Quote:
Originally Posted by detbuch
Common sense would tell us that cessation of printing cartoons would not lead to any peace between us and the "Jihadists." As you can see, if what is going on in the rest of the world which hasn't printed cartoons isn't enough, by the further attacks in France on others who didn't print cartoons. The terrorists don't need cartoons to give them motivation to kill. But they certainly can pretend that they justify their killing. They can use them as an excuse to do what they are going to do.
They have told us, and demonstrated over and over, that they do not wish to live in co-existence with us, but to kill those with whom they are in contact, or convert them, or make them submissive. If we belittle the cartoonists as an unimportant fringe which should be quiet or they will put us all in danger, we give the terrorists another niche into our souls. A place to inhabit in the way we live. A room from which to oppress us in our own house of freedom. You probably think that the quote attributed to Voltaire "I disapprove of what you say, but I will fight to the death your right to say it," is extreme. Some things are just too silly to die for.
Perhaps. Or, some things are precursors to what will come. If we suppress the "silly" in order for a the larger, more
"serious" freedom, we will have chipped away a part of who we are, and more chips will surely fall.
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"Common sense would tell us that cessation of printing cartoons would not lead to any peace between us and the "Jihadists."
Common sense tells me that 12+ people would be alive at this moment if the cartoons were not published. And I don't know what the gain was, except a few jihadists revealed themselves long enough to be killed.
"what is going on in the rest of the world which hasn't printed cartoons isn't enough"
Agree 100%. In my opinion, we get closer to doing "enough" by killing all o fthem, not by provoking further attackes, for no discernable gain. I already knew they had the right to publish the cartoons.
"we give the terrorists another niche into our souls"
Very true. So is it conceivable that there is a niche small enough in your soul, that you'd give to th eterrorists, even temporarily, to save innocent lives? If the terrorists agreed to surrender if we adopted Sharia law, it would not be worth it. An insignificant accommodation might be a price worth paying (and hopefully only temporary, as we still need to be hunting them down) to save lives. That's my point, and you obviously disagree.
"The terrorists don't need cartoons to give them motivation to kill."
Which is why we need to be relentless in our quest to kill them all. But while pursuing that, I don't see that every single opportunity to provoke them, must always be taken advantage of, 100% of the time.
"Some things are just too silly to die for" That's what I'm saying. Let's risk human capital where it makes sense to do so - specifically, where we need to protect vital interests, or where we can kill dangerous jihadists. In those cases, we should take risks.