Culturally, Western nations value liberty, democracy and the freedoms of expression and speech. Even if we as a society or as individuals disagree with some point of view, as a culture we, though sometimes grudgingly, affirm the individual’s right to freely express themselves. In this, the Danish newspaper was completely within its rights to satirize or lampoon Mohammed as much as they wished. While many would have judged the cartoon tactless and provocative, we recognize the newspaper was well within its rights to express itself as it did. Tact was never deemed a requirement to be considered when expressing oneself.
The furor over the cartoon published by a Danish newspaper depicting Mohammed wearing a bomb in his turban remains unabated at present. Moslems have taken great umbrage at the caricatured depiction of Mohammed which Islamists claim promotes idolatry and therefore considered anathema. This has prompted the usual uproar on Moslem street which has resulted in the usual bombings and lootings of churches, embassies and synagogues, the murder of Christian clerics and general state of chaos and rioting that usually accompanies any Islamic “protest”. Moslems generally have not taken offense to the bomb in the turban but rather the portrayal of Mohammed, which leads many to believe that the bomb in the turban was the least of their worries. After all, with all the suicide bombings in New York and Israel committed in the name of Allah there is a certain aura of authenticity in the portrayal of the Islamic mindset present by the cartoonist. After all Islamists claim that the terrorism, mayhem and murder they are causing is compatible and endorsed and justified by divine decree as found in fatawa, ahadith, and the Koran.
Contrary to popular modern Islamic myth, Mohammed, far from being a man of peace, was a man of war and pillage. By his own account he raided caravans and murdered the merchants and traders, all in an effort to promote Islam. Arabia, during the 6th century had vibrant Jewish and Christian communities which were put to the sword and its women and children enslaved by Mohammed himself or upon his orders. In an attempt to placate Islamists in the West, Western leaders continually trot out the blatant oft repeated lie: Islam is a religion of peace. A tree is known for its fruit. The poisonous fruit of Islam has been terrorism, murder and mayhem.
Islamic culture has failed individuals living in Islamic nations. Tyranny and terrorism has long been a part and parcel of Islam tradition since the time of Mohammed. Not a single Islamic country has been privy to a stable democracy. Basic human rights are non-existent in Islamic society. What Islam has accomplished as a culture was to impose a harsh, rigid and unforgiving desert ethos upon the lands it conquered and thereby nullifying all cultural opposition to Islam. By demanding that Western nations comply to mandates of Islamic rules and regulations, Islamists hope to recreate Western society to an Islamic standard.
Islamic religious culture is not open to other beliefs. Take Sudan for instance. Christians are murdered, raped and sold into slavery by the Islamic Government of Sudan and its proxies. No Christian church can be built in most countries occupying the Arabian Peninsula and many other Islamic nations. Non-believers in many Islamic nations are compelled to pay a head tax for living in a Islamic nation. Non-believers in Islamic countries are held in great contempt, treated with hostility and legally discriminated against. Christians who seek to proselytize in Islamic nations are decapitated by official edict. Moslems who convert to Christianity are beheaded or imprisoned due to their apostasy.
Where is the openness to other beliefs and values in Islamic society? However, Islamists demand that we in the West show great openness and acceptance towards their religion and adept our laws to their beliefs. They completely ignore their oppression and exploitation of non-believers by claiming that it is the law of Allah. Cultural relativists demand that we in the West respect the laws of Allah, ignoring reality, the contradictions, and inherent cultural incompatibility of adhering to such premises.
Moslem immigrants and citizens in the West must recognize and respect our Western cultural values and ethos. Each of these Islamic immigrants could have chosen to immigrate to a Islamic country but they did not. They could have chosen to live in a country which demanded that people live by the Koran and be judged by the Koran, but they chose otherwise. Instead they chose to immigrate to a culture, which, though secular, is deeply ingrained in Christianity thereby recognizing the superiority of our own culture over their own.
Although this recognition and respect must remain a one way street, as Westerners, we recognize and affirm that members of other cultures and religions have a right to peaceful self-expression, co-existence and the same liberty that we enjoy. We recognize that as human beings they are endowed inalienable rights by their creator. These rights have been a cornerstone of our present society. Those who consider our society is incompatible with their religious and cultural beliefs are free to seek out and emigrate to another nation or state of their choosing that is more compatible with their values and beliefs. Just as Islamic society has choose an Islamic culture, we here in the West have a entitled to choose a Western culture of our own.
Islamists may peacefully congregate and protest peacefully to their heart’s content. However, Islamic society has been the domain of extremist clerics who incite violence and hatred against our Western culture and its institutions. This radicalized element within our society has contributed a variety of criminal and treasonous acts. They have chosen to abuse our hospitality and our openness by in effect declaring a jihad against Western society. The only recourse for Islamists is to convert or coerce Western society to some alien ethos more compatible with Koranic diktats.
If slavery, terrorism, barbarity and murderer are external manifestations of a culture, then that culture would be rightly condemned, lampooned or satirized. Nevertheless cultural relativists and moral relativists who invariably engage in subjectivist thinking, believe such actions should be accommodated or understood in a cultural context if we are to remain an open society. Criticizing cultures based on external manifestations is seen in poor taste and as anti-intellectual to these irrational buffoons. Most cultural relativists world agree murder and terrorism are wrong. However, they attempt to justify such actions by appealing to the human gullibility and “progressive” thinking by framing such evil actions in a cultural context. No more are murder, mayhem and terrorism committed by Islamic radicals “criminal” or “treasonous”, but they are now seen as “an outcry of a culture”; and as justice by a culture provoked into action caused by our own Western cultural insensitivity. Murder becomes execution, terrorists become freedom fighters and rioters are now mere protestors.
Many Islamists acknowledge that they engaged in a jihad against the West. It is the West which has repeatedly refused to recognize the reality of this power struggle between Islam and the West. Secularists in Western society are extremely uncomfortable with the idea of a religious war. In an effort to defend the values of our Western culture we must fight resolutely against cultural tyranny imposed by the Islamists. In this effort, we must defend the right of the Danish newspaper to express itself and express our solidarity with its publishers and editors. Tact be damned; reprint the cartoons.
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