The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement concerning the Danish cartoons. No surprisingly, the Holocaust is dragged into the debate.

“These sorts of actions show [the West’s] weakness when up against Islam”, Jazayeri said, commenting on the cartoons which have sparked a wave of deadly protests across much of the world.

“With such uproar, they are trying to create an atmosphere where the words ‘right’ and ‘reality’ disappear, and considerable issues such as the Zionists’ and West’s big lie about the Holocaust are forgotten”, he said. (source)

Indeed the cartoons do show the West’s weaknesses from Islamic censorship. Only a handful of media organizations have backed the cartoons, not the content but the right to publish them. A closer look at the 12 cartoons as a whole indicate the cartoons were actually symbolizing the West’s fear of depicting Mohammed or criticizing Islam. That criticism is never there when other religions come into play, but when is the last time hundreds of Christians burned down embassies and issued death warrants when Christ was satirized? When is the last time hundreds of Jews held up signs to behead all who criticize Judaism? When is the last time hundreds of Hindus decided no one can question Ganesh and reacted violently to anyone’s criticism?

Iran has been the scene of such violent protests, and it should be noted Iran routinely imprisons protestors who speak out for freedom and Democracy, therefore these protests that have resulted in attacking the embassies of many European nations have the approval of Iranian leadership. Iran can imprison democracy advocates for peacefully marching, but they won’t imprison protestors throwing rocks through windows and molotov cocktails on another nation’s sovereign land. That said, I can’t help but shake the notion that Iran is picking on the wrong people.

The cartoons were published in Demark but the protestors of course inserted the popular Iranian phrase of “Death to America.” What does the United States have to do with the cartoons? Furthermore, what do Jews have to do with the Danish cartoons? Is Denmark full of Jewish people or something? With Iran no matter what happens, it’s always the fault of the Jews. Not that I have anything against Jewish people, but are Jews really that smart that they can spread throughout the entire world and completely manipulate every single act of aggression, every conspiracy, build gas chambers and furnaces under Nazi Germany to facilitate the “lie” of the Holocaust, etc.? As smart as my Jewish friends are, I find the above impossible. Blaming the Jews for all the world’s ills though is not unique to Iran; we see it in a comment thread here at ITB. To many in the Middle East, the oppression faced is not the fault of the governments of their nations, it’s all the Jews fault and it is the fault of the United States who supports Israel. How dare the United States support the first Democracy in the Middle East!

It is certainly true that freedom of speech and freedom of expression are largely associated with the United States, rightly or wrongly, but media organizations in the United States have largely turned the other cheek in the whole Danish cartoon jihad often defending even the violent protests. Some media organziations have gone so far as to bring on so-called pundits and quote so-called experts that have said something to the tune of “you reap what you sow.” This is dhimmitude in the highest desgree.
In that regard, our Freedom of Speech can be used to disseminate hatred and discrimination, but it can also promote an exchange of ideas worthy of a civilized and free society. I understand many Muslims who are upset with the cartoons, some of whom who have emailed me and we’ve had very good dialogue over the cartoons and what freedom of speech is. It doesn’t mean I agree with the outrage and I certainly don’t agree with the way many of these protests have resulted in violence and threats.

We’ve seen numerous depictions mascaraded as art concerning the other major religions of the world. Muslims believe both Moses and Jesus were prophets, yet they have been relatively silent when images of the Virgin Mary made out of elephant dung were printed. Without question this shows a double standard when it comes to religion and criticizing or questioning religion. I wouldn’t hold your breath for the New York Times office to be burned down by a bunch of Christian or Muslim hooligans over the Virgin Mary artwork, but if it was Mohammed we’ve now learned there might be a fire or ten. Why then are some depictions of religious figures fine with the Muslim community though they are of prophets in the Islamic faith, but Mohammed is hands off?

Free speech and free expression means just that. It’s quite telling that in some of my email dialogue people have pointed out that in some European nations it is against the law to deride the Holocaust or deny it. Those same emailers though claim that while there may have been other religious figures satirized “it doesn’t make it right.” No it doesn’t, but so too it doesn’t make the reaction of wanting to kill or imprison the Danish cartoonists right because of laws in Europe which I don’t agree with.

The Copenhagen Post reported last July that Jyllands-Posten published the cartoons for the following reason:

In September, Jyllands-Posten called for and printed the cartoons by various Danish illustrators, after reports that artists were refusing to illustrate works about Islam, out of fear of fundamendalist retribution. The newspaper said it printed the cartoons as a test of whether Muslim fundamentalists had begun affecting the freedom of expression in Denmark.

It appears as if Muslim fundamentalists have a stronger hold on free speech around the world than we all knew, but that doesn’t mean we can’t take it back and promote our virtues in our own societies.

In a free society, we have the ability to criticize whomever we wish to. With that right though comes responsibility. It is the responsibility to be civil in our disagreements and come to a consensus of the majority. Where is the civility in the violent protests asking for violence and more 9/11s, 3/11s and 7/7s? There is none, but there is a consensus in Western society that freedom of speech should reign supreme. That doesn’t mean we like what comes out of such freedom, but we must respect it.There is seemingly very little outrage over the Danish imams who constructed this entire problem. Using three cartoons which were never published in the Jyllands-Posten, one of which was from a game show and had nothing to do with Islam nor Mohammed, these Imams created the controversey five months after the 12 cartoons were first published. The cartoons were published in an Egyptian newspaper this past October (picture of the Cairo newspaper at Hyscience), but I don’t recall seeing news that the Danish embassy in Cairo was torched to the ground. It was not until after three other images were included with the 12 published images that there was this mass hysteria. That is a manufactured hysteria and the same society which believes the West is trying to manipulate them are being manipulated by lying Imams.

If we were to look at the article which accompanied the cartoons, we would see the statement made in the cartoons was that the West shouldn’t hide in fear over criticizing Islam just as the West is not afraid to criticize any other of the world’s major religions. I support that statement without hesitation. Again, it doesn’t make such criticisms right, but in a free society it doesn’t make them wrong either.

The entire Danish Cartoon Jihad shows the world something very important. One commenter in the ever growing comment thread pertaining to the Danish cartoons claims the cartoons were an American conspiracy to pit Europe against Iran. Of course this commenter doesn’t see that the axis of Iran and Syria are the places where the protests have been the most violent and both nations have tight rules on protesting.

It’s a failure to comprehend the basic facts of society. Throughout world history, lands have been conquered in the name of religion, and so too have people been oppressed by religion. As the West stands today, our society encourages debate even over matters of religion and the West as a whole is accepting of numerous viewpoints and religious beliefs. Simply put, we don’t really care who anyone chooses to worship or not worship. In the Middle East though, these basic principles of free speech and free expression do not exist as those of us in the West know it. We must understand, again we don’t have to agree, this is the case. So too must the protesting Muslims understand Denmark, France, Italy, England, Australia, Norway and the United States, all nations which a member of the press has printed at least one of the cartoons, are not in the Middle East and those nations do not subscribe to religious censorship.

All of the above nations also have a free press, something which is uncommon in the Middle East sans Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan. In a free press society, the press is not controlled by the governments they fall under so burning a nation’s embassy and boycotting an entire nation’s goods have done nothing to show displeasure towards that particular publication. It may be hard for readers who live in the Middle East to understand that concept, but so too is it hard for those of us who know nothing but a free press, freedom of speech and freedom of expression to understand why the Danish embassy is a target in Tehran over 12 stupid cartoons . . . much less the Jews, those damn, dirty Jews.*

* It’s a bit of a running joke about “those damn, dirty Jews” and has absolutely nothing to do with any hatred towards Judaism. It originated when Iran has blamed everything on the Jewish people from assassination attempts to the IAEA taking a firm stance on Iran’s nuclear program. There is no offense meant, only laughter in the context of the larger ‘blame the Jews’ campaign waged in Iran.

Hyscience linked with Muhammed Cartoons Appeared In Egyptian Newspaper In October 2005 - There Was No Reaction Or Protests (Updated)...

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