Oh the Zealots

Last year several Muslims declared a boycott on Danish goods following the publication of cartoons offensive to the prophet Muhammad. In Damascus and Beirut, they even went so far as to torch the Danish embassy. However, by and large the demonstrations, though vocal, were carried out by a boycot of Danish products rather than violence. The Danes, the Americans, the Canuckistanis and the West all condemned such ridiculous behavior by the Islamic world. The Danes sustained a slight hit to their economy as two percent of their GNP came from Middle Eastern investments.

This year, Madonna wants to get off a cross on national TV as some type of confessionary symbol. The mere threat of a boycott against a sponsor by the religious right has lead NBC to pull the plug on that particular segment of her show. We often talk about a free market economy when it comes to advertising, and I am certainly no commie. But when we mock Muslims for boycotting Danish products due to the work of a comic strip, perhaps we should be aware of exactly what it is that we are mocking.

*The views expressed above do not represent those of this website, only the author of this article. Actually, they don't represent his views either, as he thinks anybody that gets wound up over Madonna and a Cross needs to pull the stick out of their ass and accept that freedom of expression can be offensive. Similarly, any Muslim that takes offense to the Danish pictures is not to blame, because most Middle Eastern nations have no idea what freedom of the press means and therefore assume that a national publication is sanctioned by the government. Thank goodness we live in wonderful nations like Taiwan, the U.S.A. and Canada where the government would NEVER interfere with our press.

**For those who are reading wihout English as a first language, there may have been some sarcasm in the last sentence. Just a bit.