[lit-ideas] Demand Apology from Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc.
- From: Eric Yost <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 04:35:31 -0500
This polemic is just so excellent and to the point
that I couldn't resist posting it in full. -Eric
"What next, bearded one?"
Our traditional values have been trampled on and
we are offended. A wake-up call.
By Sonia Mikich
I feel offended.
Zealots are nailing veils onto the faces of my
sisters in Afghanistan and Pakistan and are busy
hanging women, homosexuals, adulterers and
non-believers.
But human rights, women's rights and the right to
liberty are the most exalted in the history of
humanity; this is the tradition in which I was
raised. Values that make the world better and more
peaceful.
I demand that the governments of Saudi Arabia,
Palestine, Indonesia and Egypt apologise to me.
Otherwise I am unfortunately forced to threaten,
beat up, kidnap or behead their citizens. Because
I am somewhat sensitive about my cultural identity.
I feel offended.
Fanatics are blowing up the Buddhas of Bamiyan,
marvellous cultural monuments.
But art is an expression of universal beauty and
innocence to me. It is a value that makes the
world better and more peaceful.; this is the
tradition in which I was raised.
I demand that Hamas, the spokesman of the French
Muslims and the Director of the
Al-Azhar-University apologise to me. Otherwise I
will never spend a holiday at the Taj Mahal, I
will call for a boycott of Palestinian fruit and I
will set the embassies of Tunisia, Qatar and
Bangladesh on fire.
I expect understanding for this at the very least
– my feelings are absolute and must be expressed
globally.
I feel offended.
Videos show journalists, truck drivers and NGO
workers having their throats slit or their heads
chopped off. Jews see themselves represented as
cannibals and pigs, Western women as decadent
sluts. Apolitical engineers have to fear for their
lives.
All in the name of God.
I demand that all the editors in chief of
newspapers and television broadcasters in the
Islamic world apologise to me, because they do
nothing to prevent these obscenities.
Many people are concerned that the clash of
civilisation is near. Oh please, it has been going
on for a while now, not only manifest in the
monstrosities mentioned above but part of everyday
life. How fragile, how superficial must Muslims'
religious values be. How can cartoons in an
unknown newspaper in a little European country
cause such an upset and allow a handful of
organised agitators to be able to drive many
thousands onto the streets.
Joking how the prophet Mohammed is running out of
virgins because so many suicide bombers are
standing at the gates of paradise is dark and
mean. And, given the reality of global attacks,
lamentably effective (just as a side note). But I
did not find it especially funny that the
misogynous Taliban availed themselves regularly of
prostitutes. Or publicly "executed" video
recorders and televisions in order to watch pornos
in privacy.
Just a reminder: the earth is not flat. It should
go without saying that individuals in a secular
democracy have every right to caricature and mock
authorities, even religious ones. They should be
prepared to meet criticism but not punishment.
Freedom of expression has to be understood broadly
and there are sufficient laws and rules that can
be employed to prevent abuse.
The film "The Life of Brian" annoyed a lot of
Christians and provoked letters to editors, calls
for boycotts and quarrels within families. But
nobody in New Zealand suspected a conspiracy
against Christianity, nobody in Malta felt
compelled to burn the Union Jack. Nor do political
authorities have a natural right to protection.
Margaret Thatcher was chopped to bits by British
journalists, comedians and screenwriters and then
put back together in a ghastly way; it was good
for the mental sanity of that era and did not kill
anyone.
Everyone had the right to turn it off, look away
or toss the newspaper in the bin. Freedom of
opinion was the Siamese twin of freedom from fear.
The fact that fundamentalists of all persuasions
are completely incapable of self-reflection,
self-criticism, and self-irony would not warrant a
mention, were it not for their practice of
imposing their issues on me and my world. They
assume that we will kowtow to them as soon as we
recognise who they are: "Look out! Religious
feelings! We're leaving the private sphere."
In the self-referential world of God or Allah or
Jahwe warriors, feelings are increasingly used as
weapons and honoured as the highest authority.
Readily summoned, merciless.
In the debate over the cartoons, the prohibition
of pictures is being presented as a compulsory
principle of belief. To be respected everywhere,
even in the state of Denmark.
It gives pause to think that those who claim to be
offended are so proficient with the Internet and
other modern communication technologies but know
little about their own cultural history. In
Islam's heydey, pictures were made of the Prophet.
Mohammed lightly veiled, for instance, on a horse
riding to heaven – a wonderful Persian miniature
in the Chester-Beatty-Museum in Dublin. (more)
What next, bearded one? Boycott Irish butter?
I do not have to concern myself with the sales
figures of Danish yoghurt. I am not easy to
blackmail and I am free to find Immanuel Kant's
"sapere aude" more conducive to successful
communal living than a Fatwa.
I hereby refuse to feel badly for the chronically
insulted. I refuse to argue politely why freedom
of expression, reason and humour should be
respected. I do not want to continue to have to
provide creationists scientific proof that the
earth has been around for more than 10 000 years.
And I am going to stop waiting for them to say on
Al Jazeera, "Did you ever hear the one about the
Prophet's beard?"
*
Sonia Mikich, born 1951 in Oxford, is a television
and print journalist. She hosts WDR's political
magazine "Monitor."
http://www.signandsight.com/features/597.html
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