Are you there God? It's me Mohammed

Yesterday I was watching an old South Park episode with the title 'Are you there God? It's me, Jesus.' It is quite funny. Jesus is enjoying the increase in attention he is getting because of the millenium and wants to do something great. He ends up organizing a come back concert for Rod Stuart. It also made me wonder whether the Danish embassy torching protesters aren't secretly working for Bush. Muslims burning down Scandinavian buildings helps the cause of the Christian right a lot more than demanding the shut down of South Park.

I'd like to be sympathetic to the Arabs. They've had a bad last thousand years and again this century doesn't look like it is going their way either. They've had bad luck with their governments (or isn't that luck?) and they've been cursed with oil (only the Norwegians seem to handle that reasonably well). Two years ago or so I posted on that the Buddhist in Tibet weren't such nice guys either and I compared that with the image that Moslims have. The post was widely misunderstood and a lot of Moslims posted on that Islam is a compasionate religion all about peace. I believe that, but man, these guys really need to get their stuff together.

I've read the articles about how the caricatures in the Arabian press are very offensive too, mostly towards Jews. But that is hardly the point. With so many things wrong in your country, the Danes seem an unlikely source of discomfort.

As for all the news outlets that don't want to republish the cartoons because they would offend Muslim readers, they should think back to the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, which apparently was offensive enough to some Americans to fine the broadcasters. But very few newspapers thought that their readers should be spared that offense - here the public clearly had an overriding right to know what the fuzz was all about.