Ok so I changed my signature so now everyone has been warned.

Not only is making fun of the prophet a graves in in Islam

Last time I looked the cartoonists weren't Muslim.
Islam has no jurisdiction over them.

The Vikings believed that you should keep your finger and toenails short as the boat the completion of which would trigger the Ragnorak (Armageddon) was made out of the uncut nails of the denizens of Hell (and you couldn't presume you would suffer an honorable death so it was best to keep them trimmed at all times in case you ended up there).

So what? Is it disrespectful to Scandanavians to show uncut fingernails? Will they burn your embassies if you show a picture of Odin with unmanicured hands?

No- because they grew out of believing Iron age fairy stories long ago.
Shame some folks didn't..

I'm not justifying the violent protests. Just trying to explain why they're as outraged as they are. And comparing this to Viking traditions isnt fair. Islam is one of the major religions of the world. Compare it to a Muslim drawing a cartoon of the Virgin Mary having sex, and you're closer to being on the mark. Those cartoons specifically targeted one of the fundamental beliefs of Islam - that the prophet is sacred, much as Christians believe Mary to be pure.

I'm fully opposed to the violent protests. But to say people who protest peacefully are overreacting is simply condemning people for being different to you. There are a lot of people who are deeply religious. Just because I'm agnostic doesnt give me the right to mock their beliefs and then expect them to not be bothered.

And comparing this to Viking traditions isnt fair. Islam is one of the major religions of the world.

It is perfectly fair because they are both iron age myths invented to explain the world as iron age peoples saw it.
The fact that millions of people are still backward enough to believe in one of them over the other doesn't make it carry any more weight for me.
Actually I prefer Viking mythology as the stories are far better...the monotheistic desert religions based on the Zorastrianic dichotomous worldview are so much less colorful than the pantheistic ones from a storytelling viewpoint..

I couldn't care less about peaceful protest of course. But there is no excuse for violence over 'insult' to a belief system that is so plainly bollox..

Bollox indeed, but possibly less bollox and certainly less ancient than a religion based on the life of a man born to a virgin, performing miracles and being resurrected!

Agree about the violence, though.

as part of a society

There's the issue - of course if I'm visiting a Muslim country (as I have done) I'm entirely respectful of their traditions and mores - that is just polite when staying in a foreign country.

But Denmark isn't a Muslim country - they have another (post-enlightenment tradition) of free speech including that to be critical of terrorists who wrap themsleves up in religion - sure they have offered asylum to a fair number of Muslims in recent history but at what point does the writ of Islam start to run in their country so that it overrides a host country's own traditions and beliefs?

The Dutch have a similar problem - at what point are intolerant immigrants into a tolerant culture to be rejected as having an equally valid worldview..


This is a particular problem with Islam as it is the one major world religion that didn't really have a rapprochement with the secular - at least the secular west.

Islam used to be a progressive and enlightened religion - it kept the beacon of learning alive through the dark ages and produced wonders of culture and architecture like the alhambra...

unfortunately it's stagnated badly since and it's views on matters like women's liberation, gay rights and individual human rights are so diversant from modern western thought that it raises real integration/worldview issues

If a few morons are going to use it as an excuse to go on a rampage, so what? Do we live in fear of their religion because they will try to enforce it on us with violence? Should I 'respect' their middle ages wordview more than my own when it comes to freedom of speech in a western democracy?

If out of fear a book never gets written or a cartoon never gets published they win don't they?

If they can't accept that religions including theirs may be an object of ridicule and/or contempt for a significant sector of western society and that other members of society are free to put forward that view - as they are free to practice their religion and to peacefully make any protests they wish - then what remains?

Segregation - do you just take the view as with stoine age cultures like the Aborigines that integration is doomed and it would be better for aqll concerned to segregate? there lie some slippery slopes indeed..

I think the violent reaction to the Prophet Muhammed cartoons stems from two main currents.

1) First and for most, the protesters are predominantly poor and angry. The UN has stated that approximately 21% of Arab youths are unemployed (as of 2004). This is about double the worldwide adult jobless rate. When a person is poor, when they are frustrated by their life and all the poverty around them, it is very common for them to develop a directionless anger. They're angry at their situation, but they can't do very much about it. Its intangible. However, when something specific happens (e.g., an offensive cartoon) that provides a direction for all that anger. This is why they burned American embassies too even though it was a Danish cartoon. This is why Israel is seen as the source of all problems. This is why people volutneer to be suicide bombers (they're angry and now they have a way to feel important).

2) When you have frustrated and angry citizens who live under absolute rulers that's a recipe for misplaced aggression. Many Muslim governments today fan these fires of anger towards the west as a way of uniting the citizens behind their government. It's quite similiar to Germany and Japan in the 1930s. Blame outsiders for your predicament and then you never blame your own government and demand change.


IMHO, it really has little to do with religion. It's socio-economic at its core.

Muslims just aren't ready to chill the **** out and laugh at their religion.

They don't have to be - but living in a non-Muslim country they should be willing to respect other non-Muslims right to do so.

I have no issue with them practising their faith - I do have an issue with them expecting everyone to assume that just because they believe something we shouldn't tolerate dissent from it..

And as non-Muslims living in a secular country, people need to respect the Muslims' right to exercise their right to free speech and protest (peacefully).