Pouring Gasoline on the Muslim Fire

[TonyTiger]

French embassies braced for cartoon backlash

France24.com - Latest update: 21/09/2012

French embassies, consulates and international schools in 20 Muslim countries closed their doors on Friday for fear of a violent backlash over cartoons published earlier this week by Paris-based weekly Charlie Hebdo.

French embassies, consulates, cultural centres and schools in around 20 Muslim countries shut up shop on Friday – the Muslim holy day – for fear of retaliatory violence following weekly prayers. The order came from the foreign ministry, which anticipates violent demonstrations over the publishing Wednesday of Prophet Mohammed cartoons by satirical weekly, Charlie Hebdo. The obscene cartoons exacerbated anger among Muslim communities after more than a week of deadly protests sparked by the US-made amateurish video “Innocence of Muslims”.

Security had been beefed up on security arrangements at institutions abroad and in France, with reinforcements and armed guards on standby. The French Foreign Ministry issued a travel warning urging French citizens in the Muslim world to exercise “the greatest vigilance,” avoiding public gatherings and “sensitive buildings.” Tens of thousands of French expatriates live in Muslim countries

Protests over the cartoons – which showed the Prophet Mohammed naked – had already begun Thursday in Tehran and Kabul. Demonstrators chanted “death to France” outside the French embassies in the two capitals. One student told TV reporters that the “doomed, nasty French” had committed an offence that the activists were willing to “sacrifice” themselves for. “What were they thinking?” he asked.

In Tunisia, French schools were shut down from Wednesday until next Monday after the ruling Islamists branded the cartoons a "new attack" on their religion. One parent outside a school in Tunis told FRANCE 24 that she was reassured by the decision. “It's better not to take any chances, given that we don't really have faith in the security system,” she said. But another thought officials were overreacting. "I don't understand the need to close for several days," he said, adding that one or two key days would be enough.

One Islamist militant, Mu’awiyya al-Qahtani, called for retaliation attacks in France to avenge the cartoons. “Is there someone who will roll up his sleeves and bring back to us the glory of the hero Mohammed Merah?” he asked on an Islamist forum monitored by the US-based SITE intelligence group. He was referring to an al Qaeda-inspired gunman who killed seven people, including three Jewish children, in the southern French city of Toulouse in March.

...

www.france24.com/en/20120921-french-institutes-shutdown-mohammed-cartoons-muslim-protests-embassies-backlash

[fairlycrazy23]

[TonyTiger]

Until 10 minutes ago I don't think I'd even heard of Pat Condell before, but he's on my scope now. Thanks for finding the video. To someone (and that includes me) who is fed-up with Muslims Behaving Badly, that was a straightforward and hard-hitting, no-punches-pulled monologue, and worth the 5+ minutes. Maybe the UK's Foreign Office and our State Department can hire this guy as a Backbone Installer... ;D

[zibazinski]

Shame on a country that permits "animals" to terrorize their citizens and country. include us in that shame.

[jkapp]

Sept 21, 2012 8:58:04 GMT -5 TonyTiger said:

Until 10 minutes ago I don't think I'd even heard of Pat Condell before, but he's on my scope now. Thanks for finding the video. To someone (and that includes me) who is fed-up with Muslims Behaving Badly, that was a straightforward and hard-hitting, no-punches-pulled monologue, and worth the 5+ minutes. Maybe the UK's Foreign Office and our State Department can hire this guy as a Backbone Installer... ;D

IMO we should just keeping doing this: posting cartoons, making videos (maybe not quite as bad as the one that caused the uproar), and saying what we feel. Keep bombarding the Muslim world with our freedom of speech until they finally get tired of all the protesting. The problem as I see it is we give them too many chances to cool down and rest in between their hissy fits

[TonyTiger]

'Charlie Hebdo' Editor in Chief 'A Drawing Has Never Killed Anyone'

09/20/2012 - Der Spiegel - By Stefan Simons in Paris



Stéphane Charbonnier, editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, is at the center of a media firestorm over the publication of Muhammad cartoons.

The editor in chief of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo insists that their publication of Muhammad caricatures was no provocation, but a signal that free speech is alive and well in the country. Come what may, the magazine won't stop criticizing whatever it wants, he says. But his office remains under police protection.

The eye of the media hurricane is in a nondescript office building located between manicured tennis courts, a cultural center and the Paris ring road. A couple of advertising firms are located here, as is a department of the city police which is responsible for traffic tickets. The location is, above all else, discreet. There is no nameplate that refers to the weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo. The publication, which has around 25 employees, is listed on the intercom under a different name. The only difference to the normally quiet atmosphere is that a riot police van is parked outside the building.

It is here, in the far east of the French capital, that the publisher and editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo have worked since their former editorial offices were destroyed a year ago in an arson attack. Although no one claimed responsibility for the crime, it was apparently motivated by cartoons about Islam that the magazine had published in a special issue under the polemical title "Charia Hebdo," a reference to Islamic Sharia law.

Now the magazine and its Editor-in-Chief Stéphane Charbonnier, who is also a cartoonist himself, are back in the headlines. The satirical magazine has triggered a storm of indignation with its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad this week. Representatives of the French Council of Muslims, prominent imams and French government officials have all criticized the professional polemicists, who violate political, social and religious taboos on a weekly basis. France has stepped up security at its embassies and other institutions abroad as a precaution.

The US government also expressed concern at the publication of the cartoons. "We don't question the right of something like this to be published, we just question the judgment behind the decision to publish it," said White House spokesman Jay Carney

'Extremists Don't Need Any Excuses'

But Editor-in-Chief Charbonnier, who is known to his colleagues as "Charb," appears relaxed despite the uproar. Surrounded by TV crews from Japan, Qatar, Belgium and South Africa, as well as French journalists, he sits at his desk in the corner of a large room, where he creates his cartoons. He sees himself mainly as a journalist who is just doing his job. "The accusation that we are pouring oil on the flames in the current situation really gets on my nerves," says Charbonnier. "After the publication of this absurd and grotesque film about Muhammad in the US, other newspapers have responded to the protests with cover stories. We are doing the same thing, but with drawings. And a drawing has never killed anyone."

The cartoonist claims he doesn't want to deliberately provoke anyone. "We publish caricatures every week, but people only describe them as declarations of war when it's about the person of the Prophet or radical Islam," says Charbonnier. "When you start saying that you can't create such drawings, then the same thing will soon apply to other, more harmless representations."

Issues of the magazine hit newsstands on Wednesday with the front cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing a figure in a wheelchair wearing a turban. There were several caricatures of the Prophet on the inside pages, including some of him naked. Many Muslims consider any representation of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad offensive.

Charbonnier doesn't regard the current cover story as a PR stunt or cheap advertising -- even if the print run of 75,000 is already sold out. "Extremists don't need any excuses," he says. "We are only criticizing one particular form of extremist Islam, albeit in a peculiar and satirically exaggerated form. We are not responsible for the excesses that happen elsewhere, just because we practice our right to freedom of expression within the legal limits." Charbonnier describes himself in modest terms: "My job is to provoke laughter or thinking with drawings -- for the readers of our magazine."

What does he think about the reactions of French Muslims? "If they are not amused by our cartoons, they don't need to buy our magazine. Of course they are allowed to demonstrate. The right to protest needs to be protected, so long as one abides by the law and refrains from violence." Charbonnier believes that French Muslims should be citizens like everyone else, which requires them to also be tolerant. "If the government believes that Muslims have no sense of humor, then that's an insult," he says. "It turns the faithful into second-class citizens."

...

www.spiegel.de/international/europe/charlie-hebdo-editor-in-chief-on-muhammad-cartoons-a-856891.html

[fairlycrazy23]

I know that all Muslims aren't bad, but it sure seems like when you get a lot together and put them in charge they act crazy.

[TonyTiger]

Charlie Hebdo French cartoons: Complaint filed in Paris

BBC World News - 20 September 2012 Last updated at 08:02 ET



Lebanese armoured vehicles could be seen guarding the French ambassador's residence in Beirut on Wednesday

A legal complaint has been filed against a French satirical magazine which published obscene cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The complaint accuses the magazine of inciting hatred.

A little-known Syrian organisation lodged the complaint with prosecutors in Paris, who will decide if action should be taken against Charlie Hebdo.

France is braced for protests, with plans to close some embassies in foreign capitals on Friday.

Embassies, consulates, cultural centres and schools in some 20 countries are to shut as a precaution. Public protests in Muslim countries sometimes take place after traditional Friday prayers.

A tenet of Islam bans the portrayal of its founder, the Prophet Muhammad.

Feelings in the Islamic world have already been running high over an amateur video mocking the Prophet Muhammad, which emerged in the US this month. Some 30 people have died in violent protests over the film.

In reaction on Thursday

* Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood urged France to take legal action against Charlie Hebdo similar to that taken against Closer magazine for publishing topless pictures of the Duchess of Cambridge

* Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who leads the 57-state Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, expressed "shock and dismay" and warned the cartoons might trigger a new wave of anti-Western violence

* Several hundred protesters demonstrated outside the French embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran, chanting "death to France"

The complaint against Charlie Hebdo was filed on Wednesday by an organisation called the Syrian Freedom Association, which was registered earlier this year in France but appears to be little-known among Syrian expatriates.

...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19659554

[EVT1]

Sept 21, 2012 9:15:56 GMT -5 TonyTiger said:

'Charlie Hebdo' Editor in Chief 'A Drawing Has Never Killed Anyone'

09/20/2012 - Der Spiegel - By Stefan Simons in Paris



Stéphane Charbonnier, editor in chief of Charlie Hebdo, is at the center of a media firestorm over the publication of Muhammad cartoons.

The editor in chief of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo insists that their publication of Muhammad caricatures was no provocation, but a signal that free speech is alive and well in the country. Come what may, the magazine won't stop criticizing whatever it wants, he says. But his office remains under police protection.

That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?

Sort of...but shouldnt the govt protect citizens constitutional rights?

[zibazinski]

[mmhmm]

Sept 21, 2012 10:05:27 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?

Sort of...but shouldnt the govt protect citizens constitutional rights?

Umm, it's about that nasty old bugaboo known as "personal responsibility", SF. Nobody has denied anyone their constitutional rights. Say whatever you like. Print whatever you like. Film whatever you like. However, if your choice of what to say, print, or film gets you in a bind, it's not the government's job to get you out of it. You made a choice. The consequences are yours, too. That's the conservative way, is it not?

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

Sept 21, 2012 10:28:52 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

Sept 21, 2012 10:05:27 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?

Sort of...but shouldnt the govt protect citizens constitutional rights?

Umm, it's about that nasty old bugaboo known as "personal responsibility", SF. Nobody has denied anyone their constitutional rights. Say whatever you like. Print whatever you like. Film whatever you like. However, if your choice of what to say, print, or film gets you in a bind, it's not the government's job to get you out of it. You made a choice. The consequences are yours, too. That's the conservative way, is it not?

...no more secret service, then...

[EVT1]

Sept 21, 2012 10:05:27 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?

Sort of...but shouldnt the govt protect citizens constitutional rights?

Where is the limit? Sure- a specific, credible threat should be investigated but just generally pissing off a bunch of people- what does that warrant? 24 hour police protection? Can I go out with a megaphone and talk shit about mafia members on a street corner and then ask the police to guard my house because I got some strange phone calls or hear rumors someone might try and cap my ass?

[Aman A.K.A. Ahamburger]

It's get thicker, just wait...

Anti-jihad 'savage' ads going up in NYC subway
www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57517573/anti-jihad-savage-ads-going-up-in-nyc-subway/

Group plans to screen 'Innocence of the Muslims' across Canada
www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2012/09/18/group-to-screen-innocence-of-the-muslims-across-canada

[EVT1]

We don't have a Muslim problem- we have an asshole problem. There is free speech and then there is just being a dick.

[Driftr]

Sept 21, 2012 11:16:42 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

We don't have a Muslim problem- we have an asshole problem. There is free speech and then there is just being a dick.

And God help us when it comes down to giving someone the authority to choose between the two.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2012 10:28:52 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

Sept 21, 2012 10:05:27 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?

Sort of...but shouldnt the govt protect citizens constitutional rights?

Umm, it's about that nasty old bugaboo known as "personal responsibility", SF. Nobody has denied anyone their constitutional rights. Say whatever you like. Print whatever you like. Film whatever you like. However, if your choice of what to say, print, or film gets you in a bind, it's not the government's job to get you out of it. You made a choice. The consequences are yours, too. That's the conservative way, is it not?

It sure is. You make the waves, you better be ready for the backlash.

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2012 8:30:41 GMT -5 TonyTiger said:

One Islamist militant, Mu’awiyya al-Qahtani, called for retaliation attacks in France to avenge the cartoons.

I know it's not funny, really, but jeez... does he not understand how ridiculous that sounds?

[Driftr]

Sept 21, 2012 11:36:23 GMT -5 @devianity said:

Sept 21, 2012 8:30:41 GMT -5 TonyTiger said:

One Islamist militant, Mu’awiyya al-Qahtani, called for retaliation attacks in France to avenge the cartoons.

I know it's not funny, really, but jeez... does he not understand how ridiculous that sounds?

Unfortunately, no.

[workpublic]

let me protect myself and I will. if not, then the cops have to. that's my take on it.

[workpublic]

However, if your choice of what to say, print, or film gets you in a bind, it's not the government's job to get you out of it. You made a choice. The consequences are yours, too. That's the conservative way, is it not?

unless charlie can arm himself and shoot back, it's the police's job.

[jkapp]

Sept 21, 2012 10:28:52 GMT -5 mmhmm said:

Sept 21, 2012 10:05:27 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?

Sort of...but shouldnt the govt protect citizens constitutional rights?

Umm, it's about that nasty old bugaboo known as "personal responsibility", SF. Nobody has denied anyone their constitutional rights. Say whatever you like. Print whatever you like. Film whatever you like. However, if your choice of what to say, print, or film gets you in a bind, it's not the government's job to get you out of it. You made a choice. The consequences are yours, too. That's the conservative way, is it not?

As soon as it translates to social programs, then i might agree with you...if that is only used in this situation, then its bullshit

[TonyTiger]

Sept 21, 2012 10:00:59 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

"...That's some bullshit right there- I agree they can say what they want but police protection? Who should pay for that? Anyone think our police should waste taxpayer dollars to protect that asshole in Florida if he gets nervous?"

Hmmmmm...

I'm not so sure that it's bull$hit, upon reflection...

As SF mentioned earlier, it is, indeed, the job of the government to protect our constitutional rights...

As a matter of fact, regardless of whether you fall on the Left, Right or Center of the Aisle...

All three 'spheres' consider the protection of citizens and their rights to be an absolute and non-negotiable duty...

This does not apply to ALL wars, but... many, if not most, of our wars, have been fought in-part to defend ourselves and to preserve our way of life and to defend our liberties and rights...

From that perspective, the government has spent untold money and our fellow citizens have spilled untold and precious blood upon the ground to protect your freedom of speech...

Excluding personal confrontations and the like...

If you have been threatened - or if a case can be made that your life and property are in danger - because you exercised your right of free speech, and if you cannot protect yourself, then, you have a right to expect your government to protect you...

I absolutely despise that Rabble-Rousing Minister who made such a mess out of that stupid burn-a-Koran stunt... I mean I absolutely despise the S.O.B... but I will pony-up with my share of the cost to protect him, in this context...

I cannot conjure-up an exception to that rule, at first glance, anyway... I don't like it, but there it is...

[Deleted]

Sept 21, 2012 12:18:19 GMT -5 workpublic said:

let me protect myself and I will. if not, then the cops have to. that's my take on it.

That's how it works down here in rural AR. Any county sheriffs' deputy will tell you that you have to protect yourself. They are not responsible.

[reasonfreedom]

We are talking about the French here, who really cares? I say the let the Frenchies stick up for themselves, they have always been better at provoking than defending themselves.

[TonyTiger]

A Muhammad cartoon a day

By Daniel Pipes - Published September 21, 2012 - FoxNews.com

When Salman Rushdie mocked Islamic sanctities in his magical 1989 realist novel “The Satanic Verses,” Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini did something shockingly original: He issued a death edict on Rushdie and all those connected to the production of his book. By doing this, Khomeini sought to impose Islamic mores and laws on the West. We don’t insult the prophet, he effectively said, and neither can you.

That started a trend of condemning those in the West deemed anti-Islamic that persists to this day. Again and again, when Westerners are perceived as denigrating Muhammad, the Koran, or Islam, Islamists demonstrate, riot or kill.

Khomeini’s edict also had the unexpected side effect of empowering individuals – Western and Islamist alike – to drive their countries’ policies.

Fleming Rose, a newspaper editor, created the greatest crisis for Denmark since World War II by publishing 12 cartoons depicting Muhammad. Florida pastor Terry Jones sowed panic among American commanders in Afghanistan by threatening to burn a Koran. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula and friends prompted a crisis in U.S.-Egyptian relations with his amateurish "Innocence of Muslims" video. And the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo caused the French government to temporarily shut down diplomatic missions in 20 countries. Plans by the German satirical magazine Titanicto publish attacks on Muhammad likewise led German missions to be closed

On the Islamist side, an individual or group took one of these perceived offenses and turned it into a reason to riot. Khomeini did this with “The Satanic Verses.” Ahmad Abu Laban did likewise with the Danish cartoons. Afghan President Hamid Karzai goaded his people to riot over burned Korans by American soldiers, and Egyptian preacher Khaled Abdullah turned “Innocence of Muslims” into an international event.

Any Westerner can now buy a Koran for a dollar and burn it, while any Muslim with a platform can transform that act into a fighting offense. As passions rise on both sides of the divide, Western provocateurs and Islamist hotheads have found each other, as confrontations occur with increasing frequency.

Which prompts this question: What would happen if publishers and managers of major media outlets reached a consensus -- “Enough of this intimidation, we will publish the most famous Danish Muhammad cartoon every day, until the Islamists tire out and no longer riot”? What would happen if Korans were recurrently burned?

Would repetition inspire institutionalization, generate ever-more outraged responses, and offer a vehicle for Islamists to ride to greater power? Or would it lead to routinization, to a wearing out of Islamists, and a realization that violence is counter-productive to their cause?

I predict the latter. A Muhammad cartoon published each day, or Koranic desecrations on a quasi-regular basis, would make it harder for Islamists to mobilize Muslim mobs. Westerners could then once again treat Islam as they do other religions – freely, to criticize without fear. That would demonstrate to Islamists that Westerners will not capitulate, that they reject Islamic law, that they are ready to stand up for their values.

...

www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/21/muhammad-cartoon-day/

=======================================

A terrible idea, or a good one?

[cereb]

Sept 21, 2012 9:14:49 GMT -5 jkapp said:

Sept 21, 2012 8:58:04 GMT -5 TonyTiger said:

Until 10 minutes ago I don't think I'd even heard of Pat Condell before, but he's on my scope now. Thanks for finding the video. To someone (and that includes me) who is fed-up with Muslims Behaving Badly, that was a straightforward and hard-hitting, no-punches-pulled monologue, and worth the 5+ minutes. Maybe the UK's Foreign Office and our State Department can hire this guy as a Backbone Installer... ;D

IMO we should just keeping doing this: posting cartoons, making videos (maybe not quite as bad as the one that caused the uproar), and saying what we feel. Keep bombarding the Muslim world with our freedom of speech until they finally get tired of all the protesting. The problem as I see it is we give them too many chances to cool down and rest in between their hissy fits

Wow. I actually agree with you. That's a first.

[zibazinski]

Reason, you are SO right. The footing French always get someone else to bail them out. This time, let them suffer the consequences.

[Deleted]

I am "offended" by Muslims who use their religion as an excuse to behead, maim , kill, bomb and destroy people and things. Boo hoo to them if they don't like a comic or a commentary or a book. Time to stop kowtowing to those bullies. We will say and do what we please and if they don' t like it too darn bad.