A Few of the Exceptions

This editorial by Ibn Warraq is so extraordinary that I can't even decide which paragraph to quote as a sampling (for to single one out seems a slight to the others). But as a taste:

Unless, we show some solidarity, unashamed, noisy, public solidarity with the Danish cartoonists, then the forces that are trying to impose on the Free West a totalitarian ideology will have won; the Islamization of Europe will have begun in earnest. Do not apologize.

This raises another more general problem: the inability of the West to defend itself intellectually and culturally. Be proud, do not apologize...

Also excellent, though perhaps somewhat less profound, Sonia Mikich's "What next, bearded one?". From the piece:

Everyone had the right to turn it off, look away or toss the newspaper in the bin. Freedom of opinion was the Siamese twin of freedom from fear.

The fact that fundamentalists of all persuasions are completely incapable of self-reflection, self-criticism, and self-irony would not warrant a mention, were it not for their practice of imposing their issues on me and my world. They assume that we will kowtow to them as soon as we recognise who they are: "Look out! Religious feelings! We're leaving the private sphere.

Edit: Also worth reading, Victor Davis Hanson "Losing Civilization"