We are all Danes now - The Boston Globe

We are all Danes now - The Boston Globe:

HINDUS CONSIDER it sacrilegious to eat meat from cows, so when a Danish supermarket ran a sale on beef and veal last fall, Hindus everywhere reacted with outrage. India recalled its ambassador to Copenhagen, and Danish flags were burned in Calcutta, Bombay, and Delhi. A Hindu mob in Sri Lanka severely beat two employees of a Danish-owned firm, and demonstrators in Nepal chanted: ''War on Denmark! Death to Denmark!'In many places, shops selling Dansk china or Lego toys were attacked by rioters, and two Danish embassies were firebombed.

It didn't happen, of course. Hindus may consider it odious to use cows as food, but they do not resort to boycotts, threats, and violence when non-Hindus eat hamburger or steak. They do not demand that everyone abide by the strictures of Hinduism and avoid words and deeds that Hindus might find upsetting. The same is true of Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Mormons: They don't lash out in violence when their religious sensibilities are offended. They certainly don't expect their beliefs to be immune from criticism, mockery, or dissent.

But radical Muslims do.

This is the first piece which puts it into real perspective here. The point, for me, is two-fold: firstly, no one is above criticism -- although some folks this week seem to have a great big chip on their shoulder and a goodly short fuse.

What gives them the right to be to above criticism -- or, in this case, mere mention? If you wish to convince me, you maybe should stop quoting verse from a religion of which I'm not a part. There you go. Stick to logic.

Yes. I thought so. Sit down. Please stay seated until you can prove you're better than the rest of us.

Make no mistake: This story is not going away, and neither is the Islamofascist threat. The freedom of speech we take for granted is under attack, and it will vanish if it is not bravely defended. Today the censors may be coming for some unfunny Mohammed cartoons, but tomorrow it is your words and ideas they will silence. Like it or not, we are all Danes now

It's too bad that Islam had such a great opportunity to look like peaceful, reasonable people. It's too bad they blew it so horribly, and have no alienated all of us who were not fortunate to have been muslim. While the Quran seems to consider us worthless infidels already, we hadn't yet taken offense. Now we see that we were expected to do so, because we see how quickly they react to so little provocation.

“Fighting is prescribed for you. . .it is good for you.” Koran 2:216.

Maybe we should have taken offense. Maybe I should refuse to do any business with a man or woman who has been ordered to consider themselves above me. Is it prejudice, or is it just a natural reaction to their prejudice?

You pick. I don't care either way. My views have been changed, and today I am a Dane. Either prove you're above me, or treat me with the kindness and manners which are appropriate, which is to say allow me to criticise you as you've criticised me.

It's only fair.