Solidarity or “Sammenhold”

It is generally my policy not to post images such as this, as while I am a great believer in freedom of speech to which I see no boundaries without taking it away, I do not wish to needlessly cause offense to people.

The recent plot to kill one of the Danish cartoonists however is an anathema to this belief and must be challenged as strongly as possible, and for that reason I am joining bloggers everywhere in republishing this, as an exercise of our rights.

I hope it doesn't have to happen again.

Just when we thought the “Danish Cartoons” issue was ancient history, common sense had at last prevailed and things were going back to normal, a group of Muslims have been arrested for plotting to murder one of the cartoonists. It is of note that the one they were going to kill was Kurt Westergaard who is 70+ years old, and this is probably the reason they felt they only needed three of them to do it.

What were they hoping to achieve from such an act, show their ‘cultural superiority’?

The following is Mark Steyns take on it: -

Great Danes [Mark Steyn]

Following the arrests of three Muslims for plotting to kill Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist who drew Mohammed wearing a bomb turban, the Danish media have today republished the offending illustration.

Good for them. The minute it became clear that violence and intimidation were the response the western press should have said: Okay, you want to kill one of us; you'll have to kill us all. The Danes have now taken an important stand against Islamic encroachments on freedom of expression.

In Canada, by contrast, the state hauled the only publisher of the cartoons, my old boss Ezra Levant, into one of its thought-crime courts at the behest of a raving incoherent imam. And all the jelly-spined squish of a Minister of Justice has done is issue lamely evasive talking points.

 Nonetheless, the imam has now folded and is calling (insofar as I can follow him) for the matter to be settled according to Gene Autry's Cowboy Code or some Islamic understanding thereof. Ezra is going on the offensive.

The lesson is, if you face down these bullies, you can win and stop the lights going out on liberty. But you won't get much help from your government.

Sayed Soharwardy, the complainant in the Canadian issue stated; “You may remember that the original publication of these drawings by a Danish newspaper in September 2005 sparked a wave of violent and destructive protests across Europe and in the Muslim world."

It occurs to me that if Muslims do not wish to be seen in a poor light by the majority of the community then their objections to the content should be something articulate instead of, “a wave of violent and destructive protests,” which is the real cause of peoples disdain for them.

Recently an ‘artwork’ called ‘Piss Christ’ was presented at an exhibition, which caused offense to many Christians. The piece was actually a photo of a crucifix in a glass of the ‘artists’ urine. Still more were offended that it received an award of $15000 from the taxpayer funded National Endowment for the Arts.

What amused me was the stupid arrogance of the liberal left arts crowd, showing their ‘courage’ in the face of the most tolerant religion (or pretty close to it) when there is no way they would dare to come up with something equivalent on the subject of Islam. 

The liberal legislated thought police would deal with them severely if they tried, but they still proudly claimed they were standing up for freedom of speech and artistic expression, knowing all the time that there would be little in the way of consequences, if any.

Michelle Malkin has pointed out that Newspapers in Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands also republished the drawing Wednesday as part of their coverage of Tuesday’s arrests.

These people in going too far have provoked a reaction that has guaranteed that the images would be disseminated much further than they otherwise would have been. Serves them right.