'You're quite adept at unleashing the odd intemperate post, aren't you, runner. '

Quite right Poirot especially when I see innocent people being murdered largely due to the stupidity of academics and journalist whose pig headed denial have contributed albeit indirectly. The Immigration officials who gave the Sydney terrorist citizenship should be held accountable. The abc/sbs who continue to give Islamist air time are also responsible. They are sickening.

Is Mise, in the UK there has been discussion on banning the Koran
because it advocates racial oppression and violence and murder.

Organisations that insist that those parts must be obeyed are committing an offense.
The legal opinions sounded reasonable to me a non lawyer.
Now before the apologists start screaming that the bible has similar
chapters. However there is no organisation advocating those policies.

In any case that could be a different case. One at a time.
With murders currently taking place some urgency seems valid.

Anyway, I have acted in a first small step which I hope will in time
start to wind back this Islamic problem. It will mean many more than
just myself and a few others to be effective.

Why don't you just take the actions that best suit yourself.

Hey Craig, I like songs with lyrics too, this goes out to the New Left, wherever they are drowning their sorrows tonight...1968 probably:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up3hmLCr830

Now some of us are weak and some endure
Some people live their life, with a violence that's pure and clean
But I saw a man cry once, down on his knees
In the corner of a darkened cell, and his pain meant nothing to me

But I was younger then young men never die
When I walked out in the sun, I was strong, clear-minded and blind

Now don't say a prayer for anyone, it doesn't do any good
Please don't ask me questions, it'd just be misunderstood
And if you could step inside me you'd feel what hatred brings
And if you saw with my eyes, you'd see what self-deception means

I was younger once, and I created a lie
And though my body was strong, I was self-deluded, confident, and blind

Now show some pity, for the weak of will
Because when we're drinking, we can never be filled
Show some understanding for a lonely fool
Because when I'm drinking, I am out of control
Well I was never young, nothing has transpired
And when I look in the mirror, I feel dead, I feel cold, I am blind

I am blind
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
I am blind
I am blind

SteeleRedux

‘As to whether their actions were either “deliberate provocation and grotesque cultural insult” or “brave irreverance” - why can't they be both?’

I suppose they can be both, but it depends on the power context. Given the West’s history of violently destabilising Muslim countries and creating millions of Muslim refugees and migrants (not to mention terrorist blowback) worldwide, to sexually degrade the principal deity revered by most of those refugees and migrants, and in a country where white, male Christians hold most of the privilege, is both unfair and ignorant.

True satire – ironically, a supposedly French invention – is about those with LESS power taking humorous aim at those with MORE power. It’s genuine satire for citizens to mock their leaders. However, it’s NOT genuine satire for leaders to mock their citizens. It’s genuine satire for minorities to mock majorities, but it’s not genuine satire for majorities to mock minorities.

When the satirical power balance is inverted – i.e. when those with MORE power take satirical aim at those with LESS power, it is no longer satire; rather, it becomes bullying. That’s not to say that groups who hold privilege should never, ever mock groups that hold less privilege, but if they do so, it should be done fairly, with some understanding of the power issues involved.

So, on this basis … no, I DON’T think the Hebdo cartoonists were being brave. They were just being foolhardy.

Arjay, halduell et al,

The thick plottens ...

Police Chief Helric Fredou, the man apparently in charge of the investigation into the Charlie Hebdo massacre, has been found dead in his office - apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound from his own gun.

At the time of writing, this news is now about 18 hours old. Yet not a single mainstream media outlet has reported it - at least that I can find. However, it's being well covered by fringe alternative 'conspiracy' sites. (So, I can't account for its authenticity as a news item or what could be behind it.)

I would assume that a man in charge of one of the most significant police investigations in recent French history would be set for a huge career boost - so why top himself?

To Killarney.

Faced with the reality of Muslim terrorism, your reflexive response is to blame the victims. It is all the West's fault for "destabilising" Muslim countries. For 1400 years, the Muslim world has been doing it's utmost to destroy our civilisation, and you blame the victims of Islam's imperial aggression for fighting back and winning. The Muslim world has always been extremely violent, aggressive and dysfunctional, and it still is. And the reason for that is because their religion is violent, aggressive and dysfunctional.

Your premise, that it is wrong for western cartoonists to mock Mahomet, can be compared to efforts by Nazi Germany to prevent British cartoonists prior to WW2 from mocking Hitler. The "principle deity" of Christianity is Jesus Christ, and He has been fair game for the left since the French Revolution. Your premise that "true" satire involves the "weak" mocking the "strong" is a premise more worthy of hilarity than serious consideration. Since when have the "weak" been the only legitimate creators of art?

Nazis in Britain prior to WW2 were a "minority" but the British press routinely insulted them by printing cartoon comments depicting Nazis and Adolph Hitler as goose stepping buffoons. Using your own reasoning, that minorities must always be protected from "bullying" by the majority, do you think that the British cartoonists should have displayed more cultural sensitivity to the minority of British Nazis? Answer the damned question.

I salute the courage of the Charlie Hedbo cartoonists in showing that Islam was not immune to criticism or satire. But they were all lefties committed to the idea that the Islamazation of Europe should not be prevented, because to exclude any particular group of people from immigrating to Europe was racism. The cartoonists could not see over their racism blinkers, and they refused to consider the fact that Muslims were the enemies of everything they believed in. They were traitors to the western world, and their murders by the very people who's presence in their society they heartily approved of, was poetic justice.