# Angry Muslim crowd torches embassies **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 4, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023 "2006-02-04T20:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/1 "2006-02-04T20:35:17Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/04/syria.cartoon/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/04/syria.cartoon/index.html) Over cartoons. You have got to be _kidding_ me. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/2 "2006-02-04T20:36:48Z")
Missed Rune’s thread. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/3 "2006-02-04T20:39:53Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > [CNN.com - Embassies torched in cartoon fury - Feb 4, 2006](http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/02/04/syria.cartoon/index.html) > > Over cartoons. You have got to be _kidding_ me. Why kidding? These are the same people who mutilate young girls, stone women and fly planes into buildings to murder thousands of innocent people, cut off hands for petty crimes, believe in martyrdom, think they are gods chosen people… Torch embasies over cartoons…pffft. Its all in a days work. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/4 "2006-02-04T20:40:57Z")
That’s all right. This doesn’t deserve to get lost in that other thread. What could they be thinking? “We’re outraged that you drew a cartoon that implied that we were a violent religion, so we’re going to riot and burn down multiple embassies to prove you right!”? There is a major disconnect here. God only knows what it is. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/5 "2006-02-04T21:00:46Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > What could they be thinking? “We’re outraged that you drew a cartoon that implied that we were a violent religion, so we’re going to riot and burn down multiple embassies to prove you right!”? It would be funny if it weren’t so fucking awful. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/6 "2006-02-04T21:03:05Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Over cartoons. You have got to be _kidding_ me. Quick - what country are Johnny Hart and Bil Keane from? Let’s burn down _their_ embassy! **Doors** , are you suggesting there’s some kind of ironing in play here? Or macaroni? Or something like that? I can’t think of the word that we normally use here. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/7 "2006-02-04T21:05:07Z")
Yes, there’s a certain irony there. Wouldn’t you agree? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/8 "2006-02-04T21:08:04Z")
Oh, THAT thing. Because people are acting like crazy thugs in response to a cartoon that arguably depicts them as crazy thugs? I _guess_ there’s some irony in that. ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/9 "2006-02-04T21:16:20Z")
Well, the article says that the staff of the Swedish and Norwegian embassies are okay. That’s… good… Note the line at the bottom of the article - “_CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam._” … and by “respect for Islam” they mean “desire to not have their international correspondents beheaded or set on fire.” Man, I love religion. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/10 "2006-02-04T21:25:52Z")
As I said in GD, the cartoons are pretty tame caricatures compared to the gross, demeaning caricatures these protestors make of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/11 "2006-02-04T21:46:29Z")
I try to believe religion isn’t stupid but reality always gets in the way. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/12 "2006-02-04T21:51:03Z")
Can you imagine if Christians did this every time someone drew a cartoon or made fun of God or Jesus in some other way? Comedy Central alone would get burned down on a daily basis. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/13 "2006-02-04T21:59:47Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Can you imagine if Christians did this every time someone drew a cartoon or made fun of God or Jesus in some other way? > > Comedy Central alone would get burned down on a daily basis. Well, not [recently](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades) anyway. > [@](#): > > On a popular level, the first crusades unleashed a wave of impassioned, personally felt pious fury that was expressed in the massacres of Jews that accompanied the movement of mobs through Europe, as well as the violent treatment of “schismatic” Orthodox Christians of the east. The violence against the Orthodox Christians culminated in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, in which most of the Crusading armies took part. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/14 "2006-02-04T22:36:10Z")
You know, I’m a screaming leftist liberal who struggles to remain rational about this kind of thing. I try not to let my emotional response get the better of me, and to examine and discuss these things in the cold light of reason and tolerance. But then, sometimes I just think, It’s time for the big smackdown. Nothing else is gonna work. These guys’ culture needs a reboot. Now, I’ll regret having said that, and I’ll want to take it back, in the cold light of reason and tolerance. But damn. What can possibly cut through this situation? ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/15 "2006-02-05T00:24:32Z")
If my understanding of the situation is correct, any picture of Mohammed, be it Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban, Mohammed with a big smiley face reading to the happy children, or a picture of The Prophet Formerly Known as Mohammed is verboten. That being the case, with no depiction of Mohammed for reference, who is to say that Mohammed can’t be a sunrise, a flower, or some other form? Do they burn all art, then? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/16 "2006-02-05T00:27:43Z")
**dances** - this is being discussed in at least one of the GD threads, and it sounds like not all Muslims feel the same way about the issue. There are, or at least were, some schools of Islam that were opposed to any depictions of people, others that felt you shouldn’t depict plants either, etc etc. I’m not sure what you mean about Muhammad being a flower. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/17 "2006-02-05T00:33:44Z")
> [@danceswithcats](#): > > That being the case, with no depiction of Mohammed for reference, who is to say that Mohammed can’t be a sunrise, a flower, or some other form? Do they burn all art, then? Don’t try to find logic within religious laws. But still, the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and complex artistic statements ever made, and it was all done without using a single piece of depiction: totally abstract designs. I’ve cited in other threads examples of extreme reactions to perceived blasphemy from other religions. It happens. Portraying Mohammed is blasphemous to most Muslims. QED. > [@lissener](#): > > These guys’ culture needs a reboot. I hope by that you’re only including the people who are reacting in an incendiary manner, and not the rest. I’ve been standing up for peace-loving Muslims who do no harm at all, of whom there are many, and some of whom are friends of mine. That said, I too wish the people making capital of this, and the rioters, would just fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/18 "2006-02-05T00:44:57Z")
Chefguy, why stop there when you can go all the way back to what led to the crusades: centuries of militant convert-or-die Muslim expansion. Alternatively, we can reject the idea that things that happened centuries ago excuse contemporary barbarism. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/19 "2006-02-05T00:47:21Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > That said, I too wish the people making capital of this, and the rioters, would just fuck off. Who are “the people making capital of this”, who presumably are just as contemptible as the rioters in your eyes? ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023/20 "2006-02-05T00:51:16Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Don’t try to find logic within religious laws. But still, the Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful and complex artistic statements ever made, and it was all done without using a single piece of depiction: totally abstract designs. > > I’ve cited in other threads examples of extreme reactions to perceived blasphemy from other religions. It happens. Portraying Mohammed is blasphemous to most Muslims. QED.I hope by that you’re only including the people who are reacting in an incendiary manner, and not the rest. I’ve been standing up for peace-loving Muslims who do no harm at all, of whom there are many, and some of whom are friends of mine. > > That said, I too wish the people making capital of this, and the rioters, would just fuck off. I fear it’s gotten to the point that the only way Islam is going to be able to mend their image is for the peace loving Muslims to rise up and strike down the fools. This is a house that will most likely have to be cleansed from within. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/angry-muslim-crowd-torches-embassies/343023.md?page=2)