- Sales of Danish flags must be up. Should I invest now?
- Gratitude that they at least got the flag right. Think of the humiliation if they torched say, the Swedish flag by mistake, thinking it was the Dannebrog.
- You know you are doing something right when people like this go to such trouble to show their contempt.
Historically, small countries such as Denmark have always had to exercise special restraint with regards to how they act towards the larger and more powerful countries. If you share a border with a powerful neighbor who could conquer you at will, there is a strong incentive to avoid giving the neighbor any excuse for taking action against you. One way this is reflected in Danish law is that it is in fact illegal to burn flags in public, if and only if the flags are those of other countries. The Danish flag is not protected this way, so you are free to torch the Dannebrog in Denmark, but not the Norwegian flag or the Stars and Stripes. Obviously, the idea is that we want to be careful about giving offense to others, while we are less concerned about hurting our own feelings. While I feel that flag burning probably should be allowed for all flags, the fact that we make the distinction and have been careful not to protect our own flag is immensely pleasing to me.
Recently, the Danish Peoples Party (Dansk Folkeparti), which provides the current government with the support that keeps them in power, attempted to argue that burning the Dannebrog should be made illegal. Thankfully, this initiative fizzled.
Now, we see that some Palestinians have managed to work themselves into enough of a fit that they managed to get a hold of a Danish flag in order to burn it, and this presumably demonstrates their outrage at the fact that an unknown newspaper in a far-off Christian country published some pretty mild cartoons over four months ago. Leaving aside for a moment the real possibility that the flag burning was staged to get some pictures (either by some media or by those who are fanning the flames in order to put pressure on the Danish government for their own purposes), one cannot help but marvel at the way this issue is being escalated.
Even as some of the Danish industrial leaders - managing to look simultaneously craven and unhealthily addicted to the god Mammon - call for the government to solve the issue (they are careful to avoid saying they would like the Prime Minister to apologize, but it is quite clear this is what they want), it is becoming obvious that the hysteria has taken on a life of its own. Maybe at some point, the Muslims who have been so eager to feel insulted, would have seen an official apology as a sufficient victory, but that hardly seems probable now. And listening to the host of demands (disseminated diligently and given artificial life support when needed, naturally, by the media) now the talk is that laws must be passed to prevent a possible recurrence.
Yeah, that's right. Now, we are supposed to pass laws curbing what we can make fun of. And supposing we do that, at what point will the same people demand that the Danish flag be changed? After all, there is a big honking Christian Cross right in the middle. And in fact, it's a Crusader symbol to boot!
No, there can be no backing down. And while Jyllandsposten has repeated and repeated that it meant no offense, I am now thinking that it is about time we showed what it looks like when we DO mean to give offense.
While it is true that Islamic civilization was advanced and relatively enlightened eight hundred years ago, what have they accomplished lately? At this day and age, we, inheritors of the most highly advanced and accomplished civilization known to Man, should not have to bend over backwards to satisfy the megalomania and massively justified inferiority complex of a group of misogynistic, homophobic, stuck on stupid nations whose primary contribution to modern society is the suicide bomber.
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