[Martinus]

Anyone keeping up with the news regarding Muslim backlash at the Danish for supporting freedom of speech, will have heard that the muslims are showing hostility to all things Danish. This is despite the government stating it will not control the media and the fact that the so-called slur is attributable to a very small number of people (the cartoon artist and the newspaper).

Brilliantly France has made a stand against religious fanaticism: Link

All I can say is go France. The muslim world can only threaten so many nations before it realises that nobody will stand for their psychotic ravings.

[aldo_14]

France are the leaders of Freedom!















(sorry, i'm just seeing if I can give Dick Cheney another heart attack)

[Wanderer]

I have been following that incident...

But i really think the Danish paper went a bit too far.. Freedom of the press is one thing but knowingly making an insult against other religion is completely different. And then the religious fanatics went waayyy over the edge too, holding the country responsible for the actions of the free press is pretty odd..

Hmm. they should next publish cartoons or drawings with Jesus stabbing a crusader style sword through a pagan and then see if there would be any complaints from.. say USA's bible belt.

[Black Wolf]

The danish paper, and now the French one, didn't goo too far at all - they did absolutely nothing wrong in a secular country. Bowing to the laws of a religion that isn't even the majority faith in your nation is the kind of political-correctness-gone-mad that I hate, and I'm glad that some people aren't walking willingly down the path towards more of it.

[Flipside]

It would be interesting to see how more extreme views of other religions are depicted in Muslim countries, I'm sure they have their own radical papers or speakers who have a bit more to say about it than 'It's wrong', and they, no doubt, have stereotypical 'Christians' and 'Jews' set in their minds, just as some other religions have stereotypical 'Muslims' set in theirs.

I would say 'let he who is without sin', but that's the wrong book in some cases

[Martinus]

Indeed, it's a slippery slope. If you allow for these people you're effectively negotiating with terrorists not to mention handing the less hard-line of them free reign to state that pretty much anything is a religious affront.

Slur the leaders? You'll be insulting the God chosen authority and thus God....

[Janos]

I have been following that incident...

But i really think the Danish paper went a bit too far.. Freedom of the press is one thing but knowingly making an insult against other religion is completely different. And then the religious fanatics went waayyy over the edge too, holding the country responsible for the actions of the free press is pretty odd..

Hmm. they should next publish cartoons or drawings with Jesus stabbing a crusader style sword through a pagan and then see if there would be any complaints from.. say USA's bible belt.

Then so what. Bowing to people who don't respect freedom of speech and press in matters that regard them is pretty useless.

[Taristin]

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated this week in the Gaza Strip, burning Danish flags and portraits of the Danish prime minister.

Do they really have nothing better to do with their time?

[Shade]

Funny little tidbit: Danish products have been hit with a boycott in many middle-east nations, but for some reason, our alcohol-free beer export hasn't been affected in the slightest Oh, and they're gonna run out of dairy producs in a week or two if they keep the boycotts up, we supply nearly 70% of certain countries' consumption with the #2 supplier clocking in at about 10% and without much extra capacity.

Regardless, they won't get anywhere with it, there is no way anyone here will accept stringent regulations on what newspapers can and cannot write, and that's final. I can agree with the newspaper offering an apology for unintentionally offending muslims (but, notably, not for actually printing the things), but that's about as much as they can expect to get.

Not to mention nothing we did could really help anyway, it no longer revolves around international politics but around various local powerstruggles, different factions are just decrying what happened in an effort to gain support from extremists and thus perpetuating what was, 2 months ago, a long settled matter that noone outside Denmark had even heard of. Indeed, over 2 months ago the people behind the drawings and some of the head muslim clerics in Denmark met and made up, settling the matter... or so everyone thought.

As for the flag burning... let them burn away, we'll keep making them and exporting down there them for phat profits

[Rictor]

Can someone actually post the offending cartoon? I've heard all this shouting about it, but I have yet to see the cartoon itself or at least get a decription.

[CP5670]

There is a scan of it on wikipedia. You can't make out the text (and it's not in english anyway), but I like the pictures.

This whole situation is quite hilarious.

[Roanoke]

Militant Muslims do seem to be quick to take offence........

[Shade]

Managed to a site which has them with english translations: http://www.di2.nu/files/Muhammed_Cartoons_Jyllands_Posten.html. Slow as hell but should work if you're (very) patient.

[Edit] I think it's more like Go Europe now.

[Taristin]

Oddly enough, I did a search on the wiki with the parameters "Danish cartoon muslim" and wound up with an article on Zoophilia. I learned a little bit today.

[Taristin]

"The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical," it wrote in an editorial.

"Stop portraying us all as Terrorists or we'll blow up your buildings!"

[Shade]

Well, no real need to search anymore, it's made the front page. Funny how a 5 month old case like this can cause so much ruckus, just because some people figure crying havoc will make them look good in internal politics.

[Fineus]

I find the whole thing so pathetic that it's almost funny.

No, I'm not saying it's right to deliberately insult someone elses religion. But it sure as hell isn't right to dictate to others what they can and cannot do because offends you. In that respect - if you don't like it, don't look at it. I don't enjoy furries so I stay the hell away from them. But I'm not about to post a tirade against them telling them to stop what they do because it offends me.

As I come from England - a country that seems all too happy to bend over backwards to change itself so that everyone feels welcome here except the English - I'm all too happy to see there are some countries out there prepared to take a stand against the demand for political correctness and do what they want, rather than what a country hundreds of miles from them and with no real ties to them wants.

Also consider for a moment that by its very nature the Muslim faith does not tolerate Christianity at all. Correct me if I'm wrong there but I believe Christian and other faiths have been degraded many a time in an assortment of countries without much uprising from the members of those religions in other countries. The point being that either they don't care or they realise that they have no place to complain (nor do they have any power over the members of other countries).

A lot of people could (and should) learn from that. If you want to insult what I believe, that's fine. But don't complain when I insult what you believe and certainly don't tell me I'm not allowed to believe differently.

[karajorma]

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated this week in the Gaza Strip, burning Danish flags and portraits of the Danish prime minister.

Do they really have nothing better to do with their time?

That is almost to the letter exactly what I was about to say

[Taristin]

I don't enjoy furries so I stay the hell away from them. But I'm not about to post a tirade against them telling them to stop what they do because it offends me.

You've just made my list™...

[Fineus]

I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad... I guess it depends on what the list is like.