It’s all the West’s fault!
Most commentary on the issue has been balanced but up until now I’ve not seen anyone basically blame the whole thing on the West, but thanks to Frog Blog we now have the wisdom of Keith Locke who without once condemning the extremists who burn embassies down, blames it on the West saying the cartoons are the straw that broke the camel’s back as Muslims living in the West have been subjected to excessive police attention and immigration checks since September 11.
Locke doesn’t even see the irony of his own words as he defends the global violence against the cartoons on the grounds that “Particularly hurtful has been the portrayal of Islam as a violent religion”!!!!!!!
Oh yes let’s object to being portrayed as violent by making death threats, burning embassies down and killing people who don’t do what we say. You know there is a better way to stop being portrayed as violent – stop being violent!!!
And let’s take this idiocy further. September 11 saw Muslim terrorists kill 3,000 people and Keith attacks the West for having increased immigration checks for Muslims.
A private Danish newspaper publishes a cartoon (note did not kill anyone) and Keith effectively defends Muslim radicals targetting all of Denmark to such a degree that all Danes have had to flee the Middle East to survive.
Well Keith you can’t have it both ways. You attack the West for generalising against Muslims yet you fail to say a word of condemnation against some Muslims generalising against all Danes.
I wonder if anyone can locate a single issue in the last 30 years where Keith has not blamed it on the West.
Oh and on the subject (as it is quoted by Frog Blog) I have to state my amazement at Radio NZ interviewing on the cartoons Russell Brown, Tom Frewen and Joris De Bres. I mean sure the Editors would not appear but how hard would it have been for Radio NZ to find even a single person who would say the Editors were right to publish. To be fair to Russell he was pretty balanced but nevertheless you had no-one giving a pro-publishing viewpoint. It was one of the most one-sided interviews I have ever heard.