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• Tuesday, February 14, 2006 05:56 PM

  We Need to Separate Out What's Going On Here

  The author seems to think that these cartoons are inherently racist, a point of view that, as others have pointed out, is poorly and insufficiently argued.

  What's really going on here is an attempt by Muslims with completely different agendas to impose an Islamic value--not showing Mohammed's face--on the rest of the world. Perhaps the Koran speaks in terms of how everyone, not just Muslims, must behave, but it's not just my right, it is my duty, to deny its application to me and any random Danish cartoonist and newspaper publisher.

  So the next cudgel in the struggle is "racism" or "hate speech". But these cartoons are not racist and they are not hate speech, any more than any random cartoon of George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton is. Crudely put, the point of view is, "bad things are being done in Mohammed's name; maybe it's time to consider how much responsiblity for those bad things should be placed on Mohammed."

  The irony, of course, is that more bad things are being done in Mohammed's name as a result of this. If there's racism here, it is being perpetrated by those who blame all Danes for something published in their country. Can a Muslim who would attack a random Dane or supposed Dane expect better treatment for his co-religionists against the real crime of 9/11?

  —Breadbaker Read Breadbaker's other letters
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