As further evidence that speech critical of Muhammad isn’t the only speech that Muslims have a problem with, check out this latest development from France. Artwork showing women’s high-heel on Muslim prayer mats is being pulled from an exhibit for fear of death due to Islamophobia. Perhaps the best part is that the artwork found to be disrespectful of Islam was replaced by artwork that showed disrespect for the French national anthem.
According to the Daily Mail (h/t BNI):
An artwork depicting high-heeled shoes on Islamic prayer mats has been removed from an exhibition after a Muslim group warned of possible violence in the wake of the Paris attacks.
The French-Algerian artist, Zoulikha Bouabdellah, withdrew the work from an exhibition in a northern Paris suburb with a large Muslim population after an Islamic group told local authorities it could provoke “uncontrollable, irresponsible incidents”.
It is considered disrespectful to step on Muslim prayer maps with shoes.
Ms Bouabdellah has replaced the artwork, “Silence”, previously exhibited in Paris, New York, Berlin and Madrid, with a video installation showing belly-dancing to the French national anthem, with swirling red, white and blue shawls symbolising the national flag.
The decision sparked protests from other artists who complained that freedom of expression was being undermined only weeks after 12 people were killed when gunmen attacked the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Another four people were killed at a kosher supermarket, and a policewoman was shot dead near a Jewish school.
Too many westerners want to stand up against intimidation in a show of unity but aren’t willing to individually stand up to demonstrate that unity. This dynamic was perhaps BEST enunciated by Sir Edmund Burke (1729-1797):
When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.
In case you haven’t noticed, good men are falling one by one every day. The lack of outrage perfectly illustrates the word ‘unpitied’ about which Burke wrote.
Sir Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797)