Who is to blame for the recent violence over offensive cartoons? Fundamentalist Muslims encouraged behind the scenes by those in Middle Eastern governments who benefit from any activities that stir anti-West sentiment. Does the name Assad ring any bells?
I’m reading through Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies and was struck by part of the text where he discusses the failure of societies that refuse to embrace new technologies (which require embracing new ways of thinking). It’s interesting to me that modern fundamental Islam today is in the position of either embracing new ideas and becoming more tolerant of other belief systems or of being subsumed.
With each passing year, it becomes harder and harder to live in closed societies that fundamentally differ in their core values, especially when it comes to that most important value – the sanctity of human life.
The wars of the 21st century will be fought over two issues – individual rights and societal value systems. A society that doesn’t value human life is a society that will inevitably self-destruct. You cannot burn everything down and throw rocks at other human beings every time you disagree with someone. You cannot threaten to kill the rest of the world when it disagrees with you. It’s intolerable and has to be dealt with.
Burning the embassies of Denmark and Sweden are counterproductive and akin to collectively spitting in your own eye. Those calling for appeasement are wrong. Muslims are offended by cartoons? The rest of us are more offended by images of burning buildings and the signs calling for decapitation of anyone who disagrees with fundamental intrepretations of Islam. You embarass yourself if you do not stand against this sort of behavior.
Being offended is no excuse for acting barbaric. If you want to guarantee the failure of your society teach your children to think like the man in the photo above.