Will militant Islam prevail?

To all those who say that the furore over the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was to a certain degree an understandable response to gross provocation, I say balls. To all those who say that Jyllands-Posten, the Danish paper, acted irresponsibly in printing the cartoons, as a way of showing to the world that the fear engendered by extreme Islamo-totalitarians, I say tosh. To all those Muslims who, outraged at the red rag the West has waved to them by defending its right to free speech whilst allowing them to explain why the cartoons may be an insensitive thing to do, I say don't waste your time, go back to work or enjoy your families in your homes.

In October, last year, during Ramadan, in a country where the Muslim Brotherhood have a powerful base, and in an arabic newspaper the cartoons were published (above).

Here are some disturbing stats from that revelation and the aftermath. A principled stance was immediately taken by Muslims all over the world acting out of deeply-held principle and conviction at the dreadful provocation and disrespect which had taken place.


Editors sacked: 0
Products boycotted: 0
People made redundant as a result: 0
Flags burned: 0
Embassies torched: 0
Protests in the street: 0
Threats of murder, mass murder, suicide bombings etc: 0
Threats of beheading all Egyptians: 0
Traditional death threats to the paper or its employees: 0

Who's acting out of principle now? Says a lot doesn't it.

Most importantly it also suggests that even arabic countries have a tide of Islamism, or totalitarian Islam about which their governments are sufficiently concerned to jump on this badnwagon for a bit of blood-letting. And it shows us that militant Muslims across Europe are only too keen to take any opportunity to rail against the established order and the values we hold and have long held dear. The battle to show that their foul ideas will not and should not prevail should be engaged now, for by putting our heads deep in the sand of "multiculturalism is working" sand we risk deferring the problem to a time when it will be harder to master.

Hat tip to Rantings of a Sandmonkey who broke it. Well worth a read.