And The Cartoon Fisaco Continues
So, let us take a look at the events over the weekend. Three embassies burned to the ground. It is now reported through Gateway Pundit and the BBC thatthe death toll is six, and there are possibly more.
All of this--an escalation of violence--over a few stupid cartoons. And I say stupid not in the sense of how disparaging they are. Western civilization has endured such disdain for many years, whether we are conservative, or Christian, or patriotic, editorial cartoonists have given everyone Hell over something or another.
It is interesting to not that the Muslims have fired back, utilizing cartoons. In a fashion one could claim was reminiscent of the cartoons that started this whole flap, Muslims cartoonists have produced this cartoon in response. I say "to each their own" and move on. Am I offended? Sure I am. If I could just remember where I left my gasoline, my matches, and my AK-47, I would go protest.
Just kidding. What am I supposed to do over that cartoon? My best retaliatory comeback I can muster right now is "Ooh ... did you work on that one all weekend?" For crying out loud, we are watching a continent tear itself apart over a lousy bunch of cartoons. They are not drawn very well, nor are they funny. (Hint to the Danes: You may want to shoot for a level of levity to get your point across; American editorial cartoonists do.) And for a view of what has broken out thus far, Atlas Shrugs has this map to give us a bird's eye view of where these protests are taking place.
Thomas pointed out in his lengthy post this morning that there are moderate Muslims calling for an end to the violence, and condemning these actions. CAIR (I almost fell out of my chair when I read the statement he put up) was one of them, as was the British Muslim group. This is a good thing, but it may be too little too late. A ctholic priest was killed in Turkey over the weekened, and his assailant was reportedly shouting our favorite Muslim chant. That is correct: Allah Ackbar.
The whole world has lost it's collective mind in the last few days. However, there are many within the blogosphere that are reminding people that we still are at war. And we are at war with these radicals. These radicals are not simply going to go away, and the moderates, I fear, will not be able to curtail these people. It is time for the world to stand up, quit cowering under the radicals (like so many within the press who are afraid to "offend" the radicals, and simply refer to this massive outbreak of violence as a "row") and stand up to them. They riot? Crack down on them. One instance of violence? Lock them up, and lose the cell.
The world cannot wait for the moderates to figure out a way to handle this situation. They are not able to handle it now. Many of the radicals have denounced the moderate Muslim groups. As a matter of fact, the calls this past weekend for an end to this were met with increased protests and violence. And if that were not bad enough, the absolute stupidest move made yet comes from Pakistan.
(Hat-Tip: Michelle Malkin.)
The Pakistan Medical Association has vowed not to prescribe medicines from firms based in some European countries where controversial cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed were published, said Shahid Rao, the body's general secretary for Punjab province.
The association will boycott drugs from Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and France to protest the 'blasphemous' drawings, Rao said.
'We have taken a unanimous decision and it will be immediately implemented in Pakistan,' Rao told AFP. 'Doctors in the country are very motivated on this issue,' he said.
'We would use alternate medicines in future till a public apology comes from these countries.' Pharmacists have also vowed not to sell such medicines, Rao said.
Talk about winning friends and influencing people. I am sure the populace of Pakistan is happy that their government decided that a protest was more important than the health of their people. I have been listening to the avian bird-flu talk for some time now. I have been reading the WSJ updates, and I have heard it mentioned on Hugh Hewitt's show. A few other bloggers are following it, but I do not really have any overall concerns about it ... yet.
However, Pakistan is not a large industrial nation like the US or Great Britain. They are closer to Third World standards than most give them credit for. While being on a higher technological and international base than Afghanistan was, they are still not a thriving society. The bird-flu could be devastating to the Pakistani people. Right now, there are few nations working on vaccines. Europe, collectively, is. If and when the bird-flu hits, I hope the people remember who cut off their life-line to the drugs they may need. Unless, of course, the UN demands them. Then the Pakistanis may take them from the UN. Kooky Uncle Kofi did, after all, condemn the cartoonists. Talk about hypocrisy and stupidity. And to sum this foolishness up, I defer to three e-mailers to Michelle Malkin. She put their messages up on her site, and I present them to our readers. It should be noted that we seem to be on the same page when it comes to the pharmaceuticals that Pakistan is refusing.
B.G.: "Just a comment from an humble Texas rancher: Don't you reckon that any such boycott will be cut short immediately if the bird flu breaks out in Pakistan or any other Middle Eastern Country?"
L.S.: "Roche, from Switzerland, should, in turn, deny Tamiflu to all these Muslim countries that boycott Europe if a bird flu hits."
Reader Shae M. adds:
"Now, if in addition to boycotting life saving medicines from Europe, we can just get them to boycott using cell phone, timers, and other western devices that they use to do other things…"
And speaking of e-mailers, we have received our fair share of them. Many standing in support of us, and our side in this mess, and a few that love to call us hypocrites; basically taking the side that Hugh Hewitt was on initially. That being that we brow-beat the media daily, yet we rally to the support of a bunch of cartoonists. We have not rallied to thier side. We dislike the depictions they drew of Mohammed, however people are free to express themselves. As Thomas is often fond of saying "You are free to amke an ass of yourself at any time and on any occasion, and I will defend your right; I just won't defend you when it comes time to pay the piper."
Our greivance with this is how the reaction was dealt with. It was not done peacefully. It was not simply a protest. It is virulent and violent from the word go, and nations like Syria incited it further. Hence the reason why they burned down their Norwegian and Danish embassies. And had these cartoons not been printed in Jordan and other Middle Eastern papers, the blatant, tasteless renditions of Mohammed would have probably gone virtually unnoticed. But they did not go unnoticed, and we have this mess on our hands now.
Our e-mailers noted yesterday that because the moderate Muslims are calling for an end to the violence, my prediction that this will get worse is incorrect. I do not change my stance on this fact. And it is a fact. The violence is not decreasing, and the death toll over this is sure to rise. Until this ends, this will continue to perpetuate, and is bound to simply keep getting uglier.
The Bunny ;)
So, let us take a look at the events over the weekend. Three embassies burned to the ground. It is now reported through Gateway Pundit and the BBC thatthe death toll is six, and there are possibly more.
All of this--an escalation of violence--over a few stupid cartoons. And I say stupid not in the sense of how disparaging they are. Western civilization has endured such disdain for many years, whether we are conservative, or Christian, or patriotic, editorial cartoonists have given everyone Hell over something or another.
It is interesting to not that the Muslims have fired back, utilizing cartoons. In a fashion one could claim was reminiscent of the cartoons that started this whole flap, Muslims cartoonists have produced this cartoon in response. I say "to each their own" and move on. Am I offended? Sure I am. If I could just remember where I left my gasoline, my matches, and my AK-47, I would go protest.
Just kidding. What am I supposed to do over that cartoon? My best retaliatory comeback I can muster right now is "Ooh ... did you work on that one all weekend?" For crying out loud, we are watching a continent tear itself apart over a lousy bunch of cartoons. They are not drawn very well, nor are they funny. (Hint to the Danes: You may want to shoot for a level of levity to get your point across; American editorial cartoonists do.) And for a view of what has broken out thus far, Atlas Shrugs has this map to give us a bird's eye view of where these protests are taking place.
Thomas pointed out in his lengthy post this morning that there are moderate Muslims calling for an end to the violence, and condemning these actions. CAIR (I almost fell out of my chair when I read the statement he put up) was one of them, as was the British Muslim group. This is a good thing, but it may be too little too late. A ctholic priest was killed in Turkey over the weekened, and his assailant was reportedly shouting our favorite Muslim chant. That is correct: Allah Ackbar.
The whole world has lost it's collective mind in the last few days. However, there are many within the blogosphere that are reminding people that we still are at war. And we are at war with these radicals. These radicals are not simply going to go away, and the moderates, I fear, will not be able to curtail these people. It is time for the world to stand up, quit cowering under the radicals (like so many within the press who are afraid to "offend" the radicals, and simply refer to this massive outbreak of violence as a "row") and stand up to them. They riot? Crack down on them. One instance of violence? Lock them up, and lose the cell.
The world cannot wait for the moderates to figure out a way to handle this situation. They are not able to handle it now. Many of the radicals have denounced the moderate Muslim groups. As a matter of fact, the calls this past weekend for an end to this were met with increased protests and violence. And if that were not bad enough, the absolute stupidest move made yet comes from Pakistan.
(Hat-Tip: Michelle Malkin.)
The Pakistan Medical Association has vowed not to prescribe medicines from firms based in some European countries where controversial cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed were published, said Shahid Rao, the body's general secretary for Punjab province.
The association will boycott drugs from Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Germany and France to protest the 'blasphemous' drawings, Rao said.
'We have taken a unanimous decision and it will be immediately implemented in Pakistan,' Rao told AFP. 'Doctors in the country are very motivated on this issue,' he said.
'We would use alternate medicines in future till a public apology comes from these countries.' Pharmacists have also vowed not to sell such medicines, Rao said.
Talk about winning friends and influencing people. I am sure the populace of Pakistan is happy that their government decided that a protest was more important than the health of their people. I have been listening to the avian bird-flu talk for some time now. I have been reading the WSJ updates, and I have heard it mentioned on Hugh Hewitt's show. A few other bloggers are following it, but I do not really have any overall concerns about it ... yet.
However, Pakistan is not a large industrial nation like the US or Great Britain. They are closer to Third World standards than most give them credit for. While being on a higher technological and international base than Afghanistan was, they are still not a thriving society. The bird-flu could be devastating to the Pakistani people. Right now, there are few nations working on vaccines. Europe, collectively, is. If and when the bird-flu hits, I hope the people remember who cut off their life-line to the drugs they may need. Unless, of course, the UN demands them. Then the Pakistanis may take them from the UN. Kooky Uncle Kofi did, after all, condemn the cartoonists. Talk about hypocrisy and stupidity. And to sum this foolishness up, I defer to three e-mailers to Michelle Malkin. She put their messages up on her site, and I present them to our readers. It should be noted that we seem to be on the same page when it comes to the pharmaceuticals that Pakistan is refusing.
B.G.: "Just a comment from an humble Texas rancher: Don't you reckon that any such boycott will be cut short immediately if the bird flu breaks out in Pakistan or any other Middle Eastern Country?"
L.S.: "Roche, from Switzerland, should, in turn, deny Tamiflu to all these Muslim countries that boycott Europe if a bird flu hits."
Reader Shae M. adds:
"Now, if in addition to boycotting life saving medicines from Europe, we can just get them to boycott using cell phone, timers, and other western devices that they use to do other things…"
And speaking of e-mailers, we have received our fair share of them. Many standing in support of us, and our side in this mess, and a few that love to call us hypocrites; basically taking the side that Hugh Hewitt was on initially. That being that we brow-beat the media daily, yet we rally to the support of a bunch of cartoonists. We have not rallied to thier side. We dislike the depictions they drew of Mohammed, however people are free to express themselves. As Thomas is often fond of saying "You are free to amke an ass of yourself at any time and on any occasion, and I will defend your right; I just won't defend you when it comes time to pay the piper."
Our greivance with this is how the reaction was dealt with. It was not done peacefully. It was not simply a protest. It is virulent and violent from the word go, and nations like Syria incited it further. Hence the reason why they burned down their Norwegian and Danish embassies. And had these cartoons not been printed in Jordan and other Middle Eastern papers, the blatant, tasteless renditions of Mohammed would have probably gone virtually unnoticed. But they did not go unnoticed, and we have this mess on our hands now.
Our e-mailers noted yesterday that because the moderate Muslims are calling for an end to the violence, my prediction that this will get worse is incorrect. I do not change my stance on this fact. And it is a fact. The violence is not decreasing, and the death toll over this is sure to rise. Until this ends, this will continue to perpetuate, and is bound to simply keep getting uglier.
The Bunny ;)
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 3:11 PM
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