Friday, February 10, 2006

Daily Illini prints anti-Islamic cartoons to prove how vile the images are

If you've every spent time in Champaign-Urbana, you know how politically correct the University of Illinois campus can be at times. So, I was a little surprised to discover that the student newspaper decided to publish the cartoons that Islamic radicals are using as an excuse to forment rioating in Europe and elsewhere:

These cartoons are bigoted and insensitive to the Islamic faith because they are depictions of the prophet Muhammad. In much of the Muslim faith, there is an absolute ban on drawing or portraying religious figures. I agree they are bigoted and insensitive, as do many others.

All across this nation, editors are gripped in fear of printing ... for fear of the reaction. As a journalist, this flies in the face of everything I hold dear. By refusing to print these editorial cartoons, we are preventing an important issue from being debated openly by the public.

If anything, journalists all over this country should be letting the public decide for themselves what to think of these cartoons.


I agree. One of the reasons I didn't reproduce them was that I thought they were a bit bigoted and not funny, although they are far less offensive than others I've seen.

I debated whether I should run them too, just as a show of solidarity with those who risked their lives running these cartoons, and to protest the destruction of embassies across the world at the hands of haters being urged on by governments that support terrorism.

But in the end, I decided against it.

I've worked next to people of the Muslin faith who were the kindest, nicest people you would ever want to meet. I just do not buy the argument that there is something inherently flawed in their theology.

History has shown that all faiths can be perverted.

I don't need to reprint Nazi or Klan propaganda to make the point that these movements are as evil as as the perverted brand of Islam being practiced by some. A lot of the sites that are doing so are doing it because they belive that the entire Muslim faith is ... just wrong. And THAT is wrong.

Yes, most terrorists are Islamic. But not all Muslims are terrorists.

What happened to the idea that in America, people are supposed to get along with each other, regardless of their faith or lack thereof? Religious strife is something we need to leave back in The Old Country.

We don't need to resort to bigotry to fight these people. In fact, doing so tends to discourage good-hearted, moral people from entering the battle. Resorting to bigotry to fight terrorism only helps the terrorists.

How very, very sad if one of the things destroyed on 9-11 was religious tolerance.

Hat tip: Next Frontier.

Originally posted at Peoria Pundit.

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9 comments:

Pat Collins 9:32 AM  

Did you feel that way about "Piss Christ"?

Did the DI say such things about it?

Muslims need to understand that people are FREE to do things like Piss Christ (and Mirth & girth). They need to deal with it.

All christians did about Piss Christ was demand that the gov not pay for it.

Pat Collins 9:34 AM  

and am I the only one who thinks it ODD not to see the local papers make an editorial about free speech?

So-Called Austin Mayor 9:40 AM  

Daily Illini prints anti-Islamic cartoons to prove how vile they are

I know it was probably unintentional, but the ambiguity in the headline as to which \"they\" is vile -- the anti-Islamic cartoons or the Daily Illini -- adds something to this post.

pathickey 11:18 AM  

What's the kids name? The Editor at Daily Ilini? Acton? Acton? There was a Lord Acton responsible for the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, but naming your kid Acton?

Imagine if he were Acton Hickey?
or Acton Stupid?
or Acton DaFool/

Acton

Anonymous,  2:01 AM  

In his 1859 essay entitled, "On Liberty", British philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) wrote:
"Strange it is, that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free discussion, but object to their being 'pushed to an extreme'; not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case."

His logic in defense of free speech is unescapable. One could argue that free speech, which along with freedom of the press, is specifically protected by The Bill of Rights, is a special case of the larger notion, freedom of expression. Certainly the publication of political cartoons falls within these Constitutional protections.

One must recognize that Islam, the religion of Mohammed, is both a religion in the familiar sense and a political ideology. In many ways, Islam could be descibed as a supremacist, imperialist, totalitarian political cult, one that teaches hatred of non-Muslims, incites violence against non-Muslims, and engenders fear among its followers. Indeed, anyone who leaves Islam is subject to severe punishment, including death, under Islamic jurisprudence, the Sha'ria Law.

The violent response to the Mohammed cartoons may be better understood if one recognizes that Muslims recognize their religious law as the only supreme rule over the entire world. As such, they hold even non-Muslims accountable under their religious/political law.

Those who wrongly ascribe common Western notions about religion to Islam do so at their peril. It is important to draw clear distinctions between Islam, the ideology, and Muslims who practice it to some degree. Failure to do so results in much confusion and opens the way for charges of racism or bigotry against any non-Muslim who justifiably questions the teachings of islam in this post-9/11 world.

Anonymous,  3:24 PM  

Where has it ever been written that in america, people are supposed to get along with each other? What is this, the third grade??

Anonymous,  9:04 PM  

As a Muslim if I were to see insulting cartoons of Prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) I would be really offended and sad because Islam teaches us to love and respect all prophets of God.

and Islam being a "supremacist, imperialist, totalitarian political cult, one that teaches hatred of non-Muslims, incites violence against non-Muslims, and engenders fear among its followers." is a BIG LIE.

In fact Ottoman Muslims saved the lives of the Jewish people several times who were tortured by the extremist Catholics.

Anonymous,  10:20 AM  

Islam denies the divinity of Jesus Christ, and calls for Muslims to fight/kill Christians and Jews "...until they pay the Jizya (extortion - protection money) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." (Quran 9:29)

As Srdja Trifkovic and many others have so ably documented, any notion of Ottoman Muslim tolerance toward other faiths is "a BIG LIE":

"The Ottomans lurched from outrage to outrage. Regular slaughters of Armenians in Bayazid (1877), Alashgurd (1879), Sassun (1894), Constantinople (1896), Adana (1909) and Armenia itself (1895-96) claimed a total of two hundred thousand lives, but they were only rehearsals for the genocide of 1915. The slaughter of Christians in Alexandria in 1881 was only a rehearsal for the artificial famine induced by the Turks in 1915-16 that killed over a hundred thousand Maronite Christians in Lebanon and Syria."

More than 4,000 Islamist terrorist attacks have occurred SINCE 9/11 in dozens of countries: http://thereligionofpeace.com

Anonymous,  3:04 PM  

I guess then that posting a menu of "Ohama's Barbeque" with Bin Laden's picture alongside a roasting pig wouldn't be a good idea either? I was looking forward to some Riyadh Ribs with Fallujah Fries and Sunni Slaw, along with a Mecca milkshake, too. I guess I'll just have to suffer with my Infidel Fajitas instead.

How come all of these Muslims have to "protect" Allah and Mohammad and they can't protect themselves? Maybe because they don't exist?

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