those fucking comics!

[Jizzy Kizzy]

fable:
"I personally believe the comics were in bad taste. The fact that in the western world there seems to be a more lenient collective attitude towards ripping on religeous figures, really has no relvency in determining the legitimacy of the uprising taken by some communities in the name of Islam.

At the moment my current belief, is this recent campaign, was a smear campaign which in light of the EU and US pushing forward an agenda that calls for offensives to be launched in Iran, seems well timed, and well orchestrated. Id go so far as believing that the reaction by muslim communities was almost expected, and only adds to a growing islamaphobia in North America, and across the world."

I agree with you there--- I do think it was well orchestrated. HOWEVER, I think that the muslim clerics who are twisting the teachings of islam to promote suicide bombers when ISLAM strictly forbids such a thing are in large part to blame for the unsympathetic "west".

If the cartoonists drew it, it's because they saw truth to it. Knee jerk reactions that prove ironic truth to the cartoons don't help.

If the Arab world had wanted to disprove the cartoons, they could have said they were disapointed in a peaceful way.

to protest to an arab fundementalist being portreyed as a gun-totting terrorist by having a bunch of seemingly moderate citizens pick up guns and wave them around screaming and burning buildings -- well -- to a lot of people on this side of the world, it's not doing them any good.

Yes, it's probably a minority compared to the majority of moderate, good people in the islamic world. However, when the highest ranking officials in Iran declare it a "jewish conspiracy brought on by Hamas' recent election " -- well -- there's problems with that,

first, a) the cartoons were published in september, months before the election
b) isreal had nothing to do with it, burning their flags and calling for their deaths don't help gain international sympathy
c) it's no "Freedom of speech ploy" it's FREEDOM of SPEECH. If Iran can hang a girl who fought off rapists because of what I consider awful and barbaric laws towards women that border on slavery, then Denmark can have it's own laws (free speech) too.

To say Denmark shouldn't exercise them because in another part of the world it's illegal is like saying we should go into Iran and stop them from performing the execution because we deem it wrong.

Well, as much as that sounds like a good idea to us, we won't do it, because that one incident is not enough to start a war, and they are allowed to do things their way in their land. Just like we can draw whatever tasteless crap mocking us, them, anything and everyone we want in our land of free speech. Period.

*shrugs*

i don't like war, I don't like conspiracies, I don't like bush's governing or foreign policy. I don't like being set up -- and i sensed a wash from teh beginning too. however, I also don't like any religious fervor, I don't like the treatment of women as slaves, and I don't agree with a lot of what goes on in that part of the world -- world issues have no easy answers, but the bottom line is that if you let freedom of speech go down the drain because people with guns are threatening you, we lose all pretense of freedom and we are ruled by the biggest gun. and that just sucks.


peace