A Posteriori

It’s hard to believe that people of any race, culture, or religion could get so worked up over a simple cartoon caricature. I’m sure there have been caricatures made of God, Christ, rabbis, budda, etc, without nary a protest.

So when Muslims use simplistic “heresy” as an excuse to run around and smash stuff up, it doesn’t speak well of their religion, culture, or tolerance. Prominent Muslims have complained that their culture is unfairly stereotyped as inherently violent and intolerant. Fine. But this recent smash-fest, along with the death-mark against Salmon Rushdie totally undermines their arguments.

Where is the condemnation from prominent Muslims for this action? As of this writing, I don’t see it. Condoning this violence and vandalism is contemptible and thoroughly unacceptable.

The protesters’ argument is that free speech should be limited. This is the same argument the totalitarian Chinese made in asking Google to censor its search results. Actions to limit free speech is a slippery slope that can lead all the way to outright censorship and condemnation of any “blasphemous” , “inappropriate”, or “non-sanctioned” speech. The entire continuum of this slippery slope can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression. A society that allows legitimate freedom of expression is a healthy, vibrant, dynamic society. Limits to free speech should stop right at speech that promotes hatred and violence. A cartoon of a dead Arab prophet does not promote hatred or violence (well, it didn’t intend to, which is the litmus test here).

Another thing that these Muslim protesters don’t seem to understand is the separation between the Danish state and the Danish newspaper that published the cartoon. I assume the Danish newspaper is a privately owned institution that is not controlled in any way, shape, or form by the Danish government. The protest on the Danish embassy proves that they don’t understand the distinction, don’t accept it, or expect the Danish government to micro-manage its newspapers. Either view is thoroughly unacceptable in a liberal democracy.

What the Muslim protesters have proven is that there is either a strong minority, or outright majority of Muslims who wish to dictate how the Western world should govern its own affairs:

1) Western governments should severely limit free speech more so than it is now.
2) Western governments should micromanage any media within their countries, or possibly nationalize those media.
3) Western governments should actively overrule their courts on any judgements related to constitutional free speech rights and possibly totally neuter their courts.

The Muslim world has every right to tell the Western world to butt out of its affairs and stop occupying their countries (re: Iraq). The implied (by the cartoon protests) attempt to establish a theological empire on the free world is absolutely reprehensible.