MORE ON THE DANISH ROW

While I'm really not sure it was worthwhile reprinting those cartoons. (Why cause gratuitous offence? Sunny at Pickled Politics seems to feel the same way.) Stephen Pollard makes a fair point about the tone of the BBC's coverage. I was against the Beeb screening that mightily over-rated shockathon, Jerry Springer: The Opera, but I wouldn't have objected to Channel 4 running it. Definitely their sort of thing.

Just to take up one of the points reader Jamal made yesterday, it's true there have been some Islamophobic comments on this site. I've deleted one or two blatantly racist ones, but I've left others in as they're much more gung-ho silly than offensive. I'm not anti-Muslim at all, as I hope is obvious from a quick read of this blog. Anti-Islamist, yes. As are most Muslims, I should think.

The group blog 'Aqoul, which certainly has no truck with Islamophobia, runs this response to the Danish affair:

"In Iraq, thousands denounced the caricatures during Friday prayers."

What an excellent use of Friday prayers. Obviously the disrespect of some Danish cheese merchants are the most burning question for your worshippers. Not, say, the looming civil war or their coreligionists blowing up other factions of the same. No, some silly drawings (which I grant were offensive, but they're bloody little cartoons with some stupid little Danish paper) done thousands of miles away, and months ago, are obviously of graver danger

And this from one of the blog's Saudi-based contributors:

The gaggle of 'activists' (namely, bored housewives with no grasp or desire to grasp the fact that not all the world is actually under an Islamic monarchy, nor I would imagine, do they have a desire that their holiday destinations in Europe be run by The House of Saud) here in Riyadh have bombarded each other with text messages, e-mails and phone calls fanning the flames of a false sense of purpose and ironically manifesting a cultural arrogance and ethno-centrism equal to that which they are attacking.

Comments

[jamal]

Yes, I get many anti-muslim coments, which are in fact anti-islamist and sometimes incorrectly guided. Yes it was a waste of time reprinting the cartoons, except for thise that wanted to raise their publicity and perpetuate this affair.