First of a statement of my views in this matter; Ever since Jyllands Posten – www.jp.dk – decided to print the Mohammed cartoons in 2005 I’ve been in favor of this. Danish freedom of speech applies in Denmark and nowhere else, and as such we cannot tolerate that religious, political or any other dogma influences Danish legislation. We have a judicial branch in Denmark separated from religious influence and are to follow international laws and conventions, but through centuries of debating and development of our society we’ve come to accept that no one, with no(!) exception (The Queen – or King, whichever is present, our Prime minister, famous writers, sports stars, the religious organizations ect.) can avoid to be to be mocked or made fun of, this is a cornerstone of our freedom of speech. Only when such statements are of a libellous nature, then the attacked may plead his case to the court and whatever ruling is to be followed. I support the printing of these cartoons, the drawers, the papers that printed them as support later on. This isn’t a discussion of the legality of these cartoons or if they should be printed or not, no rather it’s a kind of what if? (i.e. what when)
I 1988 Salman Rushdie printed The Satanic Verses and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared a Fatwa to kill Rushdie. The same hasn’t happened yet and there is number of reasons for this. None the less the cartoonist Mr. Vestergaard was brutally attacked in his home and apparently only survived due to his safe room until armed police agents arrived at the scene 3 minutes later and disabled i.e. shot the intruder in the hand and leg reportedly.
The Police haven’t been able to fully secure Mr. Vestergaard since this isn’t the first attack upon him since the drawing but it’s the first where Mr. Vestergaard almost got killed by, what appears to be and renegade Somali male, age 28 acting on his own as revenge for the cartoons.
Now we arrived at my point; when – not if – but when someone, and this ‘someone’ will probably be a younger male with radical Islamic tendencies, succeeds and kills Mr. Vestergaard, what will happen then? Angry editorials condemning the perpetrators? Thousands rallying in the streets to show their disgust of this horrible crime?
Denmark cannot retaliate on a terrorist attack, since a terrorist officially isn’t state sponsored, some are but this is a different discussion. Should we quarantine all whom show Islamic tendencies? Of course not, that’s a joke; I don’t claim to have an answer for this, rather I reckon that we should remember former Louisiana Governor Patrick Henry: “Give me liberty, or give me death”
I truly hope that the police are able to provide Mr. Vestergaard with enough liberty to ensure that he stays alive, rather than experiencing an agonizing death.
And just to nobody is confused; the cartoon is Mr. Vestergaards impression of Mohammed.
And here my own - not even remotely close to the masterpiece above:
/C
This Christmas I was gifted with a new train from Märklin, Baureihe 64, that is a multi purpose steam locomotive from DB (Deutschen Bundesbahn). It’s a smooth little locomotive with sound so the faster you let the train go the more intense the steam locomotive sound is. Also squeaking brakes, bell, whistle-sounds etc. Next objective is to get more rails and electrified my railway switches to improve the realization of the usage.
