The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

The Camel's Back

It is a truth universally acknowledged among the enlightened, that rage and fury over petty things may occasionally reflect discontents which loom larger and run deeper. While Muslims cannot be expected to enjoy disrespectful representations of their Prophet, it seems doubtful that the protest would have been nearly so noisy were it not for one or two other matters with which we are mostly familiar. There is, for example, the ongoing subjugation of the Palestinians and the illegal occupation of their land, now headed merrily for its fortieth year. There is the illegal invasion, occupation and plundering of Iraq, which has driven yet more people to embrace both the dubious comforts of religion (since they have little or nothing else to comfort them) and the dubious ethics of terrorism (since it offers a chance to fight back). There is the West's support for democracy in Saudi Arabia, for the Kurds in Turkey, for nuclear non-proliferation in Israel and North Korea. Above all, there is the callous contempt of Israel and its backers in Washington - building prison walls on land which is not theirs; lecturing the Palestinians on renouncing terrorism while fighting stones with bullets and calling it the "peace process"; refusing the Palestinian people their own land, their own water, their own airspace and their own foreign policy and calling that an "offer". So while it is true that Muslims have no right to be protected against the free speech of others, it is also true that Muslims have reason to be discontented. Whatever the Koran may say, if the Danish government were to withdraw its troops from Iraq and its support from the Coalition of the Illegal, condemn the invasion and offer reparations, the staff of Jyllands-Posten might possibly sleep sounder.

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