Diversity Deferred

Civil war, genocide, starvation, and extreme poverty are problems currently ravaging the Sudan, but the Sudanese people know what the real problem is.  Danish cartoonists!

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- President Omar al-Bashir said Wednesday that he would bar Danes from Sudan and told tens of thousands of people at a government-backed rally that the Muslim world should boycott Denmark because of a reprinted cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.

   

Tens of thousands of Sudanese protest at a government-backed rally in Khartoum, Sudan.

The Danish have responded by opposing any type of debt relief. 

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) -- Denmark said Thursday it will oppose any debt relief deal for Sudan in response to the Sudanese president's comments urging the Muslim world to boycott Danish goods over the publication of a Prophet Muhammad cartoon.

   

Tens of thousands of Sudanese in Khartoum protest at a government-backed rally Wednesday.

I'm conflicted.  Are the Danish cartoonists the intolerant ones for drawing the "anti-prophet" cartoons, or are the Sudanese the intolerant ones for promising to hack any Danish who comes to their country?  This whole diversity thing is much more complicated than it seems. 

Comments

[Dagmar]

Is this a joke? Who is more intolerant? Tolerance means Denmark allows anyone to give their opinion on Islam and Mohammed; whether it is favorable or unfavorable. Intolerance means Sudan not only doesn't allow any unfavorable comments regarding Islam or Mohammed from a foreign country, but no longer tolerates ANYONE that comes from that country, regardless of their personal beliefs on Islam, which may in fact be favorable.

The tolerance/intolerance question here seems pretty clear to me. What's your problem?

[garrettc]

I'm not conflicted at all.

I often find routine attacks against Christianity in the US media, tiresome, and sometimes offensive. Especially the way they are expressed in the format of "all right-thinking people know..." But the fact of the matter is that mostly it makes us stronger.

You didn't hear about young Catholic men chanting "death to artists" in front of the New York Met when they displayed Madonna in Dung, now did you? Burning cars? Kidnappings and executions of aid workers?