Comic Book Heroes
‘TRYING to make sense of the outrage sparked by a series of pretty dreadful heavy-handed cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper is occupying the Telegraphs mind.
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‘So, I says ‘Sven, what about Villa’?’ |
On the day the paper hears a Government watchdog say that Britain faces a real and present danger of further attacks by suicide bombers, Islamic militants are going potty over a cartoon.
Here comes someone the Telegraph calls a leading Islamic cleric, London mayor Ken Livingstones old mucker Sheikh Yussef al-Qaradawi. Hes not happy. He wants action.
Let Friday be an international day of anger for God and his prophet,’ says the sheikh, who is the head of the International Association of Muslim Scholars.
International day of anger, eh. Well, it makes a change from reading about British Sausage Week. A day of anger could be good for world peace. This Friday, let it all out. Scream. Rant. Rave. Burn a flag. Torch your office. Do whatever it takes to feel better. Its eudemonism for the masses. Who needs Prozac?
Then theres Ahmed Akkari, a Muslim theologian from Copenhagen. He warns the Telegraph about a potential clash of civilisations. Hes upset by the decision of newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland to reproduce the 12 cartoons.
Mr Akkari is no nutcase. Far form it. Appearing in the Guardian, he speaks with reason. We are against censorship. We believe in free speech. Many of us fled our countries because of the lack of free speech,’ insists Mr Akkari, now billed as a mere social worker
Hes right. He makes his point well. He continues: From the start, we havent asked the [Danish] government to apologise. All we wanted was a clear stand from them that Muslims freedom of belief would be safeguarded. From the newspaper, we want a clear apology.’
Excuse us if we are allowing too much of Mr Akkari to feature in this article, its just that the usual vows of vengeance, the craven pursuit of victimhood and the sheer unbridled lunacy too often dominate the forum. We need to hear more from Akkiri and those like him.
The question is not that the West must kowtow to Muslims and adhere to the rules of Islam, but how far the minority Muslim population need go to be integrated.
All is not lost. Far from it. Might it be that in their colourful and vigorous condemnation of what many Muslims see as an attack on their beliefs, they are exercising their right to free speech. And what is more Western than that?’
Posted: 3rd, February 2006 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
