I've been railing on about how ridiculous I think the whole controversy surrounding the cartoons in a Danish newspaper that allegedly depicted the prophet Muhammad as a terrorist and got people up in arms in protest of supposed sacrilege. One of the reasons I am particularly incensed at the whole controversy is the character assassination of a country I've been in love with since 1995.
Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his country is being unfairly portrayed as being an "intolerant, closed society" and he's dead on. The Danes are about as open and accepting a people as any in the world. They certainly are aces better than many in the United States on certain issues. This is a country in which Rebilt National Park holds the world's only Independence Day celebrations not on U.S. territory. That's the American Independence Day. You read it right. If you're visiting Denmark and you're worried you'll miss the Fourth of July, don't.
He also condemned Sunday's vandalizing of Muslim graves, saying "the Danish government condemns any expression or any action which offends people's religious feelings." The truth of the matter is this: Danes have a sense of humor. They're a friendly lot. If the Danes who published the cartoons were guilty of anything, their worst offence was poor judgment.
The other thing that gets me is the propensity of many in the Muslim world to condemn the United States for what a Danish newspaper did. Of course, the people doing so would condemn the United States for coughing, but there's only so far that they can go before all Hell breaks loose.
3 comments:
I noticed that too (that the cartoons appeared in October 2005). The fact we're hearing about this now is just plain ridiculous.
If this were happening to Sarzonia, I bet you all the cheese in Wisconsin that Sarzo would "give them something to be really pissed about." Maybe the U.S. should declare jihad against Islamic extremists.
What do you think I mean by "give them something to be really pissed off about"?
My idea of really pissing them off is what I said: Specifically threaten Mecca and Tehran. Then if they continue to bitch, launch a missile attack on Mecca.
I very well could also write something *really* offensive, but I figure directly threatening their religious symbols would get my point across that you don't fuck with the U.S.A.
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