One thing that makes me nervous about some of the people making the loudest anti-Muslim noises in the latest culture war is that they're the same folk who were desperate to interpret last year's riots in France as an "intifada" before any firm evidence was in. I'm no expert; all I wanted was some solid proof. All I got, for the most part, was rumour.
So while we stand up to the lunatics who are burning flags or chanting about beheading infidels, maybe we should avoid thinking of the Muslim world as some grim, monolithic force. Here's Lounsbury, over at 'Aqoul:
The easy characterisation of "Muslim Anger"...that one can get from much reporting (and even more frankly Islamophobic commentary, especially online blogging) is exaggerated. Overall, it strikes me that the idle reader (or slanted reader) can easily get an impression of massive protests everywhere and "millions" in the Muslim world out there are howling for blood. Rather, it is largely the usual extremist suspects howling for blood.
Are there too many? Yes, but getting the impression millions of Muslims are storming embassies and calling for death is an exaggeration that plays into the hands of the extremists who of course desperately want this to be true...
Is there really a silent majority out there? Lounsbury thinks so:
...There is that vast devout middle that is at once horrified of the bloody-mindedness of the Zarqawis and the Emirs who turned Algeria into a killing field, but also distrusts the West. Distrusts the West for the feeling that somehow the West, in its entirety, is "against" them and their form of piety...
Take a look, too, at Tariq Ramadan's op-ed. Yes, I know he's been accused of double-talk and having a hidden Islamist agenda, but we can argue about that later, can't we? This piece, at least, seems a reasoned plea for tolerance:
In the case of these cartoons - as clumsy as they are idiotic and malicious - it would have been, and it would remain, preferable if Muslims expressed their values and grievances to the public at large without clamour, better if they paused until such a time as calm was possible. Instead, what is welling up today within some Muslim communities is as unproductive as it is insane...
However, it is just as excessive and irresponsible to invoke the "right to freedom of expression" - the right to say anything, in any way, against anybody. Freedom of expression is not absolute. Countries have laws that define the framework for exercising this right and which, for instance, condemn racist language.
Then there's this Pickled Politics essay by (non-Muslim) British novelist Hari Kunzru. Perhaps we shouldn't read too much into his observations of Danish society, based as they are on a brief visit. He's also very much a right-on sort of guy. But at least he's been to Denmark. (I haven't. Have you?) So maybe his thoughts about the pariochialism and xenophobia he encountered are worth considering. Not that he has any time for the demonstrators either: "No one should be getting on their high horse about religious offense unless they’re also prepared to be equally vehement about Muslim anti-semitism."
Even more interesting, really, are the points made lower down by the commenter who visited Denmark to write a travel article:
I was totally surprised at the level of racism in Copenhagen - it has the tensest racial atmosphere of any European capital I’ve visited.
But it cuts both ways. First, you have to realise why the native Danes are so angry and nervous (and they are). They feel threatened by the Muslims for all the reasons you state - they are used to being a relatively homogenous country, safe in their Nordic hideaway - but for other reasons too. One main one is language.
Danish is a tiny language. Only the Danes (and the Greenlanders?) keep it alive. But the Muslim immigrants don’t bother to learn it. And why should they? Every Dane speaks English, so the immigrants can get by in English (much more useful all round, as well) and of course their own tongue.
But the Danes REALLY resent this. Because they think it is leading to the death of their language/culture, and because they think it disrespectful of the host culture, and because they think it shows an unwillingness to assimilate. You have to see their point, even if it is oversensitive...Moreover, the Muslims have reacted to their unhappy welcome with racism of their own.
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