Mick Hartley

Politics and Culture

Strange Days

February 3, 2006

What’s happening over at Harry’s Place? First Brownie:

I stand by my view that no constructive purpose can be served by the publication of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons in other journals across Europe. The message that liberal democracies will continue to assert the primacy of free speech, even where that risks offending religious sensibilities, has been sent and we should continue to send it.

And we continue to send it by…..backing down and apologising when confronted with the threat of violence.

Then, in the next post, Gene:

[H]ow many of those with a “rub it in their faces” attitude toward the cartoons would be willing to stand face-to-face with a group of striking bus drivers in Tehran and tell them, in effect, “I support your cause, I wish you the best in your struggle against the regime, but I also think your deeply-held religious beliefs are a bunch of crap. And furthermore, I think cartoons featuring your most revered religious figure, which you may find deeply offensive, ought to be published as widely and as often as possible until you learn to stop complaining about it. But hey, solidarity forever.”

Which makes sense if you think that:

a) the purpose of republishing the cartoons is to “rub it in their faces”, and,

b) the newspapers that have published the cartoons are saying that they think Islam is a bunch of crap,

both of which are precisely the distortions promulgated by those Islamists seeking to make something out of all this nonsense, (as opposed to the real reasons for republishing – showing solidarity with colleagues under threat, and affirming the right to freedom of expression in the face of violent intimidation),

and c) those striking bus drivers, detained without trial in the prisons of Tehran, can think of nothing that concerns them more than some cartoons printed four months ago in a Danish newspaper.

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5 responses to “Strange Days”

Gene

February 4, 2006

Mick, I was referring to some of the frequent commenters at Harry’s Place, not the newspapers.
Again, I believe it’s absolutely crucial for western leftists to support actions like the transit strike in Tehran, which means treating strikers’ beliefs with a degree of respect. Of course the Muslim extremists who react violently deserve our contempt. But I find the “f**k you” attitude of many people toward any Muslim who dares to be offended by the cartoons deeply troubling.

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Cyrus

February 4, 2006

It’s not a case of ‘f**k you’, but it would be naive to think that none of the strikers share any of the beliefs of their President regarding a certain small country on the Mediterranean coast. Isn’t respect best shown by telling them their beliefs are crap when, as a matter of fact, they are crap?

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Mick H

February 4, 2006

I don’t think the strikers are going to be that concerned one way or the other – and even if they are offended by the cartoons, they’re surely intelligent enough to separate that whole dispute from expressions of support from western leftists. The whole question of representations of Mohammed is less important for Shi’ites, and anyway, this is another of those cases where the radical Islamists are shouting the loudest, claiming to speak for all Muslims in an attempt to fan the flames for their own purposes – and being taken at their word by intimidated westerners.

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Backword Dave

February 4, 2006

I don’t usually agree with Mick — especially not in this area, but I think that he’s right here. Oh, I believe in treating strikers’ beliefs qua the strike with a degree of respect. If the strikers are in any way typical of Iranian men some of them at least will hold beliefs about Jews, women, and the US which under any other circumstances Gene and fellow Harry’s Placers would condemn. Just because you agree on one issue is no reason to be silent on all others. Rather the reverse, I’d have thought.
The phrase “clash of civilisations” which one sees repeated everywhere now is really the most ridiculous nonsense. Here we see such people as Nick Griffin as semi-housetrained troublemakers and mock them. As Mick says it’s the radical Islamists who are shouting the loudest. They’ve intimidated the more moderate Muslims, and if anyone tries to interview a group of Muslims some rent-a-quote will push his way to the mic and declaim the received wisdom of the week. They’ve bullied their co-religionists. Someone has to stand against them.

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J.Cassian

February 4, 2006

Censoring the cartoons to protect the sensibilities of striking Iranian bus drivers? Isn’t this a bit like calling for “The Life of Brian” to be banned in 1981 to avoid offending the predominantly Catholic union Solidarity?

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