Reader Zonka has translated this editorial from Ekstra Bladet, June 12, 2006:
Bertel Haarder (Venstre) told Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, yesterday that he has changed his behavior:
“We have all learned from the Mohammed Crisis so that we now exercise self-censorship, or at least think carefully before making any statements. There are things that I would have said previously, which I’m not going to say today. I believe that this is true for all of us!”
One must reach the conclusion that the Minister of Education and Church previously didn’t think carefully before making a statement, but he does now, and nobody can oppose that.
Bertel Haarder’s reason for limiting his statements of opinion is, on the other hand, hair-raising.
He believes the same things as before. He just keeps them to himself. Not because of the feelings of religious people. Not out of respect for other people’s beliefs.
The minister of education in Denmark has put a gag on himself, because he doesn’t want to expose himself to threats from rabid Muslims. He would rather not have to live under police protection, as several of his colleagues from Parliament have to.
Most people can empathize with Bertel Haarder’s feelings. Police protection is a daily reminder of one’s own vulnerability, and the worries of the minister don’t arise out of thin air, either. Ekstra Bladet revealed a little under a month ago that the Association of Islamic Belief (Det Islamiske Trossamfund) has a hate list, at the top of which Bertel Haarder’s name can be found.
Now the Muslim extremists can chalk up another victory: the threats are working.
Bertel Haarder underscores the fact that, of course, he still holds steadfast, when it’s about important issues. But that is to no avail.
Freedom of speech in its nature is the same freedom to offend. So far nobody has yet been punished for talking about the weather.
The right to free speech is the quintessential right of freedom, and it is not given by nature. We can only defend it by using it. We can choose to keep our opinions to ourselves not to hurt others unnecessarily, but if it’s done out of fear against threats, then we have abandoned the fight.
A lot of people have been busy declaring that the freedom of speech in Denmark isn’t threatened. This is a lie. Nobody binds our mouth or our hands, this is true, but it’s not necessary either if we do it ourselves.
Bertel Haarder has capitulated, and according to him he is not alone. Which is both sad and scary.
Remember: Denmark is the least Islamized of the European countries with large Muslim minorities. Denmark has so far resisted mightily the incursions of Eurabia. Its Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, refused to give in to Islamist demands, and will not be mau-maued into dhimmitude.
But, as Wilfred Owen said, Courage leaked, as sand/From the best sandbags after years of rain. Drip by drip, the violence and threats of violence have their effect. The murder of a filmmaker here. The capitulation of the Minister of Education there.
Our freedoms will not be taken from us: we shall relinquish them voluntarily.
What’s happening in Denmark may not come to America until next year, or next decade. It may take a generation. But make no mistake: it will get here.
We have been warned.
It may come to a choice between 1492 in Spain or 1453 in Constantinople.
What’s going on now in Germany? I haven’t read a ton of articles about Islam in Germany..I guess they have around 3m Turks, not sure how many Arabs, South Asians, etc.
Anything interesting going on there?
Adnaneshju —
Check out Dymphna’s post from last month about Germany: Bystanders.
As with the rest of Europe, Germany distrusts its Muslims.
Lately I feel that Danish affairs are being a little over-exposed here, but – on the other hand – I’m pretty sure we are at the front line in this war and – maybe – “last nation standing”.
Right now the Danish daily “Berlingske Tidende” has an online poll :
“Do you consider Muslims a positive contribution to Danish society ?“
Yes : 21%
No : 79%
Total votes (11.50 a.m) : 1325
http://www.berlingske.dk/ (You must vote to see the results).
What’s especially interesting here is that “Berlingske Tidende” is a very lame daily. On my “dhimmi-scale” from 0 (the bare truth) to 10 (the daily “Politiken“) it scores around 7-8 points. Its subscribers are mostly well-off bourgeois businessmen who tend to worship their wallets higher than their country. The poll will probably complete around midnight GMT.
He know’s he’s a dhimmi; he’s so ashamed he can only hold up his head with the help of his thumb.
The Danish education minister is clearly not in step with the sentiments of his “constituency” (a loose word for European “democracy”). Perhaps, in time, he will be replaced by someone who better reflects the concerns of the Danish.
Meantime, I want to try a more subtle approach to this problem. Fans of eastern philosophy (Taoism, Zen…)note the concept of yin and yang. The symbol has a tiny bit of yin in the yang, and a tiny bit of yang in the yin. Also, the eastern view is that they are not static concepts. Rather, yin (passivity, giving in) and yang (action, dominating)are constantly trading places whereever they are expressed.
So, I would emphasize the possibility that the Danish education minister is performing a type of “stoop to conquer” that is a western form of passivity eventually changing into domination.
The Muslims will push their luck until they reach a point of making so many utterly ludcricrous demands, that they will essentially lose everything in Europe.
Meantime, if I were one of the less than tolerant Danish types, I would be spending a lot of time figuring out how to make life in Denmark so difficult for the extremists that they see the greater wisdom in going home.
We can make it just as difficult for them, if not more so…such that they have no idea where to aim, except to lash out…and we know what that will get them.
Maybe we should take up a collection to pay this guy’s tax so he can stay out of trouble
What will it take? Will it take the black flag of a hoped for semi imaginary caliphate’s jihad over a major western city surrounded by burning cars and police to afraid to enter some city zone?
Oh wait, I think that happened already. Something about Paris, wasn’t it?.
What will it take?
I read recently that Denmark saved its Jews in WWII [about 8,000?] for several reasons. They were trusted by the Germans as superior ‘Aryans’ and so were able to organise in secret. Also, the Jews were integrated and highly respected.
Doesn’t look like the same respect is given to Denmark’s Islamists, but there are still some moral fascists there, I’m afraid..
Kepiblanc,
thanks for pointing out that poll. It seems about the same in Germany, public opinion is coming around. A recent poll showed 60% of Germans think Islam is incompatible with modern German society, and 40% favor restrictions on the constitutional right to freedom of religion. 83% think Islam is “driven by fanaticism.”
And ordinary Germans are not sitting passively by. I blogged here about a recent demonstration in a suburb of Berlin against the building of a mosque which is planned.
Sorry, my comments on Germany were in response to adaneshju’s question, not kepiblanc.
To Barrie said..
The occupation of Denmark in 1940 was a walkover with little resistance, basically because the country was practically disarmed by twenty years of pacifist domination in its national policies. The political establishment pragmatically established a policy of collaboration with Germany, which upheld the notion of the kingdom being an independent state, only being protected by the frindly Germans. It was untenable in the long run, and ended in the autumn of 1943, when the Germans took over the country in earnest. At the same time, it was decided that the “solution” to “the Jewish problem” in Denmark should be carried out. To the Danes, these events cleared the air, and the the most immediate response they could make was to prevent the murder of some 7,000 of their own compatriots. At the same time, the liquidation of the Danish Armed Forces meant that the coastal patrols vanished, and the already overstretched Kriegsmarine could not replace them at short notice (the Danish patrol vessels had been scuttled, burnt or otherwise sabotaged). The proximity of neutral Swedish territory made it all easier. Concerning the Swedes, it is not unrealistic to fear that they would have turned the refugees back, if these events had taken place only a year earlier, for fear of the Germans. Thus this thing happened in a unique frame of time and space.
An interesting story emerged some years ago, the civil Danish society was kept running for the rest of the war by a group of top Danish state bureaucrats, and as this body established itself, their leader, Niels Svenningsen, suggested to the Germans that the Jews could be interned under their supervision. It seems to have been a well-meant proposal, but fortunately, it was turned down by the Germans. It would have spelled disaster for the Jews, delivering them packed and ready for annihilation.
In the case of Denmark of october, 1943, there was a clear indication of “them” and “us”. The Jews were us, the Germans were them. I don’t think it is much different today, if the Islamists start going extreme on the Danish Jews, I doubt if “the Danes” would consider it to be not of their concern.
with regards,
Kristoffer Mogensen
Imagine if everybody refused to appease these Religious Nazi monkees. Arrest them in mass when they riot, rob and rape. Mock & tease the sheet out of them, force them to debate only, only fighting with words, and all tell and remind our governments that it is their job to protect us, and to allow us to protect ourselves; and uphold the true values of the countries for which we pay taxes as citizens.
la pensée absurde –
Dieu de l’Univers dit a laissé
NOUVEAU Hitler a des armes nucléaires
ne pas craindre sa religion
il aime vraiment Israël
.