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• Wednesday, February 8, 2006 03:15 AM

  The only thing here that is Rotten was this article

  Is there a point to this article other than a swipe at the present government of Denmark being right of center (left of the post in most other places in the world)? Does it matter that the intent of the original article was to highlight that discussion (or more specifically) the making of an image of Mohammed was "difficult" because of concern by the illustrators for their safety? (Exactly the type of reaction that has occurred) And more to the point - does it matter than this only got kicked off after Danish Imams took the drawings to the Middle East with "enhancements" - read as faked, really provocative cartoons to stir up these riots. I missed all of that discussion of pertinent background in this article.

  So we get cartoons of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban, with a knife in front of veiled women and with a crescent moon halo over his head. For this loutish insensitivity, we have embassies burned, trade cancelled, people killed and outrage raised to a fever pitch. And in ultimate retaliation, we will next be treated to a round of Holocaust cartoons from Iran. And we are also treated to the spectacle our so-called Guardians of Freedom in the west cower and make excuses over speech and open debate in the name of PC correctness.

  My only hope is that when all this tones down, as it surely will, that the lessons of appeasement in the name of sensitivity will have taken a death blow. That the real nature of the “problem with Islam” will become apparent – that suppression of free thought and expression by a minority of radical Muslims, which has kept the Middle East in the dark ages for the last few centuries - is now beginning to leak into the West. Forbid debate and silence criticism in the name of religion here and they win. Ideas, innovation and open expression and yes, even insensitivity and satire are the strongest weapons in the Western arsenal against these threats. Let’s hope that we do not unilaterally disarm before it really gets nasty.

  —Ironclad Read Ironclad's other letters
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