You may remember seeing these photographs in The New York Times, Washington Post, or your state capital's largest news publication early February, 2006.
Maybe you saw the footage of these protesters in the U.K. on MSNBC, CBS, or FOX news, shouting angry threats at the Western world over the re-publication of cartoons Muslims found offensive.
Originally printed in the Danish newspaper 'Jyllends-Posten' on September, 30 2005, the twelve cartoons seemed to cause problems, calling muslim leaders to gather and angrily decry the 'Blasphemy'. In late January of 2006 the Norwegian Christian newspaper 'Magazinet', and the newspaper website of 'Dagbladet', also based in Norway, caused the outcry you may remember so much about, as it's images flooded the U.S. press from coast to coast and border to border.
Doesn't ring a bell? You certainly remember the talk, as there was much over weeks. What about the cartoons? Do you remember those appearing in Time, Life, and The New Yorker? The one of the prophet Muhammad, his turban a bomb? The other eleven?There is a reason you do not.
These images were deleted from every aspect of the U.S. press, as not to upset the Muslim world any further. Imagine the United States bowing to the possibility of the rage of Islam, 'the religion of peace'. So much so that the freedom of the press to depict the truth of the situation in Europe was abrogated.
Were it not for the Internet, the images worth one thousand words each if fair market value still holds, would have most likely not been presented here. Carefully read the signs of these peaceful people and study their faces, those peaceful enough not to have concealed themselves for fear of recognition (other than those who may be women. Some,who as a cultural practice wear burkas) This is the face of Radical Islam.
Several moderate Muslim leaders from countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan have stated that the 'Radical Muslim' population is only about one per cent. Bear in mind these countries are not democracies and are to one degree or another if not completely. Muslim theocracies.
The European Union's estimated population as of January, 1 2007 is four-hundred and ninety million. of this an estimated four to five percent are Muslim, giving us a rough figure of fifteen to twenty million practicing Muslims among the E.U.'s twenty-seven member states. So according to Moderate Muslim leaders there are approximately one million, five-hundred thousand, to two million practicing Muslims who could be considered to be 'Radical' by Muslim standards.
Radical is a multi -toned word. Once, an out of controlled child in a supermarket who got a well deserved swat on the behind was considered to be 'receiving discipline'. Now such a 'Radical' action can bring about a lawsuit and destroy a family in the name of the 'child's rights' should the ACLU get involved. There was a time when speaking out in protest against our own government was considered 'Radical', even illegal depending on what you said.
We find in America today, in many states if not all, you can be jailed and charged for just the threat of murder. The freedom of speech most
Western countries enjoy does not mean you can shout "Bomb" on a crowded plane at twenty thousand feet. Threatening to murder another three thousand civilians, or even more atrocious, to advocate the slaughter of another six million people for any reason certainly qualifies as 'Radical' with prejudice.
While we realize the cartoons were not published in America, though there were many who wished they were, and the protests and violence they were responded to with did not happen on our streets, or even offend our delicate senses via most forms of public media, they do with crystal clarity show the hatred of lethal intent by a portion of a religious culture toward anyone and anything it deems unacceptable.
We have had the earth shaken under our feet, the sky blackened with soot and our eyes filled with the tears of agony and loss by that one per cent, and one wonders what else we are being kept in the dark about as a nation, by the fear of those in control on our portion of the earth, that we may not further disturb such a peaceful system of belief as Islam. We can ponder these things as we go about our privileged lives, content with what we are fed daily by the news and try to think of peaceful things, and put our thoughts elsewhere. We can oppose and protest a war we at home are not personally watching our fellow soldier die or be maimed in. We can argue all the what if's our minds can handle.
This is where the enemy wants us most, and where we as a divided nation, and a divided culture are most happy to oblige because it keeps our nose out of the truth, which sometimes smells less like flowers than we would like. Things at a distance do not appear as clearly as we would think, and the faster they come at us the harder it is to make a decision about where we stand. Islam is the worlds fastest growing religion, and at least one per cent of Muslims have told us in no uncertain terms how they feel publicly, and loudly so we can not say we did not know. As of July, 2007 the population of the United States is a little over three hundred million.
