THE DAILY BLADE: Shut Up And Don’t Sing
So as not to incite murderous mobs of Muslims, the world-renowned Deutsche Oper in Berlin cancelled performances of Mozart's Idomeneo. The Australian reports that the scene that made Deutsche Oper director Kirsten Harms quake in her boots was when Idomeneo, the King of Crete, holds the decapitated heads of Poseidon, Jesus, Buddha and the prophet Mohammed in a sack and cries out, "The Gods are dead!"
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who was due to open a conference overnight on Islam and German society, said the decision to cancel the opera was insane, laughable and unacceptable. Other politicians said it was irresponsible.
The decision comes at a time of sensitivity in Europe about offending Islam. Police units have been set up in several European Union countries to study potential flashpoints.
Comments by the Pope on Islam - contained in a wider speech on religion and responsibility - also triggered unrest. …
A spokesman for the Deutsche Oper said putting on Idomeneo would "represent an incalculable security risk for the theatre at present". …
"If the mere fear of Islamic protest leads to self-censorship, then the democratic principle of freedom of _expression is directly threatened," said Bernd Neumann, cultural adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Art and the media have the task of setting out contradictions and arguments that are going on within society."
The head of the conservative Christian Social Union parliamentary faction, Peter Ramsauer, went further: "It is an act of pure cowardice. We are opening ourselves up to cultural blackmail."
Not all theatres are ready to make concessions. The respected English Theatre in Frankfurt is staging the European English-language premiere of The Last Virgin, by Tuvia Tenenbom, the provocative Israeli-American playwright, which makes fun of suicide bombers. Talks have been held with the police, sniffer dogs patrol the aisles before every performance and no bags are allowed into the auditorium.
Tenenbom said: "This self-censorship shouldn't be happening anywhere, but least of all in Germany. This is where the Nazis burned books.
"If you cancel performances because you're scared, then you're burning your own books on behalf of the fanatics. You don't get crazier than that."
The International Herald Tribune notes that Islamic law is interpreted to forbid depictions of Muhammad so as not to encourage idolatry. For its part, Deutsche Oper said in a statement: "We know the consequences of the conflict over the (Muhammad) caricatures. We believe that needs to be taken very seriously and hope for your support."
In a recent column, Diana West points out that "moderate" Muslims - if they even exist; The Stiletto thinks they are mythical beings conjured up by libs and the MSM - and extremists are on the same page when it comes to free speech issues:
When all is said and done -- when protesters junk their placards, when burning churches cool, when a murdered nun's grave grows grass -- "shut up" is the underlying message of Pope Rage, the latest fulmination to come from Islam, this time over Pope Benedict's recent lecture on faith and reason. …
Islam prohibits "blasphemy," which includes criticism of its prophet Mohammed. The Shariah penalty is death. But if it is "extremists" who carry the penalty out -- as in the ritual murders of Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam (2004) and Mohammed Taha in Sudan (2006) - what Pope Rage reveals is how shockingly little separates "moderates" from "extremists" when it comes to the blasphemy-taboo in the first place. …
Great Britain's own Anjem Choudary, as reported in the Evening Standard: "The Muslims take their religion very seriously and non-Muslims must appreciate that and must also understand that there may be serious consequences if you insult Islam and the prophet."
He continued: "Whoever insults the message of Mohammed is going to be subject to capital punishment."
"Shut up," say the moderates, "or else," say the extremists. Frankly, this sounds an awful lot as if the "moderates" are as non-reasonable as the "extremists."
The controversy over self-censorship and freedom of speech and artistic expression spread
quickly beyond Germany’s borders:"Here we go again. It's like deja vu...This is exactly the kind of self-censorship I and my newspaper have been warning against," said Flemming Rose, culture editor of Denmark's Jyllands-Posten paper, which met a storm of Muslim protest after publishing satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad last year.
He said bowing to fears of a violent Muslim reaction would only worsen the problem: "You play into the hands of the radicals. You are telling them: your tactics are working. This is a victory for the radicals. It's weakening the moderate Muslims who are our allies in this battle of ideas."
Cowardice or prudence? It’s a tough call, considering the
high price that intellectuals, artists and authors have paid worldwide at the hands of Islamofascists. That said, submitting voluntarily to the restrictive tenets of Shariah law, people like Kirsten Harms save fundamentalist Islamofascists the trouble of forcible conversions. The Stiletto thinks someone should send that woman a burqa.Update
Car Dealer Backs Off "Jihad" Sales Promotion
Bowing to pressure from Mitsubishi Motors North America, Keith Dennis, principal owner and CEO of Dennis Mitsubishi in Columbus, OH, decided not to run radio spots on local stations promoting a jihad-themed "Fatwah Friday" (second item) that described one vehicle that "can comfortably seat up to 12 jihadists in the back" and promised free rubber swords to children. The Stiletto thought the sales promotion was rather funny, but it’s Dennis who is laughing - all the way to the bank. He got more national media coverage and buzz (including this very blog!) from the controversy than the radio spots would have generated – and he did not have to shell out for air time.
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