Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Denmark, listen up! The Saudis have some suggestions for you.

An editorial in today's Arab News calls the apology published in Jyllands-Posten 'disingenuous' and offers a solution to Denmark's problems of free speech: "if it does go against the law, the answer is simple: Change the law". And if you're allowing women to walk around like sluts, showing off their ankles in public, then change that law too! The editorial goes on to argue that Denmark should restrict free speech when it comes to issues of religion, similar to the legislation that was proposed in Britain. But of course, the restrictive anti-speech bill that they are speaking about was defeated in British parliament yesterday, when the government failed to gather the votes to overturn amendments made by the House of Lords. The defeat of the bill means that you will actually have to be found to be inciting violence, not just hurting religous people's feelings, in order to be charged.

Meanwhile, newspapers across Europe have been reprinting the cartoon images of Muhammad originally published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. I gotta say, I expected them all to start pandering to the anti-free speech crowd. Good on ya Europe! (I just typed those words and the sky didn't fall. Who knew?!) Turns out that those of us who don't live in theocracies kind of value our freedoms after all.

Arab governments and their apologists have managed to find plenty of rage for a few pictures that they deem offensive, but seem to be unable to find any anger at all for the Sudanese government that is busy slaughtering Muslims in Darfur. You know how I hate to judge, but maybe they need to learn how to prioritize.

2 comments:

Martyloo said...

Prioritization requires rationality and critical thinking...

Bitter Lemon said...

And being angry in the face of genocide requires giving a damn about human life. Another quality they lack.