Freedom Of Expression Alright!
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks doing nothing but replying to comments on my blog, entering forums, leaving comments on people’s blogs, just to defend Arabs in general and Muslims in particular.
I’ve reached a point where I’m truly and utterly FED UP! Some people just don’t want to listen, they keep blabbering and asking pointless questions for no reason but to say: hey, gotcha!
Well I really don’t care anymore. Think whatever you wish, we’ve been living with wrong impressions and a stinky reputation for ages, we sort of got used to it, we’re trying to get the message across that we do have people who are worth respect, but no use, so here’s my decision: no more replying to offensive and rude comments left on my blog; no more entering pointless discussions; and no more defending, we’re a lot more better than wasting our whole time on defending our stands and explaining our culture as well as our religion to those who are not willing to listen with an open-mind in the first place.
I’ve had enough of this whole cartoon issue, I’m not shocked for the reactions of non-Muslims, and I don’t blame them for hating us even more after the stupid violent reactions of some Muslims during protests burning embassies and threatening innocent civilians. And here I am again for the millionth time condemning those violent reactions, there is no justification whatsoever, they are of no use, they are disgusting and have caused us Muslims more damage than the cartoons themselves.
BUT, not accepting violence and condemning it does not mean I deny Muslims the right to be offended and react any peaceful way they choose, no matter how silly and pointless their choices seemed to non-Muslims.
What shocked me, or better say disgusted me, was the reaction of some Muslims to this issue. They are not condemning violence only, but the simple right of Muslims to be offended in the first place.
In what twisted logic is it ok for ALL people to express how they feel towards others freely with no restrictions, but when it comes to Muslims it becomes really “not cool†and “not civilized†to do the very same?
I mean when the hell are you going to finally stop kissing asses to win admiration and be called modern and open-minded!! Or is it that you got used to saying sorry no matter what!
To all those who consider people like myself to be dumbasses, whether you’re Muslims or non-Muslims, believers or non-believers, I ask: Who is standing for the so-called freedom of expression when Muslim women are getting kicked out of schools and are getting fired for simply putting a harmless piece of cloth on their own heads?
Who is apologizing for Muslims who are being expelled from countries they’ve been living in as constructive members of society for ages just because of their religion? Where does freedom of expression exactly fit when some countries are forming Arab-speaking police units to track the speeches of Imams in mosques? Who is defending Freedom of the damn expression when Israel lobbies against tagging Paradise Now as a film from Palestine, because to them there’s no such thing as Palestine! Where is Freedom of Expression when a petition is created and signed by over 11,000 Israelis to force the withdrawal of this Palestinian movie from the Academy Awards?!
Why get out of the topic, let’s stick to cartoons. Being offended by a cartoon mocking our prophet is stupid, conservative, backward and intolerant? What should WE say about our Palestinian cartoonist NAJI AL ALI, who was assassinated because he dared express the suffering of Palestinians in his cartoons? Huh! Or are our cartoonists pieces of trash!
If you want freedom of expression, you need to apply it equally regardless of religion or origin. Freedom of expression loses all its sense when you practice double standards.
If you really believe in freedom of expression, you need to respect the differences and know the fine line between expressing yourself for a cause, and hurting someone in the name of expressing yourself.
And most important of all, you need to know that freedom of expression was never disregarding the other part or freeing yourself from ethics and responsibility, because if you reached that point, what’s the use of calling you human!
I guess there’s nothing better to end this post than the Charles Kingsley quote I’ve been typing all over the blogosphere lately: “There are two freedoms – the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he oughtâ€.
Some of the rioters might argue that burning down an embassy technically falls under the “freedom of expression” category. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once called riots the voice of the voiceless. People should not condemn the rioters since they may not know of any other way to express their anger towards the cartoonists and thus, their love for the Prophet (pbuh).
Dear Saad,
I understand your point very well, but this does not apply in the case of the cartoons, because the peaceful ways of expressing ones’ self are available. I would understand that people under occupation may need to bomb themselves for examples if no one is listening and helping, but in the case of the cartoons, a peaceful protest, or as many imams are suggesting: some sort of awareness campaigns or peaceful religious debate between Muslims and non Muslims, could do the trick.
So in my opinion, there is no justification whatsoever for using violence in such a case.
Asalamualikum
I am in complete agreement with the article. It is nice to see that there is some kind of unity amongst Muslim bloggers at least from what I have seen in general. I think it is so important that Muslims stick to what Islam teaches us in order to prosper – and that is where the problem arised. Those who started causing harm to others out of this issue were not sticking to the teachings of Islam and therefore resulted in more harm being brought to all Muslims.
By the way Eman you need to close the strong tag at the end of this article it is wrapping the rest of the page.
JazakAllah
Usayd
Hey Eman I found something you said pretty ironic:
“I ask: Who is standing for the so-called freedom of expression when Muslim women are getting kicked out of schools and are getting fired for simply putting a harmless piece of cloth on their own heads?”
You should check this out, it ties what you just said with this whole cartoon controversy:
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/02/female-reporter-stoned-at-turkish.html
You’re probably right.
…we’re a lot better than wasting our time on defending our stands and explaining our culture … our religion to those who are not willing to listen with an open-mind in the first place.
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About time you came to that realization, Eman. 🙂 One’s energy should be saved for things that have some hope of success. Though in a dark time of vast intolerance and stunning inhumanity, you’re a fierce, steady flame of passionate decency. [Just a neutral observation from the Water World of south Florida.]
Well, it’s obvious from your posting that you’ve recovered your health. 🙂
Palestinian film? typed Jimbo stupidly. What Palestinian film? Wait…looking it up…ah yes. It probably has as much chance of winning an Academy Award as did that paean to the Bushies, “Fahrenheit 9/11.” But the attendant publicity will probably garner it a very large audience, which was surely an intent of it’s producers–you can lose the battle but still win the war.
And while we humans have all been squabbling, unnoticed the Greenland ice sheath has begun virtually hurling itself into the Atlantic.
Cheers.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/02/16/greenland.glaciers.ap/index.html
Umsayd,
Very well said. If Muslims stick to the teachings of Islam, we wouldn’t see any Muslim using violent methods to deal with any matter.
I loved your post, very expressive and I totally agree with what you’ve said.
Loved the plugins and will sure pass them on, they’re lovely, great work 🙂
Dane,
Look, I promised myself not to defend any longer, but since this is your first visit to my blog, and out of respect to your tendency to discuss, I will reply.
I find nothing ironic about what I said. Actually I believe you misunderstood what I was pointing to in the first place.
Turkey is –to me- one big complicated situation. It’s a secular country, yet there are parts where extremist Muslims try to apply their strategies, and other parts would harass women wearing Hijab and many are fired for wearing it.
I’ve been there for a while and I know what it’s like.
But Turkey, like many other Arab countries, do not claim enjoying Freedom of Expression the way France, USA, UK and other western countries do. So incidents like the ones you’ve linked to are not surprising.
But for countries that claim having freedom of expression, and are proud of women rights and all, banning them from wearing Hijab is what I find really ironic, for it contradicts what they’re trying to “bring†into our countries.
I hope you understand that I didn’t write to show Muslims are perfect, as I always say, like any people in the world, we have the great ones and the bad ones. But I don’t want non-Muslims to call us intolerant and uncivilized when they have their own ways of being intolerant and uncivilized as well.
Saad, thanks for understanding 🙂
Jimbo, as usual, your comment puts a smile on my face. What you said about the Palestinian film is probably right… very little hope, it’s just that when it won a Golden Globe we felt such a spark of justice that is making us see the light in the end of the tunnel.
Thanks friend.
Also thanks for the link. Will keep praying we –human beings- will finally smell the coffee and do something about our falling-apart environment.
Great post Eman, I felt the same way about the arrogant comments. I lost hope! One thing I learned from the comments I’ve read on blogs, is how much hatred there’s towards us. I found it ironic how angry westerners were saying all kinds of nonsense while attacking muslim extremists. They need to take a look at themselves before starting to play the blame game.
BTW, I have added your article to Bridge The Gap Blog, I hope you don’t mind.
http://bridgethegapinblogspace.blogspot.com/
muslims are at it again with attacking christians while hiding behind this cartoon protest. the difference between the muslim who advocates jihad against infidels and legitimate demonstrators is fading fast. first they kill a priest in turkey and attack churches in lebanon. this time they murdered 15 people including 3 children and a priest. i am still awaiting the outrage of the muslim world at this sort of crime. will the muslim world be as angry about this as they are about the cartoons? or even as angry as they are about abu ghraib? i doubt it. muslims have so little credibility.
story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060218/ap_on_re_af/nigeria_prophet_drawings
Dane,
You clearly keep attacking Islam by making false “statements†against Islam while encapsulating them in the form of irrelevant “questionsâ€.
People either ask “questions†or make “statementsâ€
Eman, are you familiar with disemvowelment? Noxious posts from known trolls can be intercepted before posting, disemvoweled and their remains displayed as an example to ranters.
Thus the winsome, good-hearted post “You’re all ill-rational, kill-crazed maniacs!” becomes: “Yr ll ll-rtnl, kll-crzd mncs!”
The meaning of some of the words is of course clear; others ambiguous. In the above example, the writer might be ranting against kill-crazed monks and have spelled it wrong. (Many of our native trolls have rather bad basic English skills. Sadly, it’s usually their only language.)
An on-line disemvoweling utility may be found at:
http://novalis.org/cgi/vowel.cgi?text=next+ya&vowel=vowel
I’ve never kept a blog, but my dog briefly did, just before the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election:
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sarasota_Romie
Poor Romeo got so much hate mail that he gave up and went back to lying under his fichus tree, chasing squirrels and terrorizing the mail carrier. In many ways, Romeo is very wise.
Cheers.
M.A. Khadra
First, what was false about my statements?
Second, my point is that Muslims are constantly outraged by cartoons offensive to their religion but not by cold-blooded murder committed in the name of their religion. I can only conclude that if this is the way Islam is, it is hardly a moral creed.
dane,
I thank you for your statement and I respect your personal views about my religion.
Questions for M.A. Khadra (or anyone else who cares to take some stabs at it):
why do muslims respond with violence and terrorism to what they perceive as ‘imperialism’? why this particular form of expression? people in latin america have probably experienced as much western imperialism as anybody in this world has, yet we don’t see them spawning suicide bombers or engaging in other such behavior. what is it about the muslim world that makes them decide this is the way to ‘protest imperialism’? I am not just referring to the palestinian issue either. we see this sort of thing in muslim countries as diverse as algeria, nigeria, iran, iraq and indonesia? why?
I am not simply attacking muslims but I can find no other explanation for this sort of behavior in lieu of others forms of protest or resistance than the religion of islam itself. if you don’t think this is a valid explanation, then help me to understand why so many in the muslim world behave as they do and why islam seems to be so frequently cited as the motivation for terrorist acts by those who commit them.
dane,
I and all of my 1.4 Billion Muslim brothers and sisters thank you for asking us questions about our religion.
Below is link is for an American born Texan, who was born a Christian and a son of a Christian Minster; He Himself had preached Christianity for 50 years of his life; and now converted to Islam. He knows all the old and new testaments cover to cover and is more capable than I am to explain to you in video presentations:
1- What is Islam and why is it misunderstood today?
2- Why Islam and terrorism don’t ever mix? And how Islam declared war on terrorism “suppression and oppression†1400 years ago in the from of JIHAD.
3- Women’s wrights in Islam vs. men’s rights and explains the EQUITY that Islam has for men and women alike; and how does EQUITY in Islam greatly surpasses the EQUILITY that some women are asking for today? And why 70 % of new Muslims are WOMEN?
4- Islam’s harmony with all other religions.
And much more.
Videos:
http://www.watchislam.com/videos/index.php?catid=-1
Main site:
http://www.islamtomorrow.com/
Once again Thank you.
Thanks for the links M.A. Khadra, I will pursue them and see what I find. 🙂
Did you hear about the serious mosque bombing today in Iraq? I know the Shiites will be extremely angry. Do you think there will be a strong reaction from Sunnis or will Sunnis generally ignore it?
I guess this quote covers both the “west” and Islam.
“This is a free country. You are free to do as you are told”.
You have leaders, as we have, that are telling us what to do. I have decided not to listen to them but to my own inner voice. That voice tells me that we all need to accept each other no matter what religion, race, colour, sect or anything else. The only thing I judge is the persons personality. If it is set in its ways and unable to understand other views I want nothing to do with that person!
So that you can understand my views. I am a Dane in Canada. I am a non-believer. The Koran makes more sense than the Bible. A Christian friend of mine from Lebanon told me that the Koran was an upgrade of the Bible. I have read both. I actually believe him after reading both.
If the Jews would only read the Koran they would see the similarities.
I try to live my life as the Koran and the Bible teaches me because their guides are the right way to live. Sorry, but I still don’t believe in God.
Still at the same time your beliefs give me strength in my beliefs, or lack of.