Comparing the Danish Cartoons to Der Sturmer?

In Cartoon Muhammads and the Academic Caricature, Alexander H. Joffe of Campus Watch notes that The Toronto Star reports the following comparison being made by Ruth Mas, a lecturer in Islamic studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo:

She warned such actions play into the hands of right wingers, who use free speech arguments to spread what she calls "Islamophobia," a growing trend in Europe that she says reminds her of the anti-Semitic rhetoric that swept through Europe with the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s."

What scares me here is the participation of the press in this," she said. "I don't expect the press to be intellectual, but I do expect them to be reflective."

A prominent German Islamic leader said the cartoons were reminiscent of the caricatures of Jews in the Nazi propaganda sheet Der Sturmer. "Press freedom shouldn't be used to insult people. We Germans need to know our history," Michael Muhammad Pfaff, of the German Muslim League told Britain's Guardian newspaper. [emphasis added]

This ridiculous comparison achieves the two-fold accomplishment of not only delegitimizing the Danish newspaper--Jyllands-Posten, but of creating a relativism between the up and coming "Islamophobia" and anti-Semitism.

Take a look again at the 12 pictures from Denmark's newspaper (click on image to see entire cartoon--at Human Events Online)


Streicher's caricatures in Der Stürmer demonized the Jews, portraying them as less than human and a threat to Germany if not all of humanity. Some of Streicher's caricatures can be viewed at Jewish Virtual Library.

First of all, if any of the pictures above are at all demonizing, they are doing no more than commenting on the events of the past several years of Islamist terrorism (see A Year of Islamist Terror: The Numbers and What a Month of Islamist Terrorism Has Wrought). Islamist terrorists have already succeeded in demonizing Islam and Moslems.

That point is already being made, according to the Toronto Star article:

"The protests in the Middle East have proven that the cartoonist was right," said Tarek Fatah, a director of the Muslim Canadian Congress. "It's falling straight into that trap of being depicted as a violent people and proving the point that, yes, we are."

Secondly, if the 12 cartoons were truly that offensive, Imams such as Abu Laban would not have resorted to adding truly offensive to the original 12--additional pictures of unknown origin that were not distinguished from the original cartoons when Abu Laban and the Danish Moslem delegation went on their Middle-East tour (see The Anti-Denmark Riots: Has Pallywood Gone Global? and Translation of The Danish Moslem Delegation Letter).

It's time to end the absurd game of equivalence. We may be at a pivotal point where the West can take a stand for basic Western principles, or cave in and continue the slide into a future of uncertainty and subservience to intimidation.

UPDATE:

Take a look at Neander News, where so far one of the 3 offensive pictures that the Imams deceptively added to the original 12--has been traced to it's source: A Pig Squealing Contest!

Other posts here on the topic of the Danish cartoons:

o The Denmark Cartoons and Moslem Moderation 2/15/06
o The Danish Cartoons and the Hijacking of Islam 2/9/06
o The Timing of the Danish Cartoon Riots 2/8/06
o Translation of the Danish Moslem Delegation Letter 2/6/06
o The Anti-Denmark Riots: Has Pallywood Gone Global? 2/5/06
o Cartoon Irony 2/5/06
o Denmark and the Cartoon Defense 2/2/06

Technorati Tags: Mohammed and Muhammad Cartoon and Prophet and Denmark and Streicher and Der Sturmer and Islam.