Why we shouldn’t make Muslims angry

Eric Hydrick / Web Editor

The riots all over the Middle East over a bunch of editorial cartoons have only demonstrated just why it is such a bad idea to make Muslims angry. Specifically, because it’s physically dangerous. History has shown that when Muslims get angry, people get hurt. And with the calls for killings and punishments coming from the Middle East, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt over 12 cartoons fairly unmemorable cartoons.

When Salman Rushdie wrote The Satanic Verses, Muslims everywhere were outraged, and the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious proclamation calling for Rushdie’s death, a proclamation that Rushdie took seriously enough that it drove him into hiding. Rushdie lived in hiding from 1989 until 1998.

When Theo Van Gogh made a documentary about how badly women are treated under Islamic regimes, he was stabbed and shot to death by a Muslim who didn’t like his religion getting criticized.

Since these 12 editorial cartoons came out, embassies have been burned down, and enough death threats have been issued to cause Denmark to advised its citizens to leave at least 3 different countries. We are not dealing with people prone to offense or outrage, we’re dealing with people who know only one kind of anger, violent anger.

Muslims not only express anger violently, they appear to consider it perfectly acceptable. Many rioters have carried signs warning the Western world to remember 9/11 and 7/7 (the date of the first London subway bombings). Continuing coverage of these riots makes it clear that many Muslims the world over want blood for bunch of cartoons.

This type of violent anger appears to be unique to Muslims. There are images shown in newspapers, television, movies, etc. that would be offensive to people of various other religious denominations. The hit cartoon Family Guy’s premier episode when it returned to Fox network had a variety of segments that would piss off most members of the Christian faith. However, despite being seen by millions of people all over the country, you didn’t see Christians rioting in the streets, or calling for the deaths of the animators, writers, or producers. Likewise stereotypical Jewish jokes and/or references permeate society, yet you have yet to see them running amuck in streets all over the world burning down embassies.

It is becoming clear that whenever Muslims get angry, they get violent. Angering Muslims is something that many people have to treat with deadly seriousness, as it appears that Muslims do. It’s a shame that we have to be so worried about offending a group, not because of human decency or general politeness or kindness, but because we’re worried we’re going to be stabbed, shot, or bombed. It’s even worse that no one seems to have any interest in saying that this reaction is utterly unacceptable, regardless of what caused their offense. Attempts to stop the violence are primarily unsuccessful because they are attempting to appease the rioters in the hopes they’ll get satisfied and stop, rather than by standing up to them and telling them that the civilized world doesn’t care why they’re angry, the violence is unacceptable. Until that becomes the message that the world sends out to the violent psychopaths hijacking an otherwise decent religion, this violence will continue every time Muslims get angry. And every time Muslims get angry, we’re going to have to hide in fear that it may be us they’re angry at.

Contact Eric Hydrick at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.