The Energizer Cartoon

The Energizer® Cartoon
© 2006 Ross Williams

I’ve got to admit, I was expecting this whole tempest in a toilet to dissipate by now – to be flushed, as it were. Much as the “koran abuse” issue has been flushed. …also, as it were.

But it just keeps going… and going… and going.

State-owned television in Syria and Iran have been reporting that the cartoons were published by the Danish government, not a privately-owned Danish newspaper. The concept of private ownership is a Western decadence we all suffer under. We can understand their confusion.

Let’s briefly review the history of this titanic struggle. In September 2005 a Danish newspaper, hearing that a children’s book author couldn’t get illustrators for a book about Mohammed because the illustrators were afraid of muslim reprisal[1] the newspaper asked broadly if the West was self-censoring out of fear, and requested political cartoonists to caricaturize Mohammed to illustrate the point.

Twelve of the cartoons were published, many of which intimated that islam is a religion of violence, and one of which suggested Mohammed is the ringleader of the violence.

As we know, the strident areas of islamic control have rioted and fire-bombed.

In other words, they object to the Western perspective that islam is largely violent, and to… um… “illustrate” that point, they respond violently.

Boy, that sure showed us, huh? Don’t we all feel silly now?

At any rate, it was a Danish newspaper that originally published the cartoons. It is understandable that muslims who don’t appreciate unflattering depictions of their religion or the blasphemous depictions of their religion’s founder would object to all things Danish.

The cartoons were later reprinted in Norway, Germany and France. It is understandable that offended muslims would protest the Norwegian, German and French things as well.

The cartoons were not reprinted in Austria, yet the Austrians are also being protested.

…an Austrian is currently the President of the EU, which is supposed to be responsible for all things that come out of Europe. We’re now getting into the territory of irrational extensions to what might be considered sound infantilism.

I’ve previously asserted that pan-islamists need no reason to wage war against the West; they’ve been waging war virtually non-stop for 1,300 years, and they’re going to use any excuse to do it. Cartoons as causus belli is fairly grasping. I’ve also declared that the rationalizing weenies in the West need to wake up and understand that this pan-islamist excuse-grasping is actually occurring – listen to their words, for godsake, if you don’t want to believe me; pan-islamists are actually saying this for themselves.

Now let’s review our own nation’s role in this.

The US has declared that publishing the cartoons was irresponsible in the first place. In other words, the US sided, in word if not deed, with the muslim rioters.

And today we get this.[2]

The Danes started this; it was fueled by Norway, Germany and France. So here’s what Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had to say about it: "But let (U.S. President) George Bush and the arrogant world know that if we have to ... we will defend our prophet with our blood, not our voices.”

How did we get mixed up in this? We very specifically avoided complicity.

But Nasrallah throws Uncle Sam out with the bathwater: "Defending the prophet should continue worldwide, let (U.S. Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice, Bush and all the tyrants shut up.”

Again, the reason the US is mixed up in this is that the philosophy of The US is Always Wrong is not confined to American neophytes. The US is, at this moment in history, the top dog in the junkyard. Alpha-nation. It is human psycho-sociology to knock the king off the hill. For no other reason than that we will always find smaller nations grumbling about US primacy.

Also, we’ll find other former top dogs grousing about us. …France.

That much is a given. In addition to that basic reality, you’ve got the mindset of the Middle Eastern peoples having a huge grudge against “the West”. And it far pre-dates the Crusades. It predates Alexander the Great, also.

Then, there is the religious tomfoolery to consider. Islam was built on the point of a sword. It calls itself the “religion of peace” but that is only when they are in charge. Their theology has written into it that islam is predestined to rule the world – the islamic messiah[3], the “Mahdi”, is prophesied to lead islam to world domination. For 1,200 years, that was taken literally, and still is among most of the muslims. It is only in the last century that “moderate islam” has suggested that “ruling the world” might be metaphorical. Luckily for us, most of the moderate muslims live in the West, and most of them in the West live in the US and Canuckia.

So we’re to blame because we’re the most powerful nation; we’re to blame because we’re a Western nation; we’re to blame because we’re a christian nation.

They were bound to blame us eventually.

In a way, I’m surprised it took them this long. Normally, “US” stands for “usual suspect”. Anything goes wrong in the third world, blame the US. As long as the US is the pre-eminent world power, that will be the way it works.

Denmark offends Greater Islamia. Denmark is in Europe and Europe is “the West”. The most powerful nation in “the West” is the US, so blame the US. The buck stops here.

Muslims dodging responsibility for their hooliganism by randomly assigning blame to others is understandable – to the degree that childish petulance is understandable. I understand my kids; I don’t let them get away with being brats [often], but I understand them.

What’s so hard to understand? My kids are children. Duh. Pan-islamists have been acting like children for 1,300 years. They’re culturally childish and irresponsible.

And they’re flailing: "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy George Bush. Destroy America," some of the protesters shouted.[4]

You couldn’t ask for a more succinct roadmap through their childish worldview. No matter the outrage, blame Israel and the US – usually in that order. No matter the provocation, the solution is destruction. The cartoons simply put that in a thousand words.

I can see where they’d be offended that others see this in them. Bothers my kids, too.



[1] Salmon Rushdie and Theo Van Gogh, anyone?
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/02/09/cartoon.protests/index.html
[3] no, Mohammed isn’t the messiah, just a prophet
[4] http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/02/10/cartoon.protests/index.html