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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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 Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:34 am Post subject: Muslims calling the kettle black. Again. |
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/30/AR2006013001316.html
Or:
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Cartoons of Prophet Met With Outrage
Depictions of Muhammad in Scandinavian Papers Provoke Anger, Protest Across Muslim World
By John Ward Anderson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 31, 2006; Page A12
PARIS, Jan. 30 -- Cartoons in Danish and Norwegian newspapers depicting the prophet Muhammad in unflattering poses, including one in which he is portrayed as an apparent terrorist with a bomb in his turban, have triggered outrage among Muslims across the Middle East, sparking protests, economic boycotts and warnings of possible retaliation against the people, companies and countries involved.
The cartoons were published in September in a conservative, mass-circulation Danish daily, Jyllands-Posten, and were reprinted three weeks ago in Magazinet, a small evangelical Christian newspaper in Norway. But the reaction has been widespread, and fallout over the images reached new levels Monday, with the European Union backing Denmark in the dispute and warning that a boycott of Danish products -- already being felt by some companies -- would violate World Trade Organization rules.
Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador from Denmark and Libya has closed its embassy in Copenhagen, the Danish capital. Kuwait called the cartoons "despicable racism." Iran's foreign minister termed them "ridiculous and revolting."
The cartoons included one of the prophet as a crazed, knife-wielding Bedouin and another of him at the gates of heaven telling suicide bombers: "Stop. Stop. We have run out of virgins!" -- a reference to the belief of some Muslim extremists that male suicide bombers are rewarded in heaven with 72 virgins.(That's hilarious!!)
Islamic critics charged that the cartoons were a deliberate provocation and insult to their religion designed to incite hatred and polarize people of different faiths. (don't muslim extremists do this on a daily basis and twice on sundays?) Defenders of the newspapers and artists said the 12 published cartoons simply were intended to highlight Islam's intolerance.
The controversy has pitted two newspapers championing what they say is the cause of free speech against Islam's prohibition of any artistic depiction of the prophet Muhammad, which is considered blasphemous, no matter how benign. The clash is being fueled by a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in staunchly secular Denmark, where many express frustration that the country's 200,000 Muslim immigrants are resisting assimilation into Danish society.
"There's widespread skepticism toward immigration and integration efforts" because of a popular belief that "immigrants are here to take advantage of the Danish system," said Ulf Hedetoft, a political scientist at Aalborg University and director of Denmark's Academy for Migration Studies.
"People are inclined to see Islam and political extremism as two sides of the same coin," he said.
In a statement, the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference has condemned "the printing of blasphemous and insulting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed," saying it "falls into the trap set up by fundamentalists and fosters acts of revenge." Protesters across the Muslim world have burned Norwegian and Danish flags and issued sharp denunciations. (How do they always have flags to burn from countries they're pissed at?)
The controversy began in September, after an author in Denmark complained that he could not find an artist willing, under his own name, to illustrate a book about the prophet's life.
In response, Jyllands-Posten, the conservative daily, ran 12 cartoons by various staff artists depicting Muhammad. The paper explained that the project was meant to gauge the public's response.
In the Islamic world, it was swift and furious, but in Denmark, the majority backed the paper's right to print the cartoons. A recent poll showed that 62 percent of those surveyed said the paper should not apologize.(Damn right)
The tumult passed, but was reignited even more furiously when Magazinet, the evangelical Christian paper in Norway, reprinted the cartoons. The editor, Vebjoern Selbekk, wrote that he was "sick of the ongoing hidden erosion of the freedom of expression." He told the Reuters news agency that he had received 15 death threats and more than 1,000 hate letters.
The Danish Foreign Ministry late Sunday issued a statement warning its citizens in nine Middle Eastern countries and the Palestinian territories to "show extra vigilance" because of the "strong negative feelings" sparked by the uproar.
Meanwhile, a Denmark-based dairy group, Arla Foods -- which according to a statement on its Web site sells about $421 million annually in the Middle East and has about 1,000 employees there -- said that sales had come to a "standstill" across the region.
The newspapers have issued explanations but have couched their apologies. "We are sorry if Muslims have been offended," Jyllands' editor in chief, Carsten Juste, told the Associated Press, adding that the newspapers actions were "]within the constitution, the Danish penal code and international convention. . . . It is not a dictatorship like Saudi Arabia that is going to dictate our editorial line here in Denmark."
Norway described the cartoons as "unfortunate and deplorable." Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has refused to apologize. In a recent speech, without mentioning the controversy, he denounced "any expression, action of indication that attempts to demonize groups of people on the basis of the religion or ethnic background." But he added that "freedom of speech is absolute. It is not negotiable."
"The question here is how far do you show sensitivity and self-control over issues without falling into self-censorship," said Medhi Mozaffari, a professor at Aarhus University in Denmark, who defended his government's stance not to apologize.
"It's unthinkable that the prime minister would make an apology," he said. "This is Islamists putting democracies on trial to see how far they can be pressured." |
Muslims are the biggest crybabies in all the world.
-S- |
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| I found some of those cartoons. I think some would make good t shirts. |
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:52 am Post subject: |
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| dulouz wrote: |
| I found some of those cartoons. I think some would make good t shirts. |
Do you have a link? |
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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dulouz
Joined: 04 Feb 2003
Location: Uranus
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 4:16 am Post subject: |
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| Muslims should boycott Europe like in not go there or leave if they are there already. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 10:25 am Post subject: |
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Mohammed at the gates of Heaven saying to the latest group suicide bombers lining up to get in
"STOP! STOP! We ran out of virgins!"
was my favorite. |
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Leslie Cheswyck
Joined: 31 May 2003
Location: University of Western Chile
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 3:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
Mohammed at the gates of Heaven saying to the latest group suicide bombers lining up to get in
"STOP! STOP! We ran out of virgins!"
was my favorite. |
Yeah, I always wondered about that. Once you've had one of these virgins, is she replaced by another? If so then the virgin supply would run out really really fast. Like yesterday. |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Leslie Cheswyck wrote: |
| Bulsajo wrote: |
Mohammed at the gates of Heaven saying to the latest group suicide bombers lining up to get in
"STOP! STOP! We ran out of virgins!"
was my favorite. |
Yeah, I always wondered about that. Once you've had one of these virgins, is she replaced by another? If so then the virgin supply would run out really really fast. Like yesterday. |
Why would you think the virgins will be female? |
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Teufelswacht
Joined: 06 Sep 2004
Location: Land Of The Not Quite Right
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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yes but...
the kettle IS black |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 9:59 pm Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
Mohammed at the gates of Heaven saying to the latest group suicide bombers lining up to get in
"STOP! STOP! We ran out of virgins!"
was my favorite. |
Ran out of virgins?
Wasn't lack of a virgin one of the reasons why Christ wasn't born in America?
(Duck) |
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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| VanIslander wrote: |
yes but...
the kettle IS black |
It is, but that's what makes their outrage so rediculous. The Danish didn't do anything that hasn't been done by muslims since they first got themselves a newspaper. In civilized countries with rational-minded people, we just grin and bear it, laugh if it's funny, get annoyed if it's not, but that's about the end of it. Muslims have to protest, boycott, burn things, shoot guns in the air, send death threats and vow jihad.
If someone sends a little insult your way, VanIslander, maybe mocks you or your religion in some harmless way, do you boycott Dave's, try to hold a rally to convince others to do the same and threaten to bomb the building where the servers are housed? Or do you just say to yourself "screw you too" and move on. Maybe a little comeback, but that's essentially the end of your rage.
That's the difference and that's why they're crazy.
��S�� |
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2006 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Leslie Cheswyck wrote: |
| Yeah, I always wondered about that. Once you've had one of these virgins, is she replaced by another? If so then the virgin supply would run out really really fast. Like yesterday. |
I think I heard once that the girls revirginize every day so every time is like the first time. |
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gdimension
Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Location: Jeju
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| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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The story takes a new twist...
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Several European newspapers reprinted cartoons today depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad, supporting a Danish newspaper that caused a huge outcry in the Islamic world by publishing them in the first place.
The newspapers' action fed into a sharpening debate here over freedom of expression, human rights and what the culture editor of Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that first published the cartoons in September, called a "clash of civilizations" between secular Western democracies and Islamic societies. |
Full article at NYT here.
There's no way there should be an official Danish apology for this, which is what some Arab governments are calling for. |
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Wangja
Joined: 17 May 2004
Location: Seoul, Yongsan
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| Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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| And yesterday the UK parliament blocked a Blair-sponsored bill about race-hate crimes mainly on the basis that there is sufficient legislation in place. |
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