Kurt Westergaard, Al-Shabab Terrorist: Same Thing!

The following account from Politically Incorrect of a tasty little item from the German MSM was kindly translated for Gates of Vienna by JLH:

Südwestpresse: Westergaard is as Dangerous as his Attacker

A commentary from the lowest drawer [as opposed to the “top drawer” — translator] can be found today in Südwestpresse. After a song of praise for freedom of the press, the author Eugen Rottinger determines that the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard intended to be provocative, and therefore, “under cover of freedom of expression, was at least as blind as his attacker.” In other words, Westergaard himself was guilty.

The SWP writes word-for-word:

Slander or freedom of the press: After the murder attempt by an Islamist on Danish Mohammed-caricaturist Kurt Westergaard, feelings are running high. Let us be straightforward: the Somali attacker must be punished as severely as possible. Nothing justifies violence and extremism. Not a fatwa, not a religiously-based sentence of death. And second: No one may jostle freedom of the press.

In 1988, publishers and publicists had knuckled under when at first no publishing house could be found for The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, on which a fatwa had been laid. There was no such weakness in 2006, with the reproduction of the Mohammed caricatures, despite the protests of thousands in the Islamic world. In Europe at that time, the caricatures were declared to be what they were: sneering and abominable — but unconditionally protected by freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

However, there is not only one right side. Freedom of expression and the press also has to deal with morality and responsibility. Jürgen Klinsmann, shortly before being discharged from Bayern München (Bavaria Munich, a soccer team) after being shown in a photo montage as Christ on the cross, really had no chance against this publication. This was morally the lowest drawer.* Journalists must be aware not only of what they hope to accomplish, but of what they actually achieve.

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Westergaard wanted to be provocative, and he happily went on to do that, free of any responsibility under cover of freedom of expression. As far as he is concerned, Islam as a whole sponsors terrorism. He is at least as blind as his attacker. Therefore, both of them are dangerous.

So it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other? What? Did Westergaard try to kill someone? Did he blow up an airplane or fly one into a building?

None of the above. He just pulled out his pencil and equated Islam with terror, a thesis for which there is no better support than the murder attempt on him. Or did his fellow citizen intend to argue convincingly for the Islamic faith and thereby demonstrate that Islam means peace and that Westergaard was wrong?

Apparently nothing is too stupid to be printed in the German “quality” media. Freedom of expression also protects stupidity.

* The reports of Klinsmann’s firing emphasize the team’s abysmal won-lost record and not the effect of the photograph.