I’m disgusted by the reaction in some Middle Eastern countries to the cartoon that was printed in a Danish newspaper. Granted, the cartoon was in poor taste. But that doesn’t excuse attacks on Danish embassies and consulates. The reaction is infantile. That’s the only word I can think of to describe it – infantile. We don’t like it, so we’re going to resort to violence, because violence is so much easier than putting together a coherent argument. And since we feel anger, we’re going to act on it – forget about having a filter between emotions and actions. Never mind actually thinking about what you’re doing.
Infantile.
I’m so with you… but… just like Fred Phelps… or any other fanatic… unfortunately, we arent able to generalize. Good thing these morons are inelligible for the Darwin awards… they’d clean house. every year.
Infantile would describe a lot of what goes on the Middle East…the unhelpful, insane refusal of some Arab groups to even recognize Israel (I don’t like it, so it doesn’t exist), the continual upheaval between Israelis and Palistineans (you hit me, I’ll hit you back and harder), and the varied and contradictory interpretations of the Koran and Islam (it’s my game and I’ll make up the rules as I see fit) all come to mind.
I’ve lost count of the numerous protests about the Islamic suicide bombers blowing up innocent women and children. Oh, I forgot, there haven’t been any of those protests.
I think all the “protesters” (and their leaders who incite the violence) do more harm to Islam than any of the cartoons.
I don’t think any of you understand the level of outrage that is going on here. I’m not justifying the violence, but you’re all talking like this is a tempest in a teapot. No, we are talking about an entire religion that was insulted with an intentional act of blasphemy and sacrilege, openly mocking a sacred cultural taboo. It’s hard for us to understand because we don’t GET outraged in our country; in fact, we have entire movies and TV shows dedicated to taboo-breaking. “Outrageous” is actually used in a positive way in marketing in America. Publicly insulting a people for whom personal pride is a cultural cornerstone was an egregious and callous act of irresponsibility.
I don’t see any evidence in these comments that people don’t understand the outrage. I don’t see anyone here talking like this is a tempest in a teapot, either.
Exactly. The cartoons were boorish, rude and calculated to offend deeply. That excuses neither the violence nor the calls for government-imposed reprisals of the cartoonists and for censorship of future offending art. “Maturity,” as Jeff puts it, includes being able to handle offense, even the deepest sort, without beating up the offender.
you DO NOT UNDERSTAND. I think Andy DOES.