January 30, 2006
Would You Try to Reason With These People?
From the burning of its flag to a boycott of its brands of butter and cookies, Denmark is feeling Islamic outrage over newspaper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Angered by the drawings, masked Palestinian gunmen briefly took over a European Union office in Gaza on Monday. Islamists in Bahrain urged street demonstrations, while Syria called for the offenders to be punished. A Saudi company paid thousands of dollars for an ad thanking a business that snubbed Danish products.
The anger is reminiscent of the 1989 wrath that followed publication of "The Satanic Verses," the Salman Rushdie novel that radicals said insulted Islam. Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death sentence against the British writer.
The cartoons originally were published nearly four months ago in Denmark and reprinted Jan. 10 by the Norwegian evangelical newspaper Magazinet in the name of defending free expression.
Nearly four months ago and Muslims are still having a snit fit about a few cartoons? If Christians and Jews rioted every time unflattering cartoons were published about their religions, the Earth would be engulfed in a giant fireball all the time.
It's one thing to be offended; it's another thing to brandish guns in the streets over the offense. It's apparent these are not people to be reasoned with.
Is anyone on the left taking notice?
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