CARTOON-RIOTING: SCREAMS FROM THE VOICELESS

A friend, posting to a mailing list to which I also belong, writes:

"Vinden jullie dat de Denen over de schreef zijn gegaan?Of vinden jullie - met alle respect voor Mohammed - die haast mondiale korte lontjes-islam-amok de cartoons aangaande ook zo overdreven? Of mag ik, als ongelovige (lees: verder ge-evolueerde gelovige), mij er niet mee bemoeien?"
[Do you think that the Danes went too far? Or do you think - with all due respect for Muhammad - that that almost proverbial short-fuse Muslim temper has gone too far regarding those cartoons? Or should I, as an unbeliever (read: further evolved believer), not dare to have an opinion concerning this matter?]

To which I responded:

"Die cartoons waren in bad taste. Dat will niet zeggen natuurlijk dat men er woest tekeer over zou moeten gaan; ook dat is in bad taste.Ik stel voor dat de Scandinaviers en anderen afdrukken wat ze willen, en de Muslims voornemen voortaan desbetreffende kranten nooit meer te lezen."
[Those cartoons were in bad taste. That of course does not mean that violent rioting was justified; that too is in bad taste. I propose that Scandinavians and other print whatever they want, and that Muslims resolve to henceforth not read the newspapers in question ever again .]

Overigens, sommige commentaristen suggereren dat de woede aangestookt word door politici in de Muslim wereld - men zou zo de aandacht van eigen recente stommiteiten kunnen afwenden.
[By the way, some commentators suggest that the rage has (deliberately) been fed by politicians in the Muslim world - as a means of deflecting attention from their own recent stupidities.]

Stel nu, pervoorbeeld, dat men in een Europeesche krant een spotprent afdrukte met Mozes als stereotypische haakneus-woekerjood. Ik kan mij al voorstellen welk een woordenstorm daarover zou oplaaien.
[But imagine, for example, that a European newspaper printed a cartoon of Moses as a stereotypical hook-nosed miserly Jew. I can already envision the word-storm that would spark.]

Moet men het kunnen afdrukken? Natuurlijk.

Is het verfoeielijk? Natuurlijk.

Zaait het haat? Zeker.

Maar daar zijn volgens mij wel wetten tegen.
[Should such things be publishable? Of course.
Is it despicable? Of course.
Does it sow hatred? Assuredly.
But I think that there are laws against that.]

Gij hebt mij hier op de lijst al tekeer zien gaan over Anti-Amerikaansche bigotrie en stommiteit van Europeesche zijde, of in Nederlandsche kranten, is het niet?
[Y'all have surely seen me rage on this list about Anti-American bigotry and idiocy from the Europeans, or in the Dutch newspapers, isn't it?]

Maar ik heb nimmer een ambassade in de fik gestoken. Zoiets is volslagen mesjogge.
[But I have never set an embassy on fire. Such an act would be utterly insane.]

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As a final note, these riots are, in a way, typical. The Muslim masses have been encouraged, by their leaders, to act like emotional children. Necessarily this must mean the occasional temper-tantrum, the fit of hysteria, and the stomping of little Islamic feet.

There are more than enough intelligent Muslims to prove that this is not a behavioral pattern inherent in the creed, but rather a Pavlovian reflex put in place by dictators who prefer their people uninformed, childish, and incapable of intelligent organized actions.