Bill Clinton's take on the Danish Mohammed cartoons

[Domitan]

Former US president Bill Clinton warned of rising anti-Islamic prejudice, comparing it to historic anti-Semitism as he condemned the publishing of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper.

"So now what are we going to do? ... Replace the anti-Semitic prejudice with anti-Islamic prejudice?" he said at an economic conference in the Qatari capital of Doha.

None of us are totally free of stereotypes about people of different races, different ethnic groups, and different religions ... there was this appalling example in northern Europe, in Denmark ... these totally outrageous cartoons against Islam," he said.

Clinton criticised the tendency to generalise negative news of Islamic militancy.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/060130151546.v8vrasnt.html

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Yesterday I went on FreeRepublic and saw many backlashes against Rice for her department's condemnation of these cartoons. I bet many here will decry Clinton's condemnation here. The last few days I've been sensing these peculiar feelings of "strange bedfellowship" between many on the hard right and left on this Mohammed cartoon uproar.

[Catch22Dem]

1. These cartoons bother me about as much as...

cartoons about Jeebus. I could NOT care less.

[joeybee12]

2. The scary thing is the vast majority protesting haven't seen the

cartoons...they're just rioting because their leaders are telling them to. Most of the cartoons are fairly benign, although a couple could be seen as anti-Islam.

[Domitan]

4. Check out Juan Cole's commentary

http://www.juancole.com/2006/02/muslim-protests-against-anti-muhammad.html

Westerners cannot feel the pain of Muslims in this instance. First, Westerners mostly live in secular societies where religious sentiments have themselves been marginalized. Second, the Muslims honor Moses and Jesus, so there is no symmetry between Christian attacks on Muhammad and Muslim critiques of the West. No Muslim cartoonist would ever lampoon the Jewish and Christian holy figures in sacred history, since Muslims believe in them, too, even if they see them all as human prophets. Third, Westerners have the security of being the first world, with their culture coded as "universal," and widely respected and imitated. Cultures like that of the Muslims in the global South receive far less respect. Finally, societies in the global South are less policed and have less security than in Western Europe or North America, allowing greater space to violent vigilateism, which would just be stopped if it were tried in the industrialized democracies. (Even wearing a t-shirt with the wrong message can get you arrested over here.)


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While I admire Juan Cole, I'm disappointed in his lack of condemnation of the violent reactions. I appreciate his showing us the Muslim perspective and the oppression that goes on around the world, but I take issue with his insinuation that some censorship is necessary. The firebombs, the calls for beheadings and death...utterly unacceptable, no matter what!

[lvx35]

3. I don't think there should be such an uproar.

The cartoons were in bad taste...Of course no expression, including them should be banned, but I think people are right for condemning them. But why dignify them by fixating on them so damn much? Whenever something like this goes down, I wonder what great charity, what scientific discovery, what heroic sacrifices for a better world are remaining uncovered by the media and unknown while everybody hoolars about mohammed with a bomb on his head.

[Virginia Dare]

5. Radical extremism exists in every religion, it should not be legitimized

in any secular society. But Bill Clinton is correct in saying that there is an anti-Islamic climate in the world right now.

[_TJ_]

6. Get your damn priorities straight Clinton!

Offensive cartoons are bad but not illegal.

Burning embassies is VERY, VERY BAD, and ILLEGAL, and an act of WAR.

Why didn't he criticise the maniacs burning foreign embassies
in Damascus and Beirut?

Why are his priorities so backwards?

[Solo_in_MD]

9. I am very disappointed in Clinton for his statement

But he clearly has to be innocuous to protect Hillary.

[beyurslf]

7. I believe in freedom of speech and expression. I don't care if someone's

religion is offended by it.

[Missy M]

8. I think the cartoons caused exactly the reaction the originators...

wanted. But I still defend free speech.

[Neil Lisst]

10. Anti-Israel cartoons in Islamic nations are ten times as bad!

Once again, too many in the Muslim world are highly offended by anything which points out the problem with radical Islam, but don't tend to their own excesses.

Over and over, Islam gives a pass to its crazies, but throws a hissy fit over anything it deems offensive to Islam.

The answer is simple. Either accept the freedoms in Europe and the West or don't come here! We're not going to go back to the 13th century with them.