Redstate

Has anyone other than me noticed how well these people write the protest signs in English?  I didn't realize they knew our language so well.  Amazing!  

Charles Moore asks.

It's some time since I visited Palestine, so I may be out of date, but I don't remember seeing many Danish flags on sale there. Not much demand, I suppose. I raise the question because, as soon as the row about the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in Jyllands-Posten broke, angry Muslims popped up in Gaza City, and many other places, well supplied with Danish flags ready to burn.

What a whacky world we live in. I'm so sick of this crap.

of the Embassies burning on my blog.  I didn't print the cartoons because I occasionally get ME visitors and don't wish to offend what few folks stop by.  But which hurts Islam more, the cartoons or those crazies?

Lebanese Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani denounced the violence, saying there were infiltrators among the protesters trying to "harm the stability of Lebanon." Speaking on Future TV, he appealed for calm and said there were some who were trying to exploit the protests to cause trouble and "distort the image of Islam."

"Those who are committing these acts have nothing to do with Islam or with Lebanon," said Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

Yeah, it has nothing to do with islam...

Thats like saying Easter has nothing to do with the resurrection of our Savior.

Its a good thing its just a few "radicals" who are causing what would otherwise be "peaceful"(yeah right) islamic demonstrations to become violent and anarchic.

I'm sick to death of these platitudes being mouthed by the "spiritual" and political leaders of the Middle East. Until we see some real action against the violence that swells from islam on a regular basis (and has for decade upon decade), I could care less when these islamic "authorities" denounce the violence that stems from their religion. Its empty rhetoric of the worst kind.

"It is unjustifiable under any kind of personal freedoms to allow a person or a group to insult the beliefs of millions of Muslims,"

That puts the whole disagreement in a nutshell, doesn't it?

Separate point: I'm glad to see the reports of courageous Muslim clerics speaking out against the "distortion" of the image of Islam, and trying to cool off the protesters. I really hope those reports are accurate.

what they are saying in Arabic.

I'm sick to death of people who apparently learned nothing from the Cold War, that the evil of a dictatorial regime has nothing to do with the true heart of the people oppressed by it.

I'm afraid the huge rallies calling for death and destruction are not being attended by people forced to be there.  In Syria and Iran maybe, remember the huge rallies in Lebanon in support of Syria that were staged by the Syrian regime?  But by and large I think the mindset of most in the ME is being portrayed correctly by the reaction to the cartoons.

I'm sick to death of these platitudes...

I don't think you're alone. For some reason, this particular outbreak of Islamic enthusiasm seems to be triggering a widespread outbreak of "That's enough; I have had it with these savages."

I can sympathize with their outrage; I wasn't particularly fond of "Piss Christ." But this business of burning things things down and threatening people with beheadings and so on has gotten old. It seems like every week they're going to kill us all for one reason or another.

If anything happens to those cartoonists, there will be more Hell than a little bit.

If anything happens to those cartoonists, there will be more Hell than a little bit.

Odin, Thor, Loki and the other gods are not happy about this disrespect.  Word on the street is that they are gearing up in Valhalla :)

In this fight, the media are not gonna line up where they usually do, and that will tip the balance. Plus, what Danger said is spot on- people are getting real tired of this stuff. If someone gets beheaded this time, look out.

they have a dog in this fight.

And yes, Nick is spot on, more people are having this up to their eyes.

They have every right, but they say they didn't expect this to happen. What planet have they been living on?

Likewise, there's no law against giving that stray cat you found a bath, but you're going wish afterwards that you didn't, or at least you'll wish you put on your leather jacket first.

Among the clerics, the clear-headed leadership types have to understand how bad it is for all Muslims, to let a small number of nutjobs carry the day.

This has been going on for decade upon decade, and indeed violent jihad has been a pillar of islam since its inception in the 6th century. Its a central tenet of the faith, one which mohammed embraced and carried out with evil cruelty, and which is spread in mosques around the world on a daily basis. Have you ever even read the koran, or other important islamic teachings? Apparently not.

Perhaps you missed the muslims in England and other European walking around with the "Behead the infidels" signs, or the signs saying "Now comes the real holocaust," and other such assorted cries for violence? There was no mullocracy forcing those thousands of ghoulish protestors into the streets to advocate violence, or to clash with British police.

Perhaps you fail to recall the violent riots in France that went on for weeks. The French goverment is not an islamic theocracy, forcing its muslim population to violently riot in the streets.

The butcher of Theo van Gogh was not forced by some Danish mullocracy to kill that gentlemen, nor was he living under islamic tyranny.

Most of the 911 terrorists were not oppressed muslims forced into their actions, they indeed came from well to do families and backgrounds. OBL himself came from a rich family. No one forced him to plot and order the death of over 3000 American civilians.

Learn this simple fact, and things will start falling into place for you: islam is a religion dedicated to violence and the conquest of the inifidels, and this has been the modus operandi for generation upon generation.

If you want to insulate yourself in dhimmitude, feel free, but that doesn't change the historical and contemporary fact that islam, by its very definition, teachings, and history, has proven itself to be dedicated to violence. Will it take another 911 for you to get your head out of the sand?

If you want to call everyone who disagrees with you a 'dhimmi', that's fine, but you're just revealing that you don't know what you're talking about.

Neil, I'm sorry, but there are two lessons from the Cold War if you want to look at it thus.

One may be "that the evil of a dictatorial regime has nothing to do with the true heart of the people oppressed by it", but the other then, surely, is that you must fight the regime nevertheless.

They have been rather well trained here.

Yeah, we won by aggressively confronting the Soviet Union.

We didn't win, however, by bashing the peoples of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, asserting that they're incapable of constructing the kind of freedom we enjoy in the free world.

We won by taking on the regimes militarily, economically, and politicaly, while at the same time doing what we could to engage the oppressed people, recognizing their struggle and trying to help them with it.

It's time we stopped letting ourselves be dazzled by crowds engineered by the regimes (at home and abroad; don't discount the value of Saudi Wahhabi dollars in funding their hate in the west).

Look at the cartoons; one is expressly labelled "PR Stunt."

Another depicts a gang of enraged Islamists, swords drawn, being held back by someone explaining "It's just some silly Dane..."

The violent reaction is unacceptable and undeserved, but they were asking for and deserved strong rhetorical condemnations.

...they didn't expect to be in hiding, afraid for their lives if they go back to their home or apartment.

the clear-headed leadership types have to understand how bad it is for all Muslims

I don't think very many of them understand it at all. I think there is a serious cultural misunderstanding here. From the first Gulf War and Saddam's "Mother of all Battles," we have seen that bluster and chest-beating are part of the "shtick" in that part of the world, in a way that they are not in the West.

Mullah Omar promised us "oceans of blood and seas of fire." Baghdad Bob became a laughingstock with colorful nonsense like, "Our initial assessment is that they will all die."

I think this is more of the same. I think this is a shtick that's part of their culture. They're used to using it on each other. When they use it on us, it does not have the effect they expect.

We call this same behavior "trash talking." When it happens, we make a mental note to make sure the guy who did it leaves the game on a stretcher when we finally get him on the field.

That is a very different response than they are expecting.

...or we'll do it for them. I'm trying not to give up on them until they force us to.

...that I didn't say that "everyone who disagrees with me" is a dhimmi, I said that you are. Bit of a difference there, friend.

As to whether I'm "just" revealing that I don't know what I'm talking about, well, I don't see you retorting with a single fact to back up your point of view vis-a-vis the facts that I put forward.

Please, show us the great piles of evidence you have that show that most muslims are poor, oppressed peoples who really, really want peace with their neighbors. I'd love to see it and be proven wrong.

Of course, you won't be able to do more than mouth empty phrases like "you don't know what you're talking about." And do you know why? Because on any objective study of the facts, islam has always been (historical, theologically, phisophically, politically, militarily, and sociologically), and currently remains, a religious and political ideology that teaches and preaches violence and the conquest of those who do not bow to the authority of the koran.

These are central tenents of the faith, and are evidenced through centuries of islamic military conquest and violence since the time of their so-called prophet. I'm sorry if that doesn't sit well with your multicultural and metrosexual sensibilities, but the truth isn't always pretty.

You see, you're living in this fantasy land where you like to think that we have this small minority of muslims spoiling things for the rest of them. The fact is, its not about a small number of bad apples, its about what the religion itself teaches and perpetuates. Your ignorance about islam is dwarfed only by your intentional denial of historical and contemporary reality. Not only are you unwilling to see what islam is in its theology and beliefs, but you are unwilling to admit that ideas have consequences among those who embrace them. ANY ideology that teaches what islam does is going to show itself for what it is, because the violent tendencies of those teachings MUST work eventually if the faithful are to be obedient to the faith.

I'm all for muslims reforming their faith to eliminate these violent teachings from their religion, and adopting a tolerance for the existence of other beliefs. But until that time, the religion in general is suspect. I don't need another 911, or another series of London subway bombings, or another US naval ship bombed, or another Leon Clinghoffer killed, or another Isreali blown to smithereens by a homicidal islamic fanatic, or another US air force serviceman slain on another airliner hijaked by islamic terrorists, or another westerner's head chopped off, to wake me up. My eyes are wide open, and I've seen the face of islam.

Educate yourself on the history of islam, and your eyes will be opened as well.

Would you all not agree that this has all the characteristics of a "prepared" response to something so many months old? Now, can you break down whether its Shi'ia or Sunni, that might make it interesting, otherwise we're just a bunch of Christian "concerned" individuals. I bet these "imams" might be a little more "Sunni" than the average muslim, that have stirred up this noise. I know I'm paranoid but here's a link that may make a bit more sense. Frank Martin spells it out better than I ever could.

Link: http://varifrank.com/archives/2006/02/four_points_to.php#trackbacks

Because I don't think all Muslims are bloodthirsty morons, I'm ready to submit to the Calphate and pay tribute for not being a Muslim?

Whatever, I'm done discussing with you.

I like to think America is internationally competitive in the "people who believe in bizarre things department", e.g., reptiloid aliens inhabit a vast cavern complex beneath the Southwest and experiment on humans with government consent, but some of the stuff in the Arab world is really quite amazing. This article, for instance; apparently an Iraqi sheik reported on Syrian TV that American troops left Fallujah because Allah sent spiders the size of chairs that made their blood cells explode. Even granted the existence of camel spiders, that's a rather impressive piece of fabulation.

Lets see how the liberal media likes this cartoon:

http://www.rejecthollywood.com/contactus.html

Pass this along to all your friends as it makes a powerful statement about the media.  A media that will not publish the ant-islamic cartoons but has no problem with publiching anti-christian themes.

Are we not supporting democracy in Iraq? Afghanistan? Do we not have unsurveilled mosques in the U.S? Like I said yesteday, I served with Muslim Marines when I was on active duty.

It is not a contradiction to note that it is possible for Islam and the West to integrate, while also noting that currently a large number, if not the majority, of Muslims and Muslim states not only resist such integration, but threaten violence at some of the issues such integration raises.

Both things are true. It's a complicated world. It's simply not enough anymore to say that "the people" aren't against us. Some of them are. Maybe the majority.

who doesn't know what he's talking about.  Remind me not to question you on the religion of peace, Islam. Have you considered posting some of the peace inducing tenents of this just like every other religion on lefty sites?  There are sites where when the word "theocracy" is used it's aimed at people who write letters to NBC.  A quote or two won't stop them { hate is a runaway freight train ] but it may slow them down while they try to remember how to think.

Bum Phillips?

this comment, right?

You've made an interesting point, now I'm curious about where you will go with it.

The Danish newspaper that originally published the cartoons has said (if you choose to believe them) that their intention was to illustrate the atmosphere of intolerance created by the Muslim presence in Denmark. So if they are morons too, then at least they had their eyes open.

So if you try to give a stray cat a bath, you get what you deserve. Do you suppose then that the people of Denmark should accept the (second-class) status of non-Muslims living in a Muslim land? Or should they protest that the Muslim extremists in their midst have no right to impose their own benevolent community standards on the Danes?

Well my friend... Most people understand what the real deal is. But there are many who'd prefer we didn't acknowledge what it is. Because it's intolerant and insensitive to acknowledge certain truths. All the logic and information in the world will not change anything simply because it's not in the best or pragmatic interest to acknowledge the truth.

If the Muslims refuse to police their own unflattering denunciations of Christian, Jewish, or even Buddist religions by their own people, they are hypocritical to denounce others for unflattering depictions of theirs. If the Muslims are trying to show the world that Islam is a terrorist religion, they are going about it in just the right way.

It is unjustifiable under any kind of personal freedoms to allow a person or a group to insult the beliefs of millions of Muslims,"- but it is perfectly fine for Muslims to insult the beliefs of millions of Jews and threaten with violence millions of Western inifidels.