2008 Woodie Awards
Profound acts of stupidity
Emily Mead, Editor in Chief
Issue date: 2/8/06 Section: Editorial
There are very few really stupid things that surprise me anymore. Cindy Sheehan getting arrested and consequently throwing a temper tantrum, well, that's just how it goes. Mobs of extremist Muslims torching the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on account of the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad; well, that's unbound madness that can never be predicted.
Not so long ago I lived in a safe, fluffy world of empathy, holding that Islam does not breed violence, and the terrorist acts of 9/11 were isolated to a small group of crazies that went off the deep end; that was a simpler time. The fact is, the switch that flipped on when those terrorists boarded four commercial airplanes with the intention of flying them into some of our nation's most prominent buildings and killing thousands of people in the process is the same switch that flipped on when those frenzied mobs decided to attack the embassies.
These profound acts of stupidity did not occur only on the part of the Muslims, however. Sunday's protest represents the culmination of numerous acts of ineptitude on all sides. One has to assume that the Danish newspaper that decided to print the original cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad (one showing him with a bomb for a turban) were aware of a widespread belief among Muslims that depictions of the Prophet verge on, if not constitute, idolatry. Furthermore, by doing so they must have predicted some sort of backlash. To add insult to injury, the Danish newspaper that originally printed the cartoons waited three months to issue an apology after receiving countless bomb and death threats. While this in no way should serve as validation for the acts of lunacy committed by the Muslim extremists, it seems as though the Danes were begging for what they got.
This, unfortunately, isn't where the story ends. As if there wasn't enough stupid bouncing back and forth between the Danes and the Muslims, newspapers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain decided on the first of this month to reprint the cartoon, expounding on their rights to the freedom of the press as if that was really what this was all about. It's about arrogance; the typically Western snobbery that says, "hey, look what I can do!" We are dealing with a people whose governments have control of every aspect of their lives, including the press and religion. To them, freedom of the press or of religion means nothing. The only right that matters to them is their right to defend their prophet, which, as they have shown, they will do to their deaths. It shouldn't be surprising that I, Editor in Chief of the STAR, have decided not to reprint the cartoons.
It's hard to say where things are going to go from here, though it is clear where the Muslim extremists would like to take it. They want a holy war and will seemingly cling to anything that will propel their cause, though I don't think anyone could have predicted that it would be taken this far. Eighteen people were reported injured after the attack on the Danish and Norwegian embassies, which, thankfully, were empty at the time.
Hundreds of people have been rallying in Afghanistan in protest of the cartoons. Iraq's transport ministry has frozen contracts with Denmark and Norway while Iran has recalled its ambassador to Denmark. An Iraqi militant group in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi called for attacks on Danish and non-Muslim targets in Iraq causing Denmark to urge its citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. Could this go down in history as the catalyst of a holy war that was ignited over cartoons?
Not so long ago I lived in a safe, fluffy world of empathy, holding that Islam does not breed violence, and the terrorist acts of 9/11 were isolated to a small group of crazies that went off the deep end; that was a simpler time. The fact is, the switch that flipped on when those terrorists boarded four commercial airplanes with the intention of flying them into some of our nation's most prominent buildings and killing thousands of people in the process is the same switch that flipped on when those frenzied mobs decided to attack the embassies.
These profound acts of stupidity did not occur only on the part of the Muslims, however. Sunday's protest represents the culmination of numerous acts of ineptitude on all sides. One has to assume that the Danish newspaper that decided to print the original cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammad (one showing him with a bomb for a turban) were aware of a widespread belief among Muslims that depictions of the Prophet verge on, if not constitute, idolatry. Furthermore, by doing so they must have predicted some sort of backlash. To add insult to injury, the Danish newspaper that originally printed the cartoons waited three months to issue an apology after receiving countless bomb and death threats. While this in no way should serve as validation for the acts of lunacy committed by the Muslim extremists, it seems as though the Danes were begging for what they got.
This, unfortunately, isn't where the story ends. As if there wasn't enough stupid bouncing back and forth between the Danes and the Muslims, newspapers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain decided on the first of this month to reprint the cartoon, expounding on their rights to the freedom of the press as if that was really what this was all about. It's about arrogance; the typically Western snobbery that says, "hey, look what I can do!" We are dealing with a people whose governments have control of every aspect of their lives, including the press and religion. To them, freedom of the press or of religion means nothing. The only right that matters to them is their right to defend their prophet, which, as they have shown, they will do to their deaths. It shouldn't be surprising that I, Editor in Chief of the STAR, have decided not to reprint the cartoons.
It's hard to say where things are going to go from here, though it is clear where the Muslim extremists would like to take it. They want a holy war and will seemingly cling to anything that will propel their cause, though I don't think anyone could have predicted that it would be taken this far. Eighteen people were reported injured after the attack on the Danish and Norwegian embassies, which, thankfully, were empty at the time.
Hundreds of people have been rallying in Afghanistan in protest of the cartoons. Iraq's transport ministry has frozen contracts with Denmark and Norway while Iran has recalled its ambassador to Denmark. An Iraqi militant group in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi called for attacks on Danish and non-Muslim targets in Iraq causing Denmark to urge its citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. Could this go down in history as the catalyst of a holy war that was ignited over cartoons?