Way off topic
Unless you've been under a rock for the last month or two, you're undoubtedly already aware of this story. So pardon me for adding my own perspective. I'm tired of all the bleating about how this is an insult to Islam, or an issue of free speech. It all sounds so very pious and so very much like bullshit.
On a lovely fall morning, Islamic fanatics killed 3000 people in the name of religion. It's really hard to get worked up over an insult to their prophet when so many of his followers have blood on their hands.
And I'm certainly not going to get worked up over a cartoon.....Ed
Iran: U.S., Europe Should Pay for Drawings
Saturday February 11, 2006 8:46 PM
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-line president on Saturday accused the United States and Europe of being ``hostages of Zionism'' and said they should pay a heavy price for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have triggered worldwide protests.
Denmark - where the drawings were first published four months ago - warned Danes to leave Indonesia, saying they faced a ``significant and imminent danger'' from an extremist group and announced it had withdrawn embassy staff from Jakarta, Iran and Syria.
Saudi Arabia's top cleric said in a Friday sermon that it was too late for apologies and those responsible for the drawings should be put on trial and punished.
...The drawings - including one that depicts the prophet with a turban shaped like a bomb with a burning fuse - were first published in a Danish newspaper in September and recently reprinted in other European publications that said it was an issue of freedom of speech.
Islam widely holds that representations of the prophet are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.
Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim country, has seized on the caricatures as a means of rallying its people behind a government that is increasingly under fire from the West over its nuclear program that Tehran says is peaceful but the U.S. and others say is aimed at developing atomic weapons.
Shiite Muslims do not impose a blanket ban on representations of the prophet and some in Iran's provincial towns and villages even carry drawings said to be of Muhammad. But Tehran said the newspaper caricatures were insulting to all Muslims.
...Denmark, which has been stunned by the wave of protests over the caricatures that first appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, urged its citizens on Saturday to leave Indonesia as soon as possible, saying they were facing ``a significant and imminent danger'' from an unnamed extremist group.
The warning came hours after the ministry said it withdrew all Danish staff from Indonesia and Iran after they had received threats. It said diplomats also were pulled from Syria because they were not getting enough protection from authorities.
The Danish ambassador to Lebanon left last week after the embassy building in Beirut was burned by protesters.
On a lovely fall morning, Islamic fanatics killed 3000 people in the name of religion. It's really hard to get worked up over an insult to their prophet when so many of his followers have blood on their hands.
And I'm certainly not going to get worked up over a cartoon.....Ed
Iran: U.S., Europe Should Pay for Drawings
Saturday February 11, 2006 8:46 PM
By NASSER KARIMI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-line president on Saturday accused the United States and Europe of being ``hostages of Zionism'' and said they should pay a heavy price for the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad that have triggered worldwide protests.
Denmark - where the drawings were first published four months ago - warned Danes to leave Indonesia, saying they faced a ``significant and imminent danger'' from an extremist group and announced it had withdrawn embassy staff from Jakarta, Iran and Syria.
Saudi Arabia's top cleric said in a Friday sermon that it was too late for apologies and those responsible for the drawings should be put on trial and punished.
...The drawings - including one that depicts the prophet with a turban shaped like a bomb with a burning fuse - were first published in a Danish newspaper in September and recently reprinted in other European publications that said it was an issue of freedom of speech.
Islam widely holds that representations of the prophet are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.
Iran, a predominantly Shiite Muslim country, has seized on the caricatures as a means of rallying its people behind a government that is increasingly under fire from the West over its nuclear program that Tehran says is peaceful but the U.S. and others say is aimed at developing atomic weapons.
Shiite Muslims do not impose a blanket ban on representations of the prophet and some in Iran's provincial towns and villages even carry drawings said to be of Muhammad. But Tehran said the newspaper caricatures were insulting to all Muslims.
...Denmark, which has been stunned by the wave of protests over the caricatures that first appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, urged its citizens on Saturday to leave Indonesia as soon as possible, saying they were facing ``a significant and imminent danger'' from an unnamed extremist group.
The warning came hours after the ministry said it withdrew all Danish staff from Indonesia and Iran after they had received threats. It said diplomats also were pulled from Syria because they were not getting enough protection from authorities.
The Danish ambassador to Lebanon left last week after the embassy building in Beirut was burned by protesters.
posted by Ed W at 4:37 PM
1 Comments:
I've been restraining myself to keep from commenting. Have you seen the cartoons that the papers printed? To my Western mind, they're not very offensive and I've seen similar cartoons about Mohammed in the past. The reaction is absolutely ridiculous.
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