership and leadership it can again be an invaluable read for all good Gothamites.


and even among the republican right, there's quarrels (from Michelle Malkin's blog):

quote:
I appeared tonight on Fox News Channel's Hannity and Colmes for an all-too-brief segment on the Mohammed Cartoons. Before I drove to the Washington, D.C., studio, I stopped by a Kinko's store, printed out the cartoons, and pasted them onto a piece of poster board. I then used my short time on the airwaves to do what no one wants to do on American TV:
I tried to show viewers all 12 cartoons to give viewers the full context of the Jyllands-Posten's decision to publish the artwork.

Unfortunately, as I tried to walk through the content of the cartoons, the camera cut from my display to video of the Islamists' crazed, violent protests. As if we hadn't seen enough of that already.
What are the news networks and newspapers so afraid of? [Update: See the New York Press walkout for a rare show of guts and principle.]
Why do they persist in leaving viewers in a cloud of ignorance about this international controversy? Cherry-picking the most arguably inflammatory cartoon--the one of Muhammad and the bomb turban--and implying that it is representative of the rest of the artwork is not journalism.
That's journalistic malpractice.
And it's exactly what the radical Islamists are counting on the cowering MSM to do.

I had a nice chat with another FOX News personality before my segment. This person hadn't seen all the cartoons--but had already formed a firm opinion that the Jyllands-Posten was being unnecessarily provocative and insensitive.
Is it any wonder that millions of people are turning to the Internet to get to the truth?
***
There also wasn't enough time to address the other most important aspect of the Cartoon Jihad -- the fabrication of truly anti-Islam cartoons by Danish imams, who did precisely what the Jyllands-Posten is unfairly blamed for doing--that is, deliberately inciting Muslims to violence.
But you won't hear much, if anything at all, about this in the MSM, either.
Why not?


Posted by HardTranceProd on Feb-08-2006 15:48:

^^ In response to this post

Americans are very queasy in general. They have the sensitivities of little children.


Posted by noikeee on Feb-08-2006 16:35:

quote:
Originally posted by emc^2
Here's some more fuel for your paper:


http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/07/news/europe.php#


Thinking more carefully, I really agree with the point of view of that editor. In our countries, as long as we treat muslims with respect, we should not be forced to live our lifes by their laws! The only thing I'm not confortable with is this eventually being used as an argument to stop letting muslim people imigrate into Europe.


Posted by noikeee on Feb-08-2006 16:43:

oh, and stolen from the COR:




Posted by trancaholic on Feb-08-2006 16:51:

Last night a local group of Danish Muslims held a demonstration in favour of Denmark. Their numbers weren't as impressive as the 2000 that held an anti-Denmark rally some months ago, but then again, unlike the case with radicals, moderate Muslims tend to get death threats when they display their laid back attitude.
Furthermore, a new Muslim network in Denmark have decided to place ads in favour of Denmark in papers in the Middle East. As the group said: "Seeing that those who instigated this [the travelling imams] are unwilling to correct the misinterpretations, we'll do it".
Finally, a group of Iranians living in Denmark have decided to protest the burnings of the Danish embassies this saturday.
In general, it seems to me that foreigners in Denmark are getting much more intent on getting involved - which I think is positive.

Another development: As you may or may not be aware, an Iranian paper is going to run a competition on producing cartoons on the holocaust. To reveal the hypocracy of the West of course.
According to CNN, Jyllands-posten has grabbed this bull by the balls, and asked the Iranian paper to share the cartoons with it, so that they can publish them at the same day - in effect deflating the Iranian stunt and puncturing the stupid misconceptions on free press that most of the Middle East seem to suffer from.
In fact I wrote Jyllands-posten yesterday and suggested that they did a special on humour, and published cartoons mocking all and everything, to make it perfectly clear that Denmark enjoys absolute free speech. Maybe this will suffice - apparently it is this topic that Arabs have been giving most attention.

quote:
Originally posted by HardTranceProd
Americans are very queasy in general. They have the sensitivities of little children.

Hmm. My impression was that people in the US were pretty easygoing. Anyway, the decisions to keep the cartoons out of the public's eye, had probably little to do with concerns regarding sensitivities:
quote:
COVERING A CONTROVERSY ABOUT MOHAMMED, THE NEW YORK TIMES RUNS... VIRGIN MARY IN ELEPHANT DUNG
So - the New York Times writes about the Danish cartoon controversy, and includes a photo of demonstrators... and one other photo. The caption:
Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin Mary" was at the center of controversy when shown at the Brooklyn Museum in 1999.
Yup, it's the Virgin Mary depicted in elephant dung painting.
What a bunch of wimps. They'll run photos of art that offends Christians from seven years ago in a heartbeat, but they won't dare run a cartoon that could offend their Muslim readers.

From this blog
Also, Alan Dershowitz gives a couple of examples of "sensitive" cases, which the US media has reported on, in this interview with Danish TV:
http://www.dvd2dvd.org/alandershowitzinterview.wmv

quote:
Originally posted by paranoik0
The only thing I'm not confortable with is this eventually being used as an argument to stop letting muslim people imigrate into Europe.

If by "immigrate", you mean "flee Islamism", then I hope you're wrong. In Denmark I have yet to detect any kind of new resentment towards Muslims in general. People seem to focus their anger on JP and the government (if they're PC fvcks), or the Travelling Imams and everyone in the Middle East (if they're free speech fundamentalists).


Posted by St_Andrew on Feb-08-2006 17:51:

quote:
Originally posted by trancaholic
Last night a local group of Danish Muslims held a demonstration in favour of Denmark. Their numbers weren't as impressive as the 2000 that held an anti-Denmark rally some months ago, but then again, unlike the case with radicals, moderate Muslims tend to get death threats when they display their laid back attitude.
Furthermore, a new Muslim network in Denmark have decided to place ads in favour of Denmark in papers in the Middle East. As the group said: "Seeing that those who instigated this [the travelling imams] are unwilling to correct the misinterpretations, we'll do it".
Finally, a group of Iranians living in Denmark have decided to protest the burnings of the Danish embassies this saturday.
In general, it seems to me that foreigners in Denmark are getting much more intent on getting involved - which I think is positive.




quote:
Another development: As you may or may not be aware, an Iranian paper is going to run a competition on producing cartoons on the holocaust. To reveal the hypocracy of the West of course.
According to CNN, Jyllands-posten has grabbed this bull by the balls, and asked the Iranian paper to share the cartoons with it, so that they can publish them at the same day - in effect deflating the Iranian stunt and puncturing the stupid misconceptions on free press that most of the Middle East seem to suffer from.
In fact I wrote Jyllands-posten yesterday and suggested that they did a special on humour, and published cartoons mocking all and everything, to make it perfectly clear that Denmark enjoys absolute free speech. Maybe this will suffice - apparently it is this topic that Arabs have been giving most attention.


Hahahaha, that is actually great!


Posted by trancaholic on Feb-08-2006 17:57:

^^^ And they've just reeled in. The head editor now says that it's still to be decided if they'll run these new cartoons - and it will be based on how they actually look...


Posted by St_Andrew on Feb-08-2006 18:01:

quote:
Originally posted by trancaholic
^^^ And they've just reeled in. The head editor now says that it's still to be decided if they'll run these new cartoons - and it will be based on how they actually look...


Well I suppose the Iranian newspaper could send some *really* bad ones which might make Jyllands-posten look aweful in the western world and hence undermining the cause here. But yeah it would suck if they didn't publish them


Posted by shaolin_Z on Feb-08-2006 18:23:

Finally, the mainstream press cover Muslim dissent:

quote:

Danish Muslims split over cartoons

By Thomas Buch-Andersen
Copenhagen, Denmark

Many moderate Muslims in Denmark have been shocked by the violence and deaths around the world prompted by the row over Danish cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.


Rabih Azad-Ahmad, chair of the Multicultural Association, said the row had become too confrontational.

"Now, we have to demonstrate that we are proud of being Danish and that we are supporting Danish values," he said.

In an unexpected turn, the reaction to the attacks on Danish embassies could help promote integration in Denmark.

"I didn't know there were so many Muslims in Denmark who are supporting Western values," said Soren Espersen, an MP for the populist Danish People's Party.

quote:
Politicians and the media have a tendency to see Muslims only as criminal, anti-social elements and as potential rapists
Open letter by Danish writers


His comments mark a turnaround for the party, which has grown to be the country's third largest on a political platform of nationalism and xenophobia.

They are also likely to have been welcomed by a group of Danish writers who warned two months ago that the harsh tone in the national debate about Muslims and integration was comparable to Nazi rhetoric against Jews.

"Politicians and the media have a tendency to see Muslims only as criminal, anti-social elements and as potential rapists," the writers said in an open letter.

Wake-up call?

However, some of the strongest protests against the cartoons have come from imams who are part of the government's integration think tank.

"We want the newspaper to promise that this will never happen again, or this will never stop," said imam Ahmad Akkari of the Islamic Faith Society.

For the Danish integration minister, Rikke Hvilshoj, that stance is a wake-up call.

"It is very clear that we cannot trust the imams any longer if we want integration to succeed in Denmark," Mrs Hvilshoj says.

The conflict is also politically explosive for Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The international crisis is his first big test after more than four years in office.

Former spin doctor and political commentator Peter Mogensen warned that if the violence does not stop soon, Mr Rasmussen could lose his job.

"The prospects of further escalation, of terrorist attack against Danish property and beheadings of Danes on al-Jazeera would make the current situation look like a picnic," Mr Mogensen said.

The opposition has also accused the prime minister is acting too late.

No more apologies

Nonetheless, Mr Rasmussen's government and its diplomats are working around the clock to control the damage.

Fifteen Muslim countries, from Algeria to Pakistan, are boycotting Danish goods. So far, nearly 200 jobs have been lost in Denmark.

More jobs could be on the line if the boycotts continue, as Denmark's exports to the Arab world are worth almost $2.6 billion (�1.5 billion) a year.

While most Danish Muslims are satisfied by the apology already issued by Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that first published the cartoons, half of Danes still think that the paper could do more to appease the Arab world.

Editor-in-chief Carsten Juste remains firm. "We are sorry for any offence caused by the drawings, but we cannot apologise for freedom of expression," he said.

Since 2003, Denmark has supported a broad range of democratic projects and initiatives across the Arab world.

It is unclear how many of those countries will care to listen any longer. So far, all trips by Danish staff connected to these projects have been put on hold.

For many Danes the past two weeks have been surreal.

Since the time when many Danes helped thousands of Jews to safety from German-occupied Denmark in World War II, the Scandinavian country has had a reputation for being peace-loving and harmless.

That might still be true. But the perception among millions of Muslims has changed. And that will take years to bring back to balance.


Source: BBC


Posted by HardTranceProd on Feb-08-2006 18:42:

Question for trancaholic.

In Denmark, are Muslims as a group disliked by Danes? I understand there's no formal (de-jure) discrimination, but is there de-facto discrimination and fear?


Posted by emc^2 on Feb-08-2006 18:51:

quote:
Originally posted by EvilTree
This thread is getting too serious.

DISCLAIMER! If you're easily offended by non PC jokes, don't read

Leave a Message in the Anonymous Muslim Man Complaint Box



Talk about pwn3d: I just sent this little joke to my buddies on a distribution list.... and after hitting "send", I realized that one of the people on the list is my Pakistani Muslim buddy....

Man... he'll probably not be very happy. I'm such a stupid dick...

I mean he's a cool kid but I totally realize that this was in poor taste. I wrote an "I'm sorry letter" right after - but do you think it's enough? I really didn't want to offend him - he's a really good guy. Man, I feel terrible... What should I do?


Posted by shaolin_Z on Feb-08-2006 18:52:

quote:
Originally posted by emc^2
Talk about pwn3d: I just sent this little joke to my buddies on a distribution list.... and after hitting "send", I realized that one of the people on the list is my Pakistani Muslim buddy....

Man... he'll probably not be very happy. I'm such a stupid dick...


Just tell him they were jokes and to calm the fuck down.


Posted by emc^2 on Feb-08-2006 19:07:

I called him - he laughed it off. Yet I still feel like a dick.


Posted by Yohan on Feb-08-2006 19:28:

quote:
Originally posted by emc^2
I called him - he laughed it off. Yet I still feel like a dick.

Unfortunately not a lot of people have a sense of humour like your buddy.

I was going to make a joke about you in context of Sharia law but I'm like, I crossed the line deep enough


Posted by trancaholic on Feb-08-2006 19:48:

quote:
Originally posted by HardTranceProd
In Denmark, are Muslims as a group disliked by Danes? I understand there's no formal (de-jure) discrimination, but is there de-facto discrimination and fear?

Short answer: Yes, there's discrimination and fear. Is it widespread? No.

Longer answer: Most ethnic Danes don't know any Muslims personally, as these are mostly living in isolated suburbs, but when Danes encounter Muslims in their daily life, they're treated pretty much the same as anyone else.
However, Danmark, like France, is a darned tough country to get intimate with, and if your name isn't a traditional Danish name, your job-application might be dropped from consideration immediately. Also, if you wear a hijab, there are some jobs that you won't get. These discriminations are not discriminations against Muslims, per se, as any kind of foreign name can disqualify you, and most shops have specific requirements for potential employees (McDonald's used to require a picture of you before even considering hiring you, and our Wal-Mart won't hire guys with long hair).
Furthermore, Danes like to live in a society where everyone gets the exact same opportunities - and we pay the taxes required! We prefer to err on the side of positive discrimination, though, so Muslims, gays, handicapped, and other minority groups are pretty well provided for in terms of rights, and are for the most part treated politely. Just don't expect us to get very friendly with them.
As to fear, it's mostly confined to the 50+ part of the population. Coincidentally, these people also constitute the voter base for the Danish People's Party. I'll guess that about 5% are purely xenophobic.
Those of us who know some Muslims personally, of course don't have problems with them. Moderate ones, that is. Right now pretty much everyone is having a beef with the Travelling Imams, and gangs of Arab youth, who are breaking the law whenever the feel like it.

quote:
Originally posted by St_Andrew
Well I suppose the Iranian newspaper could send some *really* bad ones which might make Jyllands-posten look aweful in the western world and hence undermining the cause here. But yeah it would suck if they didn't publish them

I just saw that a French weekly had published the 12 cartoons today, along with a new one of their own creation. The editor has promised to print the Iranian ones next week - not as a show of support, but to destroy the Iranians' point. Let's see if he survives until next week.
Anyway, I'm starting to forgive the French for their "Non".

quote:
Originally posted by shaolin_Z
Finally, the mainstream press cover Muslim dissent:

The *foreign* press you mean I've tried to include information about all activity in this thread.

Anyway, the reporter who wrote this article is associated with the Danish national broadcasting company, and they're anti-government. And it shows.
So I just thought I would correct a few misrepresentations below:
quote:

"Politicians and the media have a tendency to see Muslims only as criminal, anti-social elements and as potential rapists," the writers said in an open letter.

This is such a beautiful example of the hypocracy of the left. They take an entire group of professionals and accuse them of racism.
These writers/intellectuals are known as "culture radicals" in Denmark, and they are terrible biggots. Just needed to add that.

quote:

However, some of the strongest protests against the cartoons have come from imams who are part of the government's integration think tank.

"We want the newspaper to promise that this will never happen again, or this will never stop," said imam Ahmad Akkari of the Islamic Faith Society.

Incidentally also one of the Travelling Imams, which was pretty much why our Integration minister (foolishly, I might add) said
quote:

"It is very clear that we cannot trust the imams any longer if we want integration to succeed in Denmark," Mrs Hvilshoj says.

quote:

The conflict is also politically explosive for Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The international crisis is his first big test after more than four years in office.

Except for being head negotiator of the entire EU expansion into Eastern Europe.

quote:

While most Danish Muslims are satisfied by the apology already issued by Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that first published the cartoons, half of Danes still think that the paper could do more to appease the Arab world.

I wonder what survey he's referring to? The only one I've seen had 42% thinking that JP should apologize completely, 46% that it shouldn't have apologized at all, and that came out more than a week ago.

quote:

Since 2003, Denmark has supported a broad range of democratic projects and initiatives across the Arab world.

It is unclear how many of those countries will care to listen any longer.

Which will be these countries problem, as far as I can see.
quote:

For many Danes the past two weeks have been surreal.

Since the time when many Danes helped thousands of Jews to safety from German-occupied Denmark in World War II, the Scandinavian country has had a reputation for being peace-loving and harmless.

Not "many" Danes.
quote:

That might still be true. But the perception among millions of Muslims has changed. And that will take years to bring back to balance.

Unlike the few weeks that it will take Danes to forget having been held hostage by fundamentalists intend on destroying one of their chief values.


Posted by InterMilan31 on Feb-08-2006 20:03:

tranceaholic your a great source for contribution to this thread...helps me out alot as I would like to know whats going on in Denmark as for your points Im completly agreeing on them so far.


Posted by shaolin_Z on Feb-08-2006 21:18:

trancaholic: One thing, when you're arguing about points in an article I posted, please try not to include
quote:
Originally posted by shaolin_Z
since it's the article you're quoting and not me . Even I got confused for a sec while reading your post. I was like, "did I say that" and then I realize "oh, it's the article!"


Posted by emc^2 on Feb-08-2006 21:43:

Finaly, a voice of reason in the insane asylum:

quote:
Reason and religion can learn to co-exist
TARIQ RAMADAN

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

I was in Copenhagen in October when the cartoons affair started to provoke demonstrations in Denmark. Interviewed by a journalist of the newspaper that first published the caricatures of the Prophet, the man told me how intense the debates among his fellow journalists were. He told me about the discomfort many of them were feeling about this issue and how they had been surprised by the strong reaction of Muslims and of Arab embassies in the country.

At that time, it seemed the tension was not likely to cross the Danish borders. And, to the Danish Muslims who were denouncing the publication as racist -- a provocation that would be used by the country's growing right wing -- my advice was to avoid reacting emotionally, to try to explain quietly why these cartoons were hurting them, and neither to demonstrate nor to take the risk of activating mass movements that would be impossible to master.

Everything seemed to be solved; so, three months later, why has the controversy burst into flames? A few Danish Muslims, it seems, visited some Middle Eastern countries and stirred up resentment. In turn, some Arab governments, happy to find a kind of Islamic legitimacy in the sight of their own people, presented themselves as the champions of the great cause. This was enough for some politicians, intellectuals, and journalists in the West, to present themselves as the champions of freedom of expression and the resistance fighters to religious obscurantism.

In short, it became a simplistic polarization: an alleged clash of two civilizations -- the religious and the liberal. Muslims want apologies, some are attacking European interests and others threaten to attack people. Western governments, intellectuals and journalists refuse to bend under the threats, and certain media added to the controversy by publishing the cartoons again. Most of the world simply wants the zaniness to end.

What matters, now, is to find a way to get out of the infernal circle and to ask everyone to stop putting fuel on the fire, in order eventually to open a serious, and serene debate.

This affair does not symbolize the confrontation between the principles of Enlightenment and those of religion, nor a fracture between the West and Islam. Rather, it is between those who, in both universes, are able to assert what they stand for, whether in the name of a faith or of reason, and balance it with appreciation of the other, and, on the other hand, those who are driven by exclusive certainties, blind passions, reductive perceptions of the other and hasty conclusions. These character traits are shared by some intellectuals, religious scholars, journalists and ordinary people on both sides.

It is strictly forbidden in Islam to represent the Prophet in any way. If, moreover, one adds clumsy confusions and insults, as it was perceived by Muslims in the Prophet's caricature (drawn with a turban in a form of a bomb), one can understand the nature of the shock and the rejection that was expressed by large segments of the Muslim communities around the world. However, it necessary for Muslims not to forget that Western societies, for the past three centuries, have become used to derision, irony and criticism toward religious symbols -- the Pope, Jesus Christ, and even God. Even though Muslims do not share this attitude, it is imperative that they learn to keep an intellectual critical distance while facing such provocations, and that they do not let themselves be driven by passionate zeal and fervour, which are never advisable.

Facing such cartoons, it would have been, and it remains, preferable for Muslims to expose their grievances and their values to the large public without uproar and then to wait until a better conjuncture makes it possible to open a serene debate. What is welling up today from within the Muslim communities is as excessive as it is insane: To be obsessed with apologies; to call for a boycott of European products, even the threats of physical or armed reprisals are totally excessive, and these excesses must be rejected and condemned.

On the other hand, to invoke the right for free expression, to give oneself the right to say anything in any way against anybody is irresponsible as well: first, because it is not true that everything is permitted in the name of freedom of expression. Each country has its laws that set a framework that allows, for instance, condemnation of statements of hate. Racial or religious insults are not treated the same way in every Western society. Within a similar legal framework, each country has its own memory and its own sensitivity, and wisdom requires people to acknowledge and respect that reality.

Western societies have changed and the Muslim presence has naturally changed this collective sensitivity. Instead of being obsessed with laws and rights, would it be not better to call the citizens to a more responsible use of the freedom of expression that takes into account the different sensitivities that compose our contemporary societies? It is not a matter to add laws and to restrain the scope of free speech. It is simply to call every conscience to use one's rights in a more respectful way. It is more a matter of nurturing a sense of civic responsibility than to impose legislation. Muslim citizens are not asking for more censorship but for more respect.

We are at the crossroad. It is time that the women and men who reject the wrong-headed divisions between two worlds start building bridges between the two universes, sharing common values. They must assert the right to freedom of expression and, at the same time, recommend the sense of measure as to its use. We need them to promote an open and self-critical approach, refusing the exclusive truths and the narrow-minded binary visions of the world.

We are in dire need of mutual trust. The crises provoked by these cartoons show us how the worst can be possible, out of apparently nothing, between the two universes when they become deaf to each other and are tempted to define themselves against the other.

Tariq Ramadan is a visiting professor at St. Antony's College, Oxford. He is chairman of the European Muslim Network think-tank and author of Western Muslims and the Future of Islam.



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Posted by Dopey on Feb-09-2006 02:26:

quote:
Originally posted by Fir3start3r
It's almost akin to Europe ignoring Churchill's warnings about Hitler.


Yet when Hitler marched his toy soldiers to the banks of the Rhine, and France called older brother to ask what to do, Churchill did nothing. I believe if Hamas or Iran march to any border they will be shot at.


Posted by emc^2 on Feb-09-2006 05:12:

quote:
Originally posted by Dopey
Yet when Hitler marched his toy soldiers to the banks of the Rhine, and France called older brother to ask what to do, Churchill did nothing. I believe if Hamas or Iran march to any border they will be shot at.


Love your quote - the one from palestinian.


Dickwad


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