Temper Tantrums

Temper Tantrums
– or –
Some French Wine To Go With Your Raspberry Danish?
© 2006 Ross Williams

[Note: originally published Feb 4, but blogspot kept losing it.]

If Europe doesn't watch out, they're going to find themselves in hot water. Pan-islamists are ever so mad. Palestinians have thrown themselves to the ground and are kicking their feet and bawling. Morocco and Tunisia are pouting in their rooms. Pakistani juveniles have taken precious time from their regularly scheduled "Death to America" rally to stage a "Death to Denmark" rally. Iran is formally protesting to the EU – turnabout of a sort. Iraqi imams are exhorting Iraqis to protest in the streets. The Saudis recalled their ambassador to Denmark. Libya simply nailed their embassy shut. Even normally placid Jordan is using the opportunity to publicize "the extent of the Danish offense".

But it's not just Denmark where this something rotten is. France is implicated. So's Germany. And Norway. Citizens from these countries are warned that they are nearly as likely to be targets of pan-islamist hooliganism as Americans are.[1]

What did these nations do that it's now open season on their people? Did they implement American-style hegemonic imperialism? wage cultural war upon Greater Islamia by baking ham into danish pastries?

Nope.

A Danish newspaper dared – dared – to publish a political cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb for a turban.[2] Newspapers in France, Germany and Norway demonstrated free speech solidarity with their Danish cousins and reprinted the cartoon.[3]

I can see the muslim point.[4] How dare we in the West be so insensitive as to depict their religion's founder as being as murderous as their religion's adherents. After all, an idea isn’t responsible for the people who believe it.[5]

Oh, but wait. It wasn't that Mohammed was shown with a bomb for a hat; it's that Mohammed was shown, period.

That's rude. For some reason. It's culturally insensitive. It is, to muslims, equivalent to murdering random people on the street would be to us in the West.

Now, some folks will want to play devil's advocate – ironic turn of phrase – and plead the muslim case; they’d argue that I'm exaggerating somewhat. Publishing a picture of their prophet Mohammed is nothing like murdering random people on the street.

Then why are pan-islamists willing to equivocate one for the other? They are as much as declaring: “We’ll trade you an unflattering drawing of Mohammed for randomly murdered Westerners.” They are the ones setting the price. The cost of caricature is murdered Danes.

That’s what pan-islamists typically do after every outrage they suffer. Listen to their words whenever there’s another random Westerner murdered on the street. What excuse do they use? Essentially, whatever comes to mind.

To pan-islamists, everything is the equivalent of murdering random people on the street. Or on the high seas. Or anywhere else.

Europe used to know that. And not too long ago. For over a hundred years, France was subjected to random bombings by "Algerian" nationalists – even after Algeria gained independence. Why? Because, to pan-islamists, the price of France forcibly curtailing Barbary Piracy on the high seas by occupying the territory that spawned it was murdering random people on French streets.

I may have mentioned this before, but pan-islamists need no excuse to wage war on the West. To them, everything is an excuse. Sell cosmetics in muslim countries: cultural warfare; time to fight. Show Hollywood movies: cultural warfare; time to fight. Dare to be a more successful economic power: hegemonic imperialism; time to fight. Support Israel: Western crusading; time to fight. Whisper the words "self-determination" or "democracy" in a culture built upon the political model of theocratic, despotic fascism: Western crusading and hegemonic imperialism and cultural warfare: time to fight.

It’s an excuse du jour. Support Israel; support the Shah; do enough business with tribal leaders of the Saud family that the Sauds come to rely upon those profits and cater to the West; defend the Sauds; defend the Sauds by putting soldiers in Saudi Arabia; treat war captives rudely; interrogate them by having women ask the questions; put their koran on a toilet seat; lock up their women[6] ... or draw pictures of Mohammed.

We're only a half-generation removed from the celebrated fatwah on Salman Rushdie who[7] dared to write a novel critical of islamist theo-fascist philosophy. Pan-islamists again set the price: the equivalent cost of political criticism is murdering the political critic on the street.

Yes, individual acts of such desperate immaturity take place in the West and by Westerners, but it's rare that the ill-behaved brat is viewed as anything but a criminal. In muslim-dominated nations, he's celebrated. No matter his justification. Anything and everything works. No excuse is unworthy. The egalitarianism of infantility.

Parents of toddlers are fully aware of this behavior pattern. They encounter it every day. But since most toddlers aren't armed with anything more lethal than a fistful of SpaghettiOs®, the results are typically different. The methodology is identical.

Both the pan-islamist and the toddler expect certain things to be provided to them – Western capitulation to their whims or a later bedtime. When those things are not delivered, a temper tantrum ensues. First is the pouting and the wailing and the issuing of demands. "I wanna watch TV!!" "Apologize!!"

Next come the threats. "I won't love you anymore!!" "We will kidnap you!!"

Then come the acts of juvenile destruction. The SpaghettiOs® get flung. The random Westerner gets kidnapped – and a significant number of these get murdered.

The parent who capitulates to the child is the one who loses the battle of wills. The child grows into a demanding spoiled teenager. The nation which capitulates to the demands of the pan-islamist infant is the nation which loses the war. The pan-islamists turn into demanding and spoiled political leaders.

There are a number of things I find darkly amusing about these events. Most notably, and not to put too fine a point on it, I tolja so. This is exactly what I've been saying pan-islamists do, and now they're doing it again. Violence and threatened violence over trivialities. They want to have a war between Greater Islamia and all the infidels in non-islamia[8], and they're going to have one. They'll use any and every excuse to agitate themselves into a war. It's time for people in the West to stop deluding themselves and recognize what's going on. The sooner the better... for everyone involved.

Second, many individual agencies in Europe have already capitulated in this round.[9] The original Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, cravenly apologized – though that is unsatisfactory to the infant imams, who want the Danish government to apologize on behalf of all Danes. The Danish Prime Minister, who has a spine, refuses. The French newspaper France Soir has fired the editor who reprinted the horribly offensive cartoon. France, France, France ... for once you stood up on your own two feet, only to have the demon of Vichy drive you back to your knees. Why does this not surprise me?[10]

Third, I understand it’s culturally insensitive to depict the founder of their religion in a drawing; they believe it can lead to idolatry. But it is a cherished tradition in our culture to mock leaders, all leaders, religious or political or those who are both, dead or alive, in caricature. We do it to our own leaders – and they do too, by the way – so why shouldn’t we do it to theirs? By denying us our own cultural imperative – which in this case consists of being culturally insensitive to them – they are being culturally insensitive to us. Their culture is more important to them than ours is. Neener. But our culture is more important to us than theirs is. Neener neener.

Okay, we’ve demonstrated that we can each stick out our tongues. Can we be done now?

Fourth, most of the petulant grousing, and nearly all of the threats, is coming out of Palestine.[11] Palestine, which gets hundreds of millions of dollars a year from the EU is now threatening the EU. Palestine, which recently elected Hamas hooligans to run their, um, "country", and which the EU considers a terrorist organization and refuses to aid it, is now threatening the EU. Palestine, which desperately needs to continue receiving European money and which might not receive that money anyway because it elected Hamas, is threatening the EU and thus endangering their funding a second time over.

Who, besides me, can spot the whiny, bratty, pre-teen who won’t clean his room or take out the garbage but demands to host an unchaperoned party with 100 of his closest friends and a bigger allowance anyway? Children are notoriously incapable of determining which side of the bread is buttered. It doesn’t matter how old the children are, or what culture they come from.

Who, besides me, is willing to predict that mommy and daddy EU, threatened with the kidnapping and murder of their own citizens and diplomats, will turn right around and raise its allowance, leave the house for the teenagers’ party, and leave the liquor cabinet unlocked to boot?

And who, besides me, is willing to further predict that it won't matter in the long run? Pan-islamists are going to continue to fling themselves to the ground, kick their feet, bawl and carry on like the infantile brats they are, even after getting their way yet again, and in a year, five years, twenty years will stage just one too many temper tantrums and get sent to their rooms.

Yes, eventually, even the Europeans are going to understand – once again – that being the mature one in the house doesn't mean squat if you can't, don't or won't enforce maturity on everyone else in the house. I just hope Europe hasn't forgotten that a good spanking before sending the brat to his room often works wonders.




[1] http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,183551,00.html
[2] The cartoon[s] are located here: http://www.faithfreedom.org/Gallery/Mo_Cartoons.jpg
Come get me, pan-islamists.
[3] It’s time to buy french bread, danish pastries, German beer … but I’m drawing the line at Norwegian pickled herring.
[4] …if I tilt my head way over to the side, cross my eyes, cross my fingers, give myself a lobotomy and wish real hard
[5] Richard Bach, in his book One, I believe
[6] it's ironic to me that a culture that subsists on locking up their women on a daily basis in thousands of ways is offended by Americans locking up a handful of their women who've been aiding terrorists
[7] gasp!!!
[8] "If they want a war of religions, we are ready," Hassan Sharaf, an imam in Nablus, said in his sermon. http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/03/cartoon.wrap.friday.ap/index.html
[9] At least one US news agency has preemptively surrendered: “CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.”
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/03/cartoon.wrap.reut/index.html
[10] Actually, the owner of this froggish newspaper is an Egyptian, but it gives me the opportunity to reflexively tweak France. The French media and government officials have been extremely critical of the pan-islamist nonsense – for once – and need to be congratulated. I’ve bought a bottle of French Beaujolais.
[11] "Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of others in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah chanted.
An imam at the Omari Mosque in Gaza City told 9,000 worshippers that those behind them should have their heads cut off.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/02/03/cartoon.wrap.friday.ap/index.html

Not to be too smug, or anything, but to all those people who claim no connection whatsoever between Hussein and bin Laden … Hussein was the patron of Hamas, that’s factually undeniable. Hamas loves bin Laden. Do you really need to get beaten over the head with reality? Pan-islamists do not discern meaningful differences between their factionalism when it comes to their relationship to the West. The longer we see differences between them that they don’t even acknowledge, we’re going to be playing catch-up. They see themselves at war with us – all of them against all of us. Many in the West insist on seeing a difference between “good terrorists” and “bad terrorists”. That is a recipe for failure.