Merkel warns against fear of Muslim violence
Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Wednesday not to bow to fears of Islamic violence after a Berlin opera house cancelled a Mozart work over concerns some scenes could enrage Muslims and pose a security risk.”I think the cancellation was a mistake. I think self-censorship does not help us against people who want to practise violence in the name of Islam,” she told reporters. “It makes no sense to retreat.”
Merkel’s comments, which echoed those of other senior German politicians, fuelled a row over the cancellation of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” which overshadowed a government-sponsored conference to promote dialogue with the country’s 3.2 million Muslims.
I believe that Merkel is right on this, and hopefully this sentiment will spread throughout Europe.
It is of course perfectly fine for Muslims to disapprove of this performance. They can express that approval in all sorts of ways, and I fully support them doing so. What they can’t do, and what we shouldn’t let them do, is use violence and intimidation to get their way.
Of course many Muslims behave in the former manner. Many others, probably in truth a majority, probably wouldn’t have any problem with this performance at all. A few though, will use violence or the threat of violence to try to get thier way.
Probably, in terms of absolute numbers, they wouldn’t be a major problem if it wasn’t for a secondary problem associated with, their violence and threats have been more tolerated because they are Muslims or foreigners or whatever. This isn’t being fair, this is being racist, basically saying that we have to tolerate that sort of behavior because they can’t act properly.
The same sort of thing, and in many ways even more troubling, is that this same sort of double standard exists in other areas, in particular to how many Muslim women are treated by their families in European nations, with the complicity of the authorities. Women are sacrificed on the alter of religious tolerance, and these cultures are further distorted.
Moderate Muslims I think also share some of the blame here. Too often they are slow to condemn this sort of action, both the violence and the treatment of women in ways that they would never practice. I think that for the most part they are either intimidated by actual threat, or intimidated by fundamentalist claims of practicing a purer form of the religion. Perhaps in some cases they also buy off on the multi-culteralist dogma that we cannot judge another. In any event, they need to denounce this sort of thing, and we need to help them do it, however we can.
Some things are obvious. Making sure that a Muslim women has the same protections against domestic violence than a non-Muslim woman for example. Making sure that immigrant Muslim neighborhoods have the same police protections against outlaw gangs of thugs and jihadist wanna-bes as afluent native areas. These are basic equality issues that should be a part of our core values.
After that, perhaps it will become more difficult to figure out what steps to take next. I think though that if we can accomplish the obvious things, the next steps will become easier rather than harder.
Dave: I’m not in the know when it comes to numbers but it sure seems like the majority of Muslims, whether in Europe, in America, or the Middle East support, actively or passively, violence against “infidels.” I wouldn’t be at all surprised to wake up tomorrow to the news of a major attack in a European city. It’s my opinion that most European states are what I call “prostitute states” which means that they try and appease the Arabs with all available means in order to ensure cheap gasoline and reduce the risk of terror attacks. What this policy of appeasement does, however, is increase the terror threat.