We were already defending free speech in the way the Islamofascists fear most. Like this.
For the most part, we have completely blown it with respect to the Danish cartoons. We have taken the bait and run headlong into the battle the Islamofascists wanted to fight: a frontal attack on Islam.
It starts with knowing what we want. I would suggest that we want a peaceful, cooperative and constructive relationship with the Moslem world. We would like to engage in economic and cultural trade with them. Our actions suggest this. We have not sent the military into Iraq to steal their oil. We sent them into Iraq to help them build their oil infrastructure so they could sell the stuff on the open market.
Furthermore, we sent the military into Iraq to depose a bloodthirsty dictator, liberate a people and build a prosperous, stable, free, Moslem nation. I emphasize the religious part because, implicitly, that’s what we were doing. Iraq is a Moslem nation the way America is a Christian nation. We didn’t go to convert them like the Islamofascists claim; we went to help them be stronger, freer Moslems.
What we want is this:
What we want to stop is this:
Any act that doesn’t get us closer to our objective is either counterproductive or a waste of time. This is war and for those of us not at the front, the media, including the blogosphere, is our Victory Garden.
We have turned this into a defense of free speech. On some level, it is. But what do you think we were doing before? What do you call this?
Putting a crucifix in urine is free speech, too. Is that where we want to hold the debate? All across the blogosphere we have reprinted the cartoons. In the comments, trolls have flourished, pointing out or synopsizing passages from the Koran that suggest hideous things about the Prophet. Allow me to quote from Leviticus, part of the book that serves as the foundation of both Judaism and Christianity.
Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death. Anyone who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, life for life. Anyone who maims another, what he inflicted will be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; what injury he gave to another will be given to him. One who kills an animal shall make restitution for it; but one who kills a human being shall be put to death.
(Leviticus 24:17-21)
That’s not Mary Poppins, is it? And yet we respect learned scholars of Judaism to interpret those passages in a way that suggests that we don’t want to maim and slaughter our way to societal order. Have we done the same thing for the Koran?
Instead, we’re engaged in a war of images and words where each side races to hurl still worse insults at each other. Do you really want to spend your time in a discussion where Hitler is in bed with Anne Frank or the Prophet is committing bestiality? If this were a party, would you rush over to join in such a conversation? Would you care who was right or would you think that both sides were swine and move on to something more interesting?
The Islamofascists are going to incite violence. It’s their most effective weapon and their going to wield it as best they can. When they use it do this
they get enemies in the general population. When they use it to defend the Koran and the Prophet from Western libertines, they get recruits.
Let’s withdraw from Stalingrad before the trap closes around us all. The real battle is being won here:
What did you do to support the war today?
More dispatches from Stalingrad:
Michelle Malkin just sent more troops to take the heart of the city. Oh, this will work!
Powerline gives us evidence that we're losing ground in some sectors. Send in more troops!
Tigerhawk has an Instalinked post that discusses possible responses to the controversy. In it and the following discussion and comments, it's mentioned that the Pope disapproves of the Danish cartoons to which one commenter replies "F*** the Pope." Yay! Fratricide! Keep your eye on the ball, boys. We have met the enemy and he is us!
The American embassy in Indonesia has been attacked. Go team! Go back and look at the pictures of what we want to accomplish and ask yourself how those cartoons helped. Looks like we're deep into Stalingrad now. Time to deploy reinforcements and wage a defensive war against rioting mobs at our embassies. Hey, how about if we all publish new rounds of inflammatory cartoons? I'm just sure that will help rebuild the Afghan and Iraqi infrastructure and cut into support for the Islamofascists.
Dig this:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic hard-liners, virtually sealed off the capital and used gunfire and tear gas Sunday to quell protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Right on! Yep, that looks like a sure path to victory to me. Hmmm, there's a word for this. It's when the other side is getting what they want and you're not getting anything you want. Oh yeah, I remember now. It's called "getting your ass kicked."
You know, a photo of an unveiled Iraqi woman holding up a purple finger is considered blasphemous to the Islamofascists. Good thing we didn't run those and chose instead to show cartoons of Mohammed with bombs. It's a real pleasure to have the Danish cartoonists on our team. Thanks, guys.
Michelle Malkin shows a map giving us the path towards, er, victory? Well, in any case, it's too late to get out now. Call for reinforcements!
The great Uncle Jim partially misses the mark. Moslems in Iraq are giving good intel about al-Qaeda at great risk to themselves. Moslem leaders are playing both sides and the press is what it is. Meanwhile, the cartoons have been a disaster for our side!
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