Boycotting Denmark

[Junesun]

Very good post, AOM.

A decently intelligent American once said, "I may not agree with what you have to say, sir, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it." This sums up the American belief about free speech, and it takes courage and conviction to stand by those words.

This quote is actually attributed to the French philosopher Voltaire, who came up with a lot of modern ideas.

[AoM]

My apologies for the misquote if Voltaire said it first.

[Floris]

My apologies for the misquote if Voltaire said it first.

*claps hands* Nice post, and I don't think that Voltaire will really mind you misquoting.


(I mean the big post not this one )

[Jos Elkink]

Too many people say so already, but I'm impressed, AoM ...

[Doug R.]

Yes, I've never seen anything so well thought out and eloquent on the internet. Perhaps we should just give AoM the last word and lock the thread?

[PRUT]

Personally I think all this mess with caricatures of prophet is political intrigue.

AFAIK:
• pictures were printed in September - but demonstations are now
• pictures were printed by a independent newspaper - many people demand Danish goverment to apologise
• demonstrations are too cruel, to be spontanic - I think people who want to destabilise international situation stands behind them (maybe terrorist groups)
• just Denmark and France have to appologise, multiple newspapers reprinted those pictures (even one polish) - but nobody talk about it

Do You know what I think?
I think these is especcialy prepared situation for reaching goals, which can be:
• destabilise cooperation between Europe and Middle East, (terrorists and some regimes cannot accept peace - they loose their resons of last)
• turning out islamic people's view from dictatorships regimes in their countries to foreign enemy (this is standard behaviour - when in Poland was comunism, Americans were responsilble ifor EVERY disease in )
• economic resons - question is who earn more money when danish products will be removed from islamic markets


I can say, that is sad that people are blind of this. They are going as a blind sheeps to directions already chosen by politicians - even if this can cause war in longer period. Look at the history of I and II WW - claims were very similar to ones said now by some islamic leaders.

Nostardamus said that war is certain - we will see.

[SekoETC]

Good one PRUT. But who are we trying to convince? Dee ain't reading anymore.

[Junesun]

PRUT, you forgot the part about the most offensive caricatures being drawn by the head of Muslims in Denmark.

[Dee]

My friend's boyfriend, who is living in the USA, had an interview with a reporter and it got published. It's a great one, if you're interested to read:

http://www.roosevelttorch.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&uStory_id=1d6b0e24-ea75-421b-84bb-1a9a9abd3463&page=1

[KiNG KiLL]

Interesting...

I tend to agree on almost everything they speak about. And I don't think anyone believes that every muslim is a terrorist or share the same opinions and values as they do.

It's when people start boycotting other people or nations for what a few publishers has done, that I can not be silent. If you boycott all danes and the whole of Denmark, isn't that doing exactly what you don't want anyone to do to you? It would be just as same as scandinavians would boycott every muslim because a minority of the muslims are terrorists... Don't you agree?

In this case, a few people disregarded muslims feelings and beliefs when they printed the cartoons. Those people are to be questioned for their motives. But what about all the people around the world who has burned flags (sometimes even Switzerland's flag becuase it resembles the danish flag) and buldings? This matter has gone from including a few danish publishers to invlove a lot of countries, perhaps the major part of the world is somehow affected by it. And that is not the publishers fault, they weren't the ones who took it to a international level, claiming that what they think is reflected upon the danish people or even the whole of Europe. Do you see my point here? If I hit someone, that's a bad thing. But what about killing and burning everything that has to do with my birth country as retaliation...? The ball is no longer at the feet of the publishers, their actions are questionable, but nothing compared to what the responses have been like...

[SekoETC]

And who hurts people more, someone who publishes caricatures in a local newspaper or someone who goes from door to door in another country, showing these pictures to people who would not otherwise ever run into them, spicing the soup with a couple of extra pictures they've drawn themselves?

[Pie]

Ok, this is all getting really pointless. We all know that the pictures the danish publishers published were insulting and perhaps discriminating, we all know that the muslims are acting to harsh, even involving certain cristian naborhoods(what did THEY do?)(Pleas correct me if I'm rong, i think i herd that on the news sometime) And now it's just snowballed. Now it's just about which side is going to back doun, the side that publishes the articals, who really is alredy baked doun, or the muslim people who are doing things to boycot them? JUST DROP THIS AND LEAV IT!!! IF YOU DON DROP IT, THAT WILL BE CINDA LIKE PEOPLE WHO WON'T DROP THE PICTURES AND JUST ForGET AbOUT IT AND CEEP ON INVOLVING MORE PEOPLE WITH THERE BOYCOTT OR IT COULD BE LIKE THE PEOPLE PUBLISHING THE THING THAT WONT JUST DROPP TEH PICTURE!!!!!!!! By the way, have there ever been any pictures that discriminate against jesus*Gets his piket sign and his boycotting things redey*(J/K)

[funetik]

The world should ban religion, it causes too many problems..
Just about every war, ever, etc.



Part of me thinks that'd be a good idea, but I'm not serious, before anyone gets upset.

Yes, the Danes (involved in publishing the cartoons) were pushing a prodding a bit more than they should have and yes; the muslims (involved in burning stuff) have gone OTT as per usual. Why do they need to burn everything? Most of us get that out of our systems when we're teenagers and we injure ourselves or almost raze the house.

Without being a muslim and understanding just how upsetting these cartoons were, it seems they've taken it too far (the ones involved).

You can see I've tried hard not generalising here, but it's getting harder. Why don't the sane muslims give the twats that set things on fire and decide to blow stuff up a good slap and tell them it's just not on?
Is there sympathy to some degree?

I can't see west - middle-east relations getting better any time soon and I can't see the outcome. It's just frustrating to think about. Cultural differences, external influences, or whatever's going on... it's a pain in the arse.

The Danes probably should apologise, but I can see why they're reluctant.
If you drew a picture of somebody at your work that wasn't very flattering, mocking them, you shouldn't expect death threats or your house to be on fire when you get home. Equally, it's a bad idea to do it in the first place. It's on a different level, perhaps, but you see what I'm saying. Like I said - not being a muslim, I can't gauge how I'd feel if I was and saw the cartoons.

[Floris]

The thing is: those cartoons were published in october.

The conflict erupted in january.
All of a sudden all around the world people were protesting.
I'm no complot theory fan, but in this case the problem is caused by the people who took the cartoons to the middle-east and prepared the massive protests.

A national newspaper in Denmark is not likely to get read by hundreds of thousands in the Middle East, is it?

[Nick]

Why do people keep saying 'and the muslims acted too harshly, blowing up stuff', or something to that effect. Saying THE MUSLIMS, and applying the actions of a few to a very large group, is no better than boycotting THE DANES because of the actions of a few.

So if you're going to criticize the muslims, criticize the boycott. That's what most of them are resorting to. Not blowing stuff up.