John Robson posted an opinion piece in the National Post and it illustrates the fact that Islamophobia is the irrational fear of Islam.
“London’s prestigious Saatchi Gallery just covered up some paintings that offended religious sensibilities.”
Whose, you might ask? Muslims. Seems they were offended by a painting by “SKUstyle.”
The “offending” images, superimposing Arabic script on naked people, “were meant to represent the conflict between America and Islamic extremists.”
This modern art included the “shahada” or “declaration of faith”: “There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God.”
“According to The Times the dispute was perfectly civil and principled. ‘The gallery rejected calls to remove the paintings on the grounds it wanted visitors to see the works and come to their own conclusions.’ But then the artist asked that they be covered as ‘a respectful solution that enables a debate about freedom of expression versus the perceived right not to be offended,’ and the gallery agreed.”
Submission. Dhimmitude. The exact response demanded by Islam.
Notes had been sent to the gallery suggesting that the painting was unacceptable. Usama Hasan, head of Islamic studies at the British think-tank Quilliam, had opined that “the paintings were not only offensive but blasphemous and sacrilegious. ‘They are really dangerous. It’s The Satanic Verses all over again.’”
For those unfamiliar with the Satanic Verses, the author, Salman Rushdie, was accused of blasphemy and unbelief by Islam and a fatwa was placed on his head. A death threat that came with a $6 million bounty on him
As Robson noted “such notes from Christians usually go straight into the wastebasket.” But not these. These “notes” require a response.
And Robson wrote:
“And while you can dump a crucifix in urine and make out like a bandit, you can’t … you know … do anything that offends a Muslim.”
He then asks my favourite question: “Why not?”
And my answer is the irrational fear of Islam promoted by Progressives in government and the media; trained, like Pavlovian dogs, not to insult Mohammed or any teachings of Islam; often because of a fear of a backlash; from Islam. That sentiment is irrational: it leads to censorship, too often self-inflicted; when to fear some of Islam’s teachings is rational.
How many politicians and journalists are aware of the hate for the other that is shared by Imams in mosques all over the world; and that includes here in Canada. Robson gave one example. “The Qur’an is pretty harsh about the Trinity: “whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden paradise” (Sura 5:72). Read more here.
To be so afraid of Islam that one appeases those who murder artists like Theo Van Gogh, is the result of the irrational fear of Islam. Let me remind you: “On November 2, 2004, a Dutch-Moroccan citizen named Mohammed Bouyeri shot van Gogh twice before slitting his throat. Witnesses said van Gogh’s throat was “cut like tire.” His film Submission, Part 1, which he made in collaboration with Hirsi Ali, based on her life story, “was not well received in the conservative Muslim community at the time of its release.”
Gogh had said he made the movie “to provoke discussion on the position of enslaved Muslim women. It’s directed at the fanatics, the fundamentalists.” Had this been about any other religion or ideology, do you think he would have been murdered?
And, hopefully, we have not forgotten the murder of the cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo for their depiction of Mohammed with a bomb. On 7 January 2015 at about 11:30 local time, two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Armed with rifles and other weapons, they killed 12 people and injured 11 others. Over a cartoon.
Try posting their cartoon on FB and you will be banned. Why? Because it offends Muslims. But posting offensive cartoons about others; no problem. No fear of being bombed or murdered. The New York Times had no fear of posting anti-Semitic cartoons.
Why not? Why did they have no fear of reprisals when they posted a truly despicable anti-Semitic cartoon that would have been welcomed in Nazi Germany?
If the West had had an irrational fear of Communism and Nazism as they have of Islam, where would we be today?
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
