Award-winning french author Michel Houellebecq is being victimized by Islamic groups in that country. It is well known to all who read their statements, interviews and translations of articles that these sorts of organization wish to bring Europeans under their medieval, violent and dismal religious law. It is just one more attempt in a campaign to turn the institutions of a liberal society against itself.
Fortuneately many others see this case as a travesty so Michel will have ample support from members of the french literary establishment.
If Islamists can’t handle his dismissal of the Koran’s literary style, tough. Let them publish their own counter critique and see if anyone wants to read it. If Michel thinks Islam is a silly religion, he is free to say so and others are free to listen or not as they choose. If he takes joy in the death of Palestinian terrorists…. well, we wouldn’t go along with that, now would we? I absolutely swear I take no more joy in the death of Palestinian fighters than Palestinians did in the death of my countrymen on 9/11.
… and we all know they are really nice people who wouldn’t dream of celebrating the deaths of our friends and relatives..
Let me add something about taking joy in the deaths of Palestinian terrorists. Another difference between the Palestinian partygoers on one side and you, me, and the rest of the civilized world on the other is that we don’t take joy in the deaths of Palestinian non-terrorists. If the Palestinians confined their celebrations to the deaths in combat of Israeli or American soldiers, I would still wish to see them defeated, but I wouldn’t despise them. All mankind cheers on their own side in war. But there is something unusual about whooping it up over the murder of bat-mitzvah and Passover guests in Israel, and secretaries and insurance brokers in New York.
There is also a difference, however, between the respective positions of Palestinian civilians & the rest of us. We are not occupied by a foreign power. If we were, & if we imagined that the murder of the foreign power’s civilians (& the civilians of its sponsors) would hasten the end of the occupation, then perhaps we too should be ungenerous enough to celebrate their deaths. Who knows?
Almost equally morally repugnant, & more dangerous, is the determination of extremist Muslims based in the West to stamp out free speech, & the miserable concessions to them that contemptible Western political establishments insist on making. Were there no law against “inciting religious hatred”, then this disgusting case would not have been brought to court.
I just watched a repeated programme on BBC4 (UK) about Houellebecq and was really impressed with the guy.
We do need to be careful that our freedom is not eroded by any fundamentalist group – be it christian or muslim.
There is fear in some circles in the Uk not to express opinions about Islam – while it is totally acceptable (even ‘in vogue’) to criticize Christianity.
I enjoyed Houellebecqs honesty – in the programme it came across very simply and made his critics look absurd.
Racism is vile – but religion needs to be questioned in the same way that science does. America needs to check its own fundamentalism as does the Arab nations.