Krauthammer's Latest Prescription

Charles Krauthammer provides us with a dose of his normal brilliance...

As much of the Islamic world erupts in a studied frenzy over the Danish Muhammad cartoons, there are voices of reason being heard on both sides. Some Islamic leaders and organizations, while endorsing the demonstrators' sense of grievance and sharing their outrage, speak out against using violence as a vehicle of expression. Their Western counterparts -- intellectuals, including most of the major newspapers in the United States -- are similarly balanced: While, of course, endorsing the principle of free expression, they criticize the Danish newspaper for abusing that right by publishing offensive cartoons, and declare themselves opposed, in the name of religious sensitivity, to doing the same.

God save us from the voices of reason.

What passes for moderation in the Islamic community -- ``I share your rage but don't torch that embassy'' -- is nothing of the sort. It is simply a cynical way to endorse the goals of the mob without endorsing its means. It is fraudulent because, while pretending to uphold the principle of religious sensitivity, it is only interested in this instance of religious insensitivity.

Have any of these ``moderates'' ever protested the grotesque caricatures of Christians and, most especially, Jews that are broadcast throughout the Middle East on a daily basis? The sermons on Palestinian TV that refer to Jews as the sons of pigs and monkeys? The Syrian prime-time TV series that shows rabbis slaughtering a gentile boy in order to ritually consume his blood? The 41-part (!) series on Egyptian TV based on that anti-Semitic czarist forgery (and inspiration of the Nazis), ``The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,'' showing the Jews to be engaged in a century-old conspiracy to control the world?

There's a lot to be said for the voices of moderation within Islam, but we wish they would say a whole hell of a lot more. Christians and conservatives are expected to tear Pat Robertson a new one everytime he utters something stupid (and it does happen far too often), yet they still receive criticism for not condemning dumb words with enough force. We don't know whether all of that criticism is warranted, but Muslim moderates certainly need to speak out with greater force against those who are bastardizing their religion and giving their faith a horrific black eye.

And as Krauthammer notes, the criticism of the Danish cartoons would be far easier to stomach if those within Islam who are leading this charge against blasphemy did the same when presented with sleazy indictments of other religions. Instead, they gladly accept and even promote conspiracy theories about other faiths.

Which means we should continue to promote those gosh-darn cartoons. I wonder if anyone's making some money yet. I guess the answer is yes. I guess radical Islam is going to hate capitalism even more than free speech.