“Stop acting retarded”

A blog I read fairly often, Rantings of a Sandmonkey, offers an entreaty to Muslims to “stop acting retarded.” An excerpt:

The Prophet doesn’t need your defense: If you truly believe that the Mohamed is god’s prophet and that god exhalted him beyond all other prophets, then do you really think anything that anyone will say about him will make an ounce of difference? Will the sun rise from the west because someone said it does, or will it rise from the east regardless? Do you get my point here? Do you understand that cartoons depicting the prophet will not hurt him in any way, not will they harm his image? What is it you are afraid of? Someone looking at the cartoon depicting him and going “Ohh, that Mohamed fella really doesn’t look pleasant. He must suck as a person if a cartoon shows him with bombs on his head. There is no way I will convert to Islam now, and from this day forward I will fully support the bombing of its followers.”? What, cause cartoons hold so much power over people? Or are you afraid that muslims will look at those cartoons and go “Gee, our prophet doesn’t look good here. I am done with Islam. I am going to turn Hindu and worship a cow instead”? Or is it his reputation that you are afraid will get tarnished because oif that cartoon? That somehow, someone will make an uneducated and totally ignorant judgment on the prophet and the religion because of 12 cartoons in a newspaper? Well, if that’s the case, answer this question for me: What is more likely to tarnish the reputation of Islam: 12 cartoons in a newspaper, or calls for punishment and death threats to the people who penned those cartoons? Which damages our reputation more? Are you getting the point or do I need to draw it out for you?

Of particular interest are the comments left behind by readers of the blog. Some are thoughtful, insightful and rational. And some are downright retarded. Start with a thoughtful example:

False: The Danish Prime Minister does not wish to apologize.

True: The Danish PM CANNOT apologize since he is not responible for the newspaper. In Denmark the individual is legally responsible for his/her own acts. Therefore, for the PM to apologize on behalf of others would be absurd in Danish culture.

False: 72% of the Danes support the printing of the cartoons.

True: Most Danes thought printing the cartoons was a bad and unwise idea. However 72 % admit that the Prime Minister cannot/should not apologize.

False: The cartoons are an attempt to ridicule the Prophet (peace be upon him.

True: The “bomb on the head” cartoon is a criticism of the suicide bombers who misuse their Prophets name when killing innocent people.

False: The Danish newspaper has not apologized.

True: The Danish newspaper did apologize for hurting the feelings of Muslims. However, the apology was rejected because the newspaper did not add the words “peace be upon him” after writing the word “prophet”.

The list of misunderstandings is endless….

Henrik, a Dane

And then read a retarded example:

At 4:56 PM, hisham said…

to those who humiliated our profit mohamed god preys on him we will come to you at your countries smashing your skulls by our shoes and we will take revenge by our hands and teeth and i sware with god we will ,very very soon

Go read all the comments, bearing in mind the blog is written by an Egyptian and the commenters visit from all over the world. Technology is drawing us all closer together. Technology is painting the world in a new way, forcing people to rethink reality. We’re going to have to deal with social ills in this century that were easier to ignore in centuries past because they were far enough away that they didn’t touch us. Nothing is far away anymore. Deal with it.

Rational, reasoned debate and discussion is what the world needs most right now. It’s obvious some are not capable of or interested in such debate. To these people I say, a pox upon you and your offspring. May the gene pool cleanse itself of your taint.

Go read more Sandmonkey:

Now, is it just me, or is it weird that more people died over these cartoons in the past 2 months than over the Bird Flu “epidemic”? Hell, I think the cartoon fatalities are about 3 times those of the Bird Flu in 2006 so far. Shouldn’t that make it an epidemic all by itself? I mean, it has higher fatality rates, and it spreads really really fast. It should be classified as an epidemic, right?

Up with Sandmonkey and his ilk. Down with fanaticism, rioters and ignorant retards.