Furtive Glances - Cartoon Craziness Edition

A few good links, and some thoughts.

• Jay Tea explains lucidly the nature of the cartoon conflict, and why agreeing to censorship due to fear of violence should be antithetical to us in the west.
  

  "Those original 12 cartoons were not solicited, published, or sanctioned by any state, but by a newspaper exercising its rights to free speech and free press. No government in the world has any right to interfere with that, and no place apologizing for it. Those who are demanding such action are betraying their fundamental misunderstanding of how the West works.

  I know how silly it might seem for such a huge row to develop out of twelve simple cartoons. But it is not about the cartoons themselves, but a far greater issue: we are being demanded to submit to the dictates of a religion, to subsume our own rights as endowed to us by our Creator (to coin a phrase) to placate the laws of a faith that the vast majority of us do not ascribe to."
  
  Unfortunately his last line in the piece brings up memories of the Kerry campaign.
  
  In general I think we would be a lot better off if everyone took into account the feelings and beliefs of those who may be offended before speaking or publishing.  Do I think external forces should censor?  No, this should be your own conscience and decency doing so.  It seems that extreme points of view and vitriol are often used just to grab attention.
  
  That said, there is no place for mollify a group just because they are crazy enough to do violence that you would find unthinkable.  Two other points: 1) It seems that much of the outrage is manufactured, and the protests staged (hat tip: Power Line), with some of the cartoons not part of the original group, and 2) there is the hypocrisy of anti-Semitic and anti-Christian cartoons being published in the same areas where the outrage is greatest.

• I signed up over at Wizbang Bomb Squad as an associate blogger, but have yet to write a spot for them.  It's been challenging enough to post here and at The Right Place lately.  Part of that is work, part of that is family, part of that is a business transition (to be elaborated upon later), and part of that is the lack of something that grabs my interest at a time when I have energy to do it justice.  Mea culpa.

• Please Come To Boston sang Dave Loggins.  So he did.  Welcome to Bahston, Ace.  Now you're living in the belly of the beast, so to speak.  Maybe you'd like to attend a New Hampshire blogger bash?  It's a relatively short drive.

• Iowahawk has resurfaced after a six week absence, reporting on the rioting in the midwest after the blasphemous cartoons of Vince Lombardi were published.  As a sort-of Packer fan (they're one of my three teams - explaining it would be tedious) I'm outraged!
  
  "Green Bay, WI - Like a pot of bratwurst left unattended at a Lambeau Field pregame party, simmering tensions in the strife-torn Midwest boiled over once again today as rioting mobs of green-and-gold clad youth and plump farm wives rampaged through Wisconsin Denny’s and IHOPs, burning Texas toast and demanding apologies and extra half-and-half.
  
  [...]
  
  Protestors demonstrated against the images throughout the Badger State yesterday, with violent egging and cow-tipping incidents reported in Oconomowac, Pewaukee, Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Antigo, Oshkosh, Waubeno, Wauwautosa, Waunewoc, Wyocena, Waubeka, and Washawonamowackapeepee."

• And in further news, the cartoon protestors have turned their attention to the US.  Yeah, I'm shocked too.
  
  QALAT, Afghanistan - Police killed four people Wednesday as Afghans enraged over drawings of the Prophet Muhammad marched on a U.S. military base in a volatile southern province, directing their anger not against Europe but America.

  The U.S. base was targeted because the United States "is the leader of Europe and the leading infidel in the world," said Sher Mohammed, a 40-year-old farmer who suffered a gunshot wound while taking part in the demonstration in the city of Qalat.

  "They are all the enemy of Islam. They are occupiers in our country and must be driven out," Mohammed said.
  
  That's nice.  Liberate a nation from an oppressive regime that allowed at least half its citizens, the women, no rights at all, produce participation of all in a representative democracy, and encourage religious freedom so that followers of all faiths - yes, even Islam - can pursue their beliefs, and this is the thanks you get?
  
  Mohammed?  It sounds like the cartoons are then just an excuse for jihad.  I do kind of like being "the leader of Europe" though.

Comments

[Anna]

Well, whoever is ultimately behind it all, they had more than enough willing participants, like the Danish Imam who added the extra three cartoons to make sure that the Islamists of the Middle East got really riled up.