Re: Tom the Dancing Bug, Saturday, 25 Feb.

On Tue, 28 Feb 2006 20:34:04 +0000 (UTC),
INVALID_SEE_SIG@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (J.D. Baldwin) promised to tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth but instead
wrote:

In the previous article, ronniecat <ronniecat@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

But first people say that moderate Muslims are not speaking up (a la
Marlette). Then when you point out that they are, people say they're
not doing *enough*.

Well, I try to imagine the reaction among Western churches and
governments if Xians sent machine-gun-wielding terror parties into
Cartoon Network's headquarters over their airing of "Moral Orel." The
reaction would be swift, severe and thoroughly unambiguous, and no one
would give much of a *** *what* the original provocation was.

You are basically holding the Muslim world to a lower standard. I am
not disputing your right to do so, or even the propriety of doing so,
but let's at least not pretend that this is not the case.

I think that's a fair comment. But it's also true that I expected
Canadian and American Muslims to speak out. I didn't *expect* Middle
Eastern Muslims to do so. That is partly due to an acknowledgement of
cultural differences and partly due to the extremely limited, if not
nonexistent, understanding and experience of free speech in M.E.
countries. Maybe that's patronizing but I see that Muslims who have
lived with free speech and multiculturalism/tolerance are not freaking
out over this to the point of violence, and Muslims who have not, are.
I think that has influenced the reaction enormously. Don't forget that
most of them seem to be buying the agitators' implication that the
Danish government not only could've stopped the cartoons from being
published, it chose not to and in fact sanctioned them.

Do I wish that Muslims had responded *better*? Yeah. But I am still
annoyed at those who continue to repeat the fallacy that they have not
responded *at all*, especially in the west.

ronnie
--
"The very deaf, as I am, hear the most astounding things all
'round them, which have not, in fact, been said." - Henry Green
<<remove mycollar to respond by email>>
www.hearingloss.blogspot.com - a blog about deafness

.

Quantcast