Mohammad cartoons -- definitely the most important political issue currently.

I'm sure most people have heard about this lunacy. How come the best news stories never show up on this forum anyway?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060203/ts_nm/religion_cartoons_dc



So, Europe... starting to realize how completely insane these fundamentalists are? Say what you want about Christian or other fundamentalists, but they're the least of our problems. I wonder what the US president would say about this... I could actually see him siding with the Muslims on this one, stupid as that would be.

There's already one about it in here somewhere.

Huh? When was the last time you saw fundamentalist Christians burning U.S. flags to protest the millions of cartoons in this country created that mock the Christian God?

Upset about cartoons?

Some folks need to grow a thicker skin.

The world isn't a caliphate, or a Christian fundamentalist theocracy either. That means we all get to say pretty much what we want.


It's telling that there are so few people from certain countries online, even when the people would want to be here.

The most dangerous thing to the rulers is the fresh air of outside ideas.

In short: a bunch of european newspapers have figured out that offending a couple of million muslims (any pictoral depiction of the prophet muhammad is blasphemous to followers of this faith) and framing it as a free speech statement is an *excellent* way to boost sales.

Slow news week? Let's start a war!

Some of the cartoons are pretty ordinary, some are deliberately provocative xenophobic crap.

http://leninology.blogspot.com/2006/02/muslims-are-coming-again.html

That would make it about even, then.

I read Haaretz, Al Jazeera, CNN, South China Morning Post, BBC, and some others including Pravda (once a year for laughs) and some of the South American media.

These fellows have *no* monopoly on sensationalism.

Why is this kind of protests seemingly "okay" when done my Muslims when they are insulted? How many cartoons making fun of Christ are published around the world every day? If Christians were to protest, people would say, "Shut up and bear it."

Much as you enjoy your anti-Muslim sentiment, there is a difference between the two, which has already been explained in a previous posting. With regard to the Christian religion there have been recent blasphemy scandals in the UK, and I am sure they have occurred in the States as well.

My own feeling is that religion as a whole is something the world would be better without, but that doesn't alter the fact that I wouldn't blaspheme to a Christian or a Muslim, simply because it is shitting on their most deeply-held beliefs.

I think you misunderstood something Aaron, I agree with you. I'm saying Muslim fundamentalists are exponentially bigger assholes. You're right about the double standard there, I thought it too obvious to literally point out.

Seems like I might be right about the president (okay, actually a State Department spokesperson....) siding with the muslims on this one:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060203/pl_nm/religion_cartoons_usa_dc

If it wasn't a little funny, I might be annoyed that everyone is wasting their time on this nonsense when there's problems like Iran.

I am just a little annoyed by this retardedness in the story:



???

So basically, you're asked a question, give an answer, and then asked why you actually gave an answer to the question because it doesn't really involve you? If I'm reading that right it just shows what kind of asses we have in the media.

I think he had a point though. Press responsibility doesn't exist because virtually anything can be justified nowadays for the sake of "free speech" or freedom of the press. I guess too much of anything, including freedoms, can indeed be a bad thing. Moderation? What's that?

Mohammed specifically said that he himself was not what the religion was about, but it was Allah (for those who don't know, YES, it is supposed to be the same God as the Christian God--Islam is from the same line as Judaism and Christianity) who was supposed to be important.

He also said that he never wanted any images made of him.

THIS is why they're pissed.

Also, most real believers of Islam are pretty devout (praying five times a day, fasting during Ramadan, I'd say that's devout.) So when you piss on a religion over what a few radical groups have done, not only does that show your ignorance, but it also has a good chance of pissing the innocent in the religion off depending on how devout they are.

I understand that it's mainly the radical groups fighting back.

But I also believe that research should be done before criticism is given, even in a satiric context.

not exact but not as different as you might think

http://wcbstv.com/local/local_story_033162841.html

but seriously, what if this non-event starts a western world vs. Muslim war for real?

I think the article I posted mentioned some of that, and most of us probably know the rest because it's been discussed here before.

Just to be sure it's clear, I made sure to use the word fundamentalist when referring to Muslims for a reason.

Look, this all makes complete sense to me!

I hope free speech wins.

TRUTHFULLY? It would save billions of lives down the road because we can get the bloodshed out of the way now.

THIS JUST IN:

Ulrika drew the comic...

end transmission

That's no good... A proper balance must be struck between free speech and responsible speech. It's the same as the privacy/security debate; going too far to either side is going to produce a bad result. I think almost everyone agrees that free speech should have some kind of limits--you can't shout "fire" in a crowded theater, etc. The only thing up for debate is where the lines should be drawn. There's no "win or lose"...

Should free speech include the right to give the press illegal access to classified national security secrets that may (indirectly or directly) get people killed? (And the right of the press to publish such information "just because" they have it?) People might die some day because some idiot feels that it's their right to say anything they want. That's the direction we seem to be going anyway.

I guess I should state that I'm not sure if those stupid cartoons cross a line that shouldn't be crossed. But a hell of alot of people seem to think so. (Even though their reaction is stupid.) The European media's childish overreaction "for the sake of free speech" doesn't help things either. Europe's media has balls, but they aren't using their brains. I think it demonstrates the blatant hostility many people have to anything called a "religion".

In response to the one sentence quote you are quoting, which is a one sentence quote that is responding to a one sentence quote I quoted and responded to in order to voice my opinion that fundamentalists are silly (but don't quote me on that), you offered a SIXTEEN sentence, three paragraph response.

Go outside.

I guess if those Moslems have never ever in their entire lives said anything bad about Jews then they have a leg to stand on. If not they are just ignorant and probably republicans to boot.

Okay, so I got sidetracked adding more to the original topic of the thread.. only the first paragraph was a direct response!

I'm saying, get away from this free speech vs. _____ mentality and start considering reasonable compromises.

You counted the sentances just to tell him to go outside?

Pot, kettle?

The hell?

The shameless bastard IS siding with them when he ought to be telling every news outlet in the nation that it is their moral responsibility to support free speech here and in other nations by printing large copies of the cartoons on their front page. Now that moslem savages are actually burning the embassies of European nations, we should all of us show our support for a free press by going out and buying some Danish product, whether it be a canned ham or cheese or a Bang & Olafsson Stereo. We need to show these brutes that we won't stand for their medieval crap and will give them the big bitchslap if they don't chill.

Are any of you Muslim or have ever studied the faith?


The number one mistake with these cartoons was making the image in the first place. You will find no images of Allah, Moses, Jesus (yes, Muslims believe in Jesus), or the Prophet Mohammad, in Muslim faith. It is against the religion. The person who made these images was either grossly ignorant, or trying to incite a riot. Either way the images to the best of my knowledge were printed over 2 months.



And for all of you defending Chrisitianity as a nice passive religion. Christians in recent times have bombed medical clinics, murdered Drs, and brought us the loverly KKK. In the not so distant past, Christianity helped faciliated slavery in the Western World and the Crusades. All extremists suck.


Free speech allows you to scream fire in a movie theater, but you still have to accept responsibility for it. These images, were an extremely bad move from the moment the ink hit the paper.

You might be a redneck if....