Why Can’t We All Insult One Another?
by Ahmed Amr
www.dissidentvoice.org
February 7, 2006



 

Why can’t we let it all hang out and publicly humiliate one another? The defamatory portrayals of Islam and Mohammed by European “free speech advocates” puts Muslims at a distinct disadvantage. They can’t very well retaliate by defaming Jesus Christ because they revere him as much as they revere Mohammed and consider him a prophet of God. Insulting Jesus or the Virgin Mary is considered as blasphemous as insulting Mohammed. No true Muslim would ever consider lampooning the Mother of Christ because they also believe in the Immaculate Conception. In Islamic tradition, Mary will be the first woman to enter heaven. And like the Koran, Muslims consider both the Bible and the Torah holy texts. 

The challenge for Muslims is to formulate a creative response to those many European Christians, who were unfortunate enough to be born with multiple racist genes in societies that have a well-documented history of exterminating, maiming, enslaving and torturing non-Europeans. For that matter, they had no problem visiting their inbred viciousness against their brothers in faith and pigmentation. Why tread lightly around the fact that Europe was the birthplace of the Inquisition? Even after a few generations of living in the “Enlightenment”, they still managed to work up enough religious bigotry to incinerate six million Jews. As liberal as they profess to be -- how many Europeans feel any genuine guilt about their collective crimes against humanity? How many white Americans and Europeans feel an ounce of remorse over the slaughter of innocents in Iraq?  

The most controversial issue in Europe today is the fact that Europe is no longer purely European. One out of every twenty residents of Europe is a foreigner or born with foreign blood in their veins. That is an alarming statistic for the citizens of the “civilized” continent. Having so many people with “inferior” pigmentation walking around their neighborhoods disturbs them to no end. It seems just like yesterday that they managed to rid themselves of their yarmulke wearing population. Now, they have to deal with the hijab. For all the trouble they went to building concentration camps and destroying Jewish ghettos -- they now have a bigger demographic problem with the many Arab, Turkish, Kurdish and South Asian communities who appear reluctant to accept “their values.” If these “foreign intruders” had the decency to demonstrate a little self-contempt -- it would go a long way to reducing European bigotry. If they would just pick up their bags and “go back where they came from” -- Europeans would be more than happy to visit them in their native domicile and treat them with contempt “over there.”  

Now that Europe has automated street sweeping technology they no longer need the surplus labor of the third world. Why bother educating the offspring of the millions of immigrants who participated with their blood, sweat and tears in rebuilding post-war Europe. Why allow them into universities when they have an infinitesimal chance of securing professional employment.  

Why can’t a Dane or an Italian or native Frenchman publicly insult and humiliate a dark foreigner? They do it in their homes. They freely exchange barbs about the wogs in their local pubs and elegant sidewalk cafes. They think nothing of home schooling their children with racist drivel. Just take a good look across the pond at their white American cousins. The land of the free is still a white dominated society. They have white only churches, white only graveyards and an exclusive white club they call the Senate. They don’t even want to meet their maker in the company of a black man or a Native American. The Judeo-Christian identity movement is all about “values” and they value nothing more than their pigmentation.  

In Denmark, Evangelical Lutheranism is the state religion and is supported by tax revenues. Other religions must be approved by Royal decree. Islamic cemeteries were not allowed until 2004. Many Muslim Danes had to take the extraordinary step of burying their dead outside the country. By law, only one religion is glorified and financed by the state. The refusal of the Danish government to condemn the vicious insults against Muslims is in stark contrast to its coddling of the Lutheran majority.

For Europeans, holding contempt for the “other” is an act of solidarity. The recently united continent has found common ground in a “common history and shared values.” They have replaced juvenile nationalism with continentalism. Provincial Frenchmen and Danish neo-Nazis no longer hold each other in contempt. They now direct their tribal animosities at the “lower” form of lives that inhabit other continents. They would feel more comfortable dining with a Martian than with an African or an Asian.  

Seriously, why can’t Europeans show contempt for non-Europeans? Would the foreign-born populations of the “enlightened” continent prefer their fellow citizens to practice their racist fetish in their closets? Isn’t it safer to give them a public outlet? Don’t they want to see their white lords in their natural habitat doing their white thing? Take a look at what happened to the Jews who were exterminated for failing a test of faith. If pre-war Europeans had been more demonstrative in their contempt for their Jewish cousins -- maybe more Jews would have heard the alarm bells and made for the exit doors instead of going through the gas chamber doors. 

Do the non-white non-Christian communities in Europe really want to lull themselves into false comfort? Isn’t it better to read the writing on the wall before they slip you a mass deportation notice? The thin veneer of European tolerance can be shed in a New York minute. Wouldn’t it be wise to nurse a healthy dose of paranoia in exchange for a few seconds notice before they raid your home and haul you on crowded rail cars to an unknown destination? This is not so farfetched. Many right wing Danish organizations have publicly called for mass deportation. 

European Jews were European. They could change their name and “pass”. Their only problem was their theology. A man’s religion is something that can be readily camouflaged. The new immigrant populations have the additional burden of pigmentation and a distinct racial profile. There is no way of covering up such “deficiencies”. If things get ugly -- how many Europeans will the take the risk of sheltering an Anne Frank with a hijab and a dark complexion?  

All this crap about “free speech” is intellectual rot. It’s just the Scandinavian way of burning a cross on your front yard. They don’t do anti-semitism anymore because the European Jews have packed up and left their ancient continental homes. Why do you think Europeans are so tolerant of Israeli repression against native Palestinians? There must be something comforting in seeing your victims as tormentors? It helps alleviate any lingering guilt. It allows Europeans to claim that “we all do genocide.”  

Which brings us back to the art of showing contempt for European racists. How exactly can you hurt their feelings? Would it help to curse their mothers and fathers who home schooled their kids in how to vilify neighbors with different cultures? Is it safe to make a habit of giving a homicidal skinhead the one finger salute? Should you burn effigies of Hitler on their front lawns? Is it enough to boycott their cheese and butter? Do you think they would be offended if you label them racists or do they feel a sense of entitlement to publicly flaunt their bigotry?  

The non-European citizens of the continent have their work cut out for them. Shaming a racist European takes genuine effort. Their shame genes were absent at birth. Under the banner of free speech, they feel free to stick their tongues out and fart their racist obscenities in the public square -- a ritual reminiscent of the ancient Viking custom of insulting and taunting their adversaries before slaying them in battle.  

How exactly should the immigrant communities in Europe react to Danish insolence? Should they respond in kind and take courses on how best to insult and demean European culture? Would a display of public contempt for the racist native culture of the “civilized” continent be considered a form of free expression? Should they go about their lives in a paranoid state visualizing a freshly painted Swastika on every Danish forehead? 

Maybe we should all forget about getting respect and start thinking about how deeply we can hurt the other guy’s feelings. If insulting and taunting one another is the highest form of free speech, let’s stage a great European hate fest. They call you a Wog. You call them Neanderthal bigots. They insult your culture. You curse their genocidal ancestors and denounce them as the sons and daughters of Holocausters and Inquisitors.  

Perhaps this business of getting along is for the birds and the politicians. All this crap about tolerance only serves to cover up the stench of European bigotry. Why not trade insult for insult and racist cartoons with racist cartoons. Be nasty with a Nazi. Treat a Great Dane like a racist dog. Do you see where this can lead? Are you ready to join the hate fest?

Of course, this is all a recipe for a social disaster in Europe and the rest of the world. If things get ugly -- how ugly can they get? If the insulting cartoons in the elite Danish and Norwegian press offer any clue -- one only has to imagine what average Scandinavians say in their private space. It’s unfortunate and perhaps unfair that every Scandinavian is now under suspicion of being a vile bigot. As the offensive cartoon clearly implied, many Europeans consider every Arab a clone of Bin Laden and a potential terrorist. Extremists on both sides of the cultural divide are having a field day. The certainly know where they want to take us. Do you want to go along for the ride? Or should we all try to get along?  

Notes in the margin: If there is one positive outcome out of this sorry demonstration of Danish insolence, it is the ability of Muslims around the world to go above their lame governments and stage an effective old fashioned boycott. Maybe if they boycotted European and American products for a year or so, they would put an end to Anglo-American military intervention in their countries and compel Washington to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. It is a historic opportunity to confront both powers with a mass non-violent resistance movement. Because American consumer products are rarely found in Middle Eastern markets, a boycott of the dollar will serve to put the United States on notice that enough is enough.  

Ahmed Amr is the Editor of NileMedia. He can be reached at: Montraj@aol.com. 

Other Articles by Ahmed Amr

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* Jesus and George Abu Ghraib Bush

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