Dick Goof said:
There is something alot of you do not understand:
Yes the muslims are indeed overreacting,BUT...Freedom of speech is not the same as making fun of someone's prophet!!! Freedom of speech does not mean you can allow yourself to make degrading drawings of another religion's prophet.
If a newspaper in a muslim country had made offensive cartoon drawings of Jesus, half the WESTERN world would be screaming for war against muslim countries.
You need to understand that muslims do not think like westerners.
What we see as satire they see as offensive humiliation.
Just for the record: I am no fan of Islam. I am not a Christian either. I am not even an atheist. I have no interest in religion and in fact I think it's humanities worst invention but I believe that the religion and prophets of others must be respected.
1. Yes it does. In the Western world, we can make fun of pretty much anything. If Allah is all powerful, I'm sure he can take a joke. If some followers can't, why the hell should they dictate what I can or can't say? By the way, offending a religion isn't
racism unless the religion and a
race are co-terminous. I am not aware of a race of Muslems, but then again I live in the West.
2. I think you are confusing modern day life with the crusades. Speaking frankly, most people in the West couldn't give a shit about christianity either: have you seen "The Life of Brian"? The last I checked, no "Christian" nation declared war on Britain for that masterpiece of comedy. Your argument is weak and powered by anti-western propoganda.
3. Their problem, not mine. If their religion is so powerful and brilliant, then I'm sure it will be able to weather a few cartoons in newspapers. All this reaction is doing is showing those right-wing groups in Europe and the US that they were right about Islam all along: that it is a repressive, close minded reactionary religion that likes to fight.
Of course, this is at odds with the proud history of Islam, which managed to preserve much of the worlds wisdom during the dark ages. Too bad the minority of flag burning illiterates today are defecating on the proud traditions with pig ignorance and intolerance.
just my opinion. I'll look for my Fatweh in the post.