Finley: Coddling of Islam fueled Paris attack Nolan Finley, The Detroit News 9:59 a.m. EST January 12, 2015 Part of the entrance fee into a free society is acceptance that while you have the right to believe as you choose, you have no right to expect others will share or even respect those beliefs. No one should expect to come to a new place and say, "I'm here now, so you change who you are to accommodate me." Newcomers can and certainly do add beneficial cultural layers to a diverse society. But when they demand that their new home become just like the one they left, it sets up inevitable clashes. Paris saw the most deadly version of that dynamic last week, when two armed Islamic radicals stormed through the offices of a satirical newspaper and murdered 12 people. The jihadists claimed to be avenging the Prophet Muhammad, a frequent target of the publication's cartoonists and writers. Much of the content of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper is vile and disgusting. It features grotesque drawings and inflammatory, irreverent articles that often appear at the most inappropriate times. It is an equal opportunity offender with a particular fondness for skewering religion, targeting Muslims, Christians and Jews alike. But it is most relentless in poking Islam, likely because that's where it gets the greatest reaction. Satirists have no fun if their victims don't howl. As a result, Charlie Hebdo staffers have been under a continuous death threat and its offices were firebombed in 2011. And yet it has never backed down. That's a show of journalistic courage rare today. The newspaper, as crude as it is, understands what too few do: Bowing to bullies and acquiescing to their irrational demands only invites more of the same. Europe has spent much of the past two decades frantically trying to avoid conflict with its growing Muslim population. It has tried to shield them from insult, bent its rules so they wouldn't have to assimilate to European norms, allowed them to live separate from mainstream society, ignored their anti-semitism and welcomed their religion into the public square. And still it constantly harbors the fear that even the slightest offense will invite another terrorist bombing. When courage is demanded, it cowers. In 2006, after an assassination attempt on Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard by Islamic radicals for drawing images of Muhammad in an archaic affront to the religion, most European newspapers refused to reprint the cartoons, afraid they would provoke more violence. (Most American publications, including this one, refused as well, to our shame.) Every newspaper in the free world should have published those cartoons, which were a legitimate news item and well within our standards of good taste (see example here). Instead, we granted Islam a concession we wouldn't consider for any other religion. (emphasis added) I wonder if last week's rampage would have happened if Charlie Hebdo weren't so alone in its willingness to goad Islam. If the press took off the kid gloves and treated Islam the way it does Christianity and Judaism, would the target have been too big? That's what should happen coming out of this tragedy. It's the only way to honor the martyred journalists. ----------------------------- The writer maintains that we should treat Islam exactly the same as "we" -the press is what he means- treat all other religions. In the past that kind of policy would have made perfectly good sense. But that time has come and gone. We should treat Islam differently. We should condemn it loudly and unequivocally, we should subject it to every conceivable legitimate criticism for all of the misery and violence that has been carried out in its name not only since 9/11 but well before that, extending to the time of Muhammad himself when he butchered Jewish tribes in Arabia who would not convert to his (vile and sick) religion. Pretending that Islam is a religion like all other faiths, worth respect, is unjustifiable and always has been even if, once upon a time, the threat of Communism coerced millions of Muslims to behave like civilized human beings to assure alliances with the West. But that day has passed and "real Islam" is back again, as violent as it has always been, as morally repellent, and as anti-liberal as ever, and anti-free speech, and anti all values cherished by conservatives. Islam is the enemy of all other religions and the enemy of civilization itself. It is time we stood up and said so. Islam is antithetical to everything America is all about, and as Americans we should oppose toleration for this travesty of a religion. Billy R
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