Friday, October 5, 2012

Daniel Pipes: A Muhammad Cartoon a Day?

Daniel Pipes suggests publishers and media outlets start posting regular Muhammad cartoons until Muslims stop rioting and killing over them. There's only one problem with this suggestion: It presupposes a spine hiding somewhere in the backs of Western publishers and reporters. But let's face it, looking for a spine in the offices of the New York Times or CNN or ABC News is a bit like searching for Bigfoot. Blurry pictures aside, you're just not going to find one.

FoxNews--When Salman Rushdie mocked Islamic sanctities in his magical 1989 realist novel “The Satanic Verses,” Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini did something shockingly original: He issued a death edict on Rushdie and all those connected to the production of his book. By doing this, Khomeini sought to impose Islamic mores and laws on the West. We don’t insult the prophet, he effectively said, and neither can you.

That started a trend of condemning those in the West deemed anti-Islamic that persists to this day. Again and again, when Westerners are perceived as denigrating Muhammad, the Koran, or Islam, Islamists demonstrate, riot or kill.

Khomeini’s edict also had the unexpected side effect of empowering individuals – Western and Islamist alike – to drive their countries’ policies.

Fleming Rose, a newspaper editor, created the greatest crisis for Denmark since World War II by publishing 12 cartoons depicting Muhammad. Florida pastor Terry Jones sowed panic among American commanders in Afghanistan by threatening to burn a Koran. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and friends prompted a crisis in U.S.-Egyptian relations with his amateurish "Innocence of Muslims" video. And the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo caused the French government to temporarily shut down diplomatic missions in 20 countries. Plans by the German satirical magazine Titanic to publish attacks on Muhammad likewise led German missions to be closed.

On the Islamist side, an individual or group took one of these perceived offenses and turned it into a reason to riot. Khomeini did this with “The Satanic Verses.” Ahmad Abu Laban did likewise with the Danish cartoons. Afghan President Hamid Karzai goaded his people to riot over burned Korans by American soldiers, and Egyptian preacher Khaled Abdullah turned “Innocence of Muslims” into an international event.

Any Westerner can now buy a Koran for a dollar and burn it, while any Muslim with a platform can transform that act into a fighting offense. As passions rise on both sides of the divide, Western provocateurs and Islamist hotheads have found each other, as confrontations occur with increasing frequency.

Which prompts this question: What would happen if publishers and managers of major media outlets reached a consensus -- “Enough of this intimidation, we will publish the most famous Danish Muhammad cartoon every day, until the Islamists tire out and no longer riot”? What would happen if Korans were recurrently burned? (Continue Reading.)

7 comments:

Juniper in the Desert said...

I totally agree! All blogs could do this instead! I have a Pineapple Mohammed today:

http://juniperinthedesert.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/university-atheist-society-ordered-out.html

Anonymous said...

forget the cartoons. every media outlet should start reading the Koran an hour a day to us. could you imagine the horror when Muhammad's peaceful teachings are made known to the world?

"A Koranic reading a day" now thats the way you get them to stop behaving like the brute beast that they are.

Kufar Forever said...

@ reconn: Right on, a couple of hate verses every day, even from hadiths. But then, they will come up with the excuse "out of context" or "meet the mulla"

Melvyn Cyrus said...

Just try it and be prepared for World War III!

critical mind said...

Why not? this is, if not genius, a way to test the water with something that could perhaps trigger a wake up call for all moslems that actually Allah couldn't do anything to protect Muhammad, and so he's not all powerful but mythical figure or the alter ego of Muhammad. Allah can only be acted out by these bigoted Muslims.

ryansluman said...

the only problem is if you look into your own history of blasphemy laws, you will see that people have been sentenced to death for even questioning Jesus as God, likewise it is well known that doing something in public to deliberately conjure up anger from others based on their religious views, is itself, illegal.

David Wood said...

Wow! Another silly comment from another silly person who lacks even the most basic critical thinking skills. He doesn't understand the difference between (1) Muslims killing out of OBEDIENCE to Muhammad's command to kill critics, and (2) Christians killing out of DISOBEDIENCE to Jesus' command to love everyone.

By the way, Ryan, when were people sentenced to death for so much as questioning the deity of Christ? Give us some examples. Then please show us how such examples are parallel to Muslims enforcing Sharia blasphemy laws.