Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist with a price on his head, showed a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad to a seminar in Stockholm on yesterday.
Why that "Swedish Dog" term in the headline? It's how "Islamic World News أخبار العالم الاسلامي refers to the Swedish cartoonist.
"Nobody has really seen this image and it has just become more and more impossible to show it, so I thought that ordinary people should be given the possibility to see it live," he told the 100 or so people at a seminar.
I wonder what number Mr. Vilks considers "nobody." The cartoon, or one very much like the famous one, is displayed on his website.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq is offering upwards of $100,000 USD to anyone who kills Mr. Vilks. One of the under-reported aspects of this is how Al-Qaeda in Iraq has been corrupted. I'd have thought that more people would be shocked at how western they're acting: offering money, rather than appealing to jihadic zeal.
I hope that Mr. Vilks, and others involved in this cartoon's publication, take care of themselves. Islamic enthusiasts aren't particularly noted taking insults lightly.
Remember Theo van Gogh? A Muslim killed him after Mr. van Gogh made a film, "Submission," that followers of Islam didn't like. Muslims had good reason for disapproving of the film. At best, Muslim women in the film, whose "chadors and gowns are transparent," make the movie insulting.
However, Michael Moore has offended conservatives and some Christians in America, and he's still very much alive.
Back to Mr. Vilks and his appalling diplomatic skills.
An earlier post, "Death to the Cartoonist! Death to Swedish Dog!" discussed the Swedish cartoonist's drawing and how some Muslims reacted. Happily, a group I hadn't heard of, Muslims Against Sharia, posted a comment on that post. I'm taking the liberty of quoting their comment.
"Muslims Against Sharia praise the courage of Lars Vilks, Ulf Johansson, Thorbjorn Larsson and the staff of Nerikes Allehanda and Dagens Nyheter and condemn threats issued by Abu Omar Al Baghdadi and the Islamic State of Iraq. Muslims Against Sharia will provide a payment of 100,000kr (about $15,000) for the information leading to capture or neutralization of Abu Omar Al Baghdadi.
"Muslimer mot Sharia berömmer Lars Vilks, Ulf Johansson, Torbjörn Larsson och övriga anställda på Nerikes Allehanda och Dagens Nyheter för deras tapperhet och fördömer hotet från Abu Omar Al Baghdadi och Islamistiska Iraq. Muslimer mot Sharia betalar 100 000 SEK (ca 15 000$) för information som leder till gripande eller oskadligörande av Abu Omar Al Baghdadi."
It's my opinion that Islam is going through a very interesting time in its history. Muslims have very serious decisions to make. But, that's for another post.
Related posts, on censorship, propaganda, and freedom of speech.
Welcome to the 21st century. The Cold War, WWII, and WWI are over.
The 19th and 20th centuries' class conflicts and colonial issues are behind us.
"Oppressed proletariat" and "European expansionism" are no longer relevant.
Religious fanatics want their beliefs to rule the world.
Free people want to stay that way.
Here's my view of the 21st century's great conflict -
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Swedish Dog Displays Blasphemous Images
Labels:
Al Qaeda,
Al Qaeda in Iraq,
cartoons,
censorship,
Iraq,
Islam,
Islamic,
Islamist,
Muslims Against Sharia,
propaganda,
sharia law,
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Blogroll
Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
- American Islamic Congress
- American-Islamic Forum for Democracy
- Americas Interests.blog an Australian's perspective (on January 29, 2009 the author announced the end of new posts, and explained his reasons for doing so. He is, however, keeping the 21 months of accumulated posts on line, because of "the role that it plays in a larger ecosystem of information" - I recommend AI as an archival resource. )
- Blog 4 Human Rights: Human Rights in Georgia (the nation) News, Opinions, Videos and Photos (Why blogroll this? Georgia is about 10% Muslim, very near the Middle East: and human rights is a critical part of the War on Terror.)
- CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations
- The Capitol Tribune "A Journal by a Citizen and Servant of the Republic."
- The Conservative Hawk An articulate conservative blog: definitely political, opinionated, informed, and intelligent
- Defenders Council of Vermont "...our mission is to educate the citizens of Vermont about the nature, reality and threat of radical Islam, deepen Vermonters' understanding of America's heritage, honor the men and women of the armed services and their families, and support the efforts of others to help our armed forces work with local populations in foreign lands."
- DefenseLink Blogger's Roundtable provides source material for stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) by bloggers and online journalists.
- FactCheck.org "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics". It's "a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania". From what I've seen, this non-partisan website must be quite annoying to all sides
- Fiqh Council of North America "...a body of qualified Islamic scholars who live in the United States or Canada."
- Foreign Policy Watch "Diplomatic strategy, international news, and thoughtful political analysis"
- www.free-minds.org Another flavor of True Islam: one more articulate than many
- Free Muslims Coalition "American Muslims and Arabs of all backgrounds who feel that religious violence and terrorism have not been fully rejected by the Muslim community in the post 9-11 era."
- GlobalSecurity.org "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. We try to bring you the facts, to help you form your opinion."
- Hudson Institute: Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
- IntelCenter "Our focus as a company is on studying terrorist groups and other threat actors and disseminating that information in a timely manner to those who can act on it."
- Iraq the Model "New points of view about the future of Iraq."
- Islam.com "...an information portal site on the internet that is pure, clean and 'worthy of its name', InshaAllah."
- islamispeace.org.uk "...invites you to challenge your ideas of Islam and Muslims."
- Islamic Circle of North America "... to seek the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through the struggle of Iqamat-ud-Deen (establishment of the Islamic system of life) as spelled out in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)"
- Islamic Republic News Agency Iran's official news agency
- Islamic Society of Central Florida (ISCF) "...an organization which strives to serve the greater Central Florida community by catering to the social, religious, and educational needs of its Muslim inhabitants."
- Islamic Society of North America "...playing a pivotal role in extending those bridges to include all people of faith within North America...."
(but note another view) ) - Islamic World News أخبار العالم الاسلا
- Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal The War on Terror, as observed on the ground
- Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center A research resource for United States Air Force Air University students, "provided as a public service by Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center and the Maxwell Support Division."
- Muslamics Affad Shaikh and "A Writing Collaborative" This American Muslim Affad Shaikh, a very west-coast Muslim Los Angelano
- Muslims Against Sharia An organization of Muslims, presumably dedicated "...to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists..." - with a curious way of practicing Peace, Love Light, (words in their website's logo).
- National Interest, and as a corollary, Primacy "These are indeed my personal pontifications on the vicissitudes of International Affairs." (Be prepared for big words, long sentences: and unexpected insights.)
- PM’S World
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty "disseminating factual information and ideas"
- The Straits Times (Singapore) "...strives to be an authoritative provider of news and views, with special focus on Singapore and the Asian region...."
- Urban Conservative "Conservative 2.0 - A New Breed of Conservative
- Why Islam? "... articles, books etc on Islam and comparative religion. ... initiated by volunteers from ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America). ..."
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
3 comments:
Islam is going through a very interesting time in its history...
You are giving a entirely new meaning to the word 'interesting'! Tell that to the victims of the 9.537 terrorist attacks since 9/11! Bit insensitive, isn't it?
Quite a few people would call me "insensitive."
I do think that Islam is going through a very interesting time in its history.
Some Muslim leaders are on a jihad to return Islam to what they imagine are its 7th-century origins, and drag the rest of the world back with them.
Others seem to be struggling with the societal and political reforms of the 18th century.
Still others are living in the Information Age, and may want to bring their religion with them.
If this situation isn't "interesting," I don't know what is.
As for victims of terrorist attacks, that started before 9/11. I am appalled by the loss of life, and wasted opportunities, that the current jihad represents.
But, I don't focus on that.
Virtually all progress and reform in the modern world is Western. Muslims who pursue a path of progress and reform, on whatever level -- academic, intellectual, artistic, technological, scientific, political, legal, sociocultural -- cannot avoid the fact that they are Westernizing themselves.
To better oneself predominantly through the influence of others is already somewhat difficult for anyone to do, because it requires a laying aside of ego and a bit of humility to say, "Gee, these other people know better than me and my people how to improve ourselves".
It is, however, for the Muslim mentality doubly difficult, more difficult than it is for other mentalities, because in the Muslim mentality a sense of superiority is ingrained in culture, texts, tradition and history -- and now Muslims are supposed to swallow their pride and admit that the West is better than Islamic culture on so many levels, and they are supposed to add injury to this insult by actually setting aside many of their Islamic ways -- modelled on that supposedly best model of conduct for all times, Muhammad (the uswa hasana) -- in favor of the ways of another people whom their own Qur'an teaches are "filthy" (najis; see for example 9:28).
A tall order. And likely not going to happen without terrible, tragic dislocations and bloodshed in the coming decades -- the horrible birth pains of the surviving Muslims finally growing the hell up.
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