Look What You Made Me Do!

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One of the classic ways abusers internally deflect responsibility is via a twisted transferance of blame to the victim. In other words, it was something little Tommy had done (or heck, simply who he was) that made Dad (and, alas, it’s usually Dad) beat him black and blue.

What makes the dialectic particulalry insidious is that should Tommy accept the blame, the abuse leaps from being merely physical into psychological & emotional. In that strange realm, Tommy’s self-sufficiency & worth plummets as Good/Bad is no longer something he can independently judge for himself but rather, becomes wholly determined by the tormentor’s chosen response.

Sadly, the recent bombings of the Danish embassy in Pakistan has brought forth language that’s more fitting a domestic abuse case than international diplomacy –

Fauzia Mufti Abbas, Pakistan’s ambassador to Denmark, agreed that the Mohammed cartoons, first published in Jyllands-Posten newspaper in October 2005, had incited Muslim anger and were possibly the motivation for the attack, which killed eight and wounded as many as 30.

‘It isn’t just the people of Pakistan that feel they have been harassed by what your newspaper has begun,’ she said. ‘I’d like to know if your newspaper is satisfied with what it has done and what it has unleashed?’

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p>Thankfully, the Dane’s recognize their values have worth & aren’t willing to accept blame –

Jørn Mikkelsen, Jyllands-Posten’s editor-in-chief, defended his newspaper’s decision to print the cartoons.

‘The decision to do so was in full accordance with Danish law, Danish press ethics and Danish press traditions. That the facts have been twisted in the rest of the world and misused for purposes that are no concern of Jyllands-Posten is something we can and will not take responsibility for.’

Bravo. The real criminals are the ones hurling bombs, not operating printing presses.

188 thoughts on “Look What You Made Me Do!”

  1. Muslim leaders have a nightmare vision for their societies…no joy, no fun, just Talibanesque bleakness and rigidity. Someone once said that Communism is like a booted soldier kicking a man in the face for eternity…what these Mullahs envision is like a man forced to be a madrassah student for eternity…rocking back and forth, memorizing the Koran forever..when not waging Jihad forever.

  2. Actually Amitabh, I think the motives behind the ban are more rational and mundane than you are making it out to be:

    The Pakistani province of Punjab has banned the flying of kites ahead of a traditional festival marking the advent of spring. The ban follows a number of deaths in recent days, mostly in the provincial capital Lahore, caused by glass-coated or metal kite-strings. [link]

    All right, maybe being garroted or sliced open by a glass-coated kite-string (LOL WUT) isn’t exactly mundane, but at least the government is taking steps to stop the pointless deaths of these people.

    Plus, look at the pic and tell me that’s kite isn’t as pagan/pseudo-Hindu as one can get in Pakistan.

  3. So ethnic Danes in Denmark should not have their culture and identity and values privileged in their own land?

    Amitabh: I’m honestly not sure how you got that out of my post.

    I was referring generally to the concept of white privilege, male privilege, straight privilege. I think that was clear from the context of my analogy?

    The cartoons where commissioned “based upon a motivation explained as stemming from difficulties that Danish writer KÃ¥re Bluitgen had finding artists to illustrate his children’s book about Muhammad[citation needed]. Artists in Denmark have been reluctant to provide these images due to a fear of violent attacks by extremist Muslims.”

    Manju: I am aware of that rationale for publishing the cartoons, and it’s one that I can’t entirely disagree with. However, according to this Danish writer:

    Until the publication of the caricatures, most Danes would in fact have been surprised to learn that freedom of the press or expression was under threat in their country. Anti-immigrant bashing had long been part of the editorial line of populist tabloids. The written media are organized around three press concerns and a few independent dailies while television and radio have both state and private sectors. Under the existing conditions, there is absolutely no serious menace to the bourgeois control of the press and its freedom of expression. This is, however, far from being the case for left-wing opinion. With the defeat of socialism, and “reforms” in the postal system discriminating against small publications, the left-wing press has been decimated.

    Listen, I do understand that there are segments of the European Muslim populations that are unhappy, radicalized and violent. I do not believe that part of the population should get to determine everyone else’s speech.

    However, I feel like the issue of Jyllands-Posten’s free speech is being treated as if it exists in a vaccuum, without any consideration to the rise of right-wing or anti-immigrant parties in Denmark – it puts them in the position of an ethnic majority stirring up antagonism with an ethnic minority. This is not to say that Jyllands-Posten “had it coming” or any such thing, but just to argue that their actions are DIFFERENT from the abused child vinod likens them to, because the power differential is just not the same. It is that comparison to which I am primarily objecting.

    It is certainly news to Mary Mary Not Contrary, Allahback girl and portmanteau.

    amaun: it is not “news” to me that some imams in the Middle East circulated fake cartoons to stir up hostilities.

    Just because I took issue with vinod’s analogy, does not mean I am excusing the violent responses to the cartoons (real or fake).

    I am not sure which part of “would it justify violent retaliation? Would it justify government intervention in the newspaper? OF COURSE NOT” or “totally inappropriate and wrong”, from my post, was unclear.

    I have moral outrage about the violence that took place in response to the Danish cartoons. But I have room in my head for MORE than just moral outrage.

    The cartoon riots were a global phenomenon not a Danish phenomenon. Reducing this issue to Danes making fun of an ethic minority certainly makes the Muslims look like the underdogs, doesn’t it?

    JGandhi: What I think is reductive is making it about “the Muslims.” Since when are all 1.5 billion of them thinking and feeling the same way about the Danish cartoons? Can you not allow for the fact that a Danish Muslim might have experienced the cartoons differently than a Pakistani Muslim? Is it possible that the Muslims in Denmark were underdogs, but the Muslims worldwide were not?

    Moreover, we are somewhat agreeing when you say that:

    nor do I think being the underdog automatically walks you past the velvet rope to the VIP lounge of the Moral High Ground.

    Exactly!! And yet this is precisely what vinod did by suggesting that Denmark is a blameless child being abused by his Daddy.

    Which, I’m not trying to go on a total anti-vinod tear here because, yeah, the Pakistani ambassador’s blame-the-victim response is totally infuriating.

    And, I’ll take a minute to say that the psychology of someone who defends his prophet from being depicted as violent, by issuing death threats to the cartoonist, utterly escapes me. (Not attributing that to Abbas, just saying.)

  4. Actually Amitabh, I think the motives behind the ban are more rational and mundane than you are making it out to be:

    C’mon, Poonjabi, surely you can’t be so gullible as to take the word of those devious politicians on hot button issues like this? It’s not like they are J-P editors who, we can all agree, have the purest motives when they reject Jesus cartoons but publish doodles of Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

  5. OMG. I’m sorry for that horrible type barf in the middle of the quote. Gah.

  6. Just because I took issue with vinod’s analogy, does not mean I am excusing the violent responses to the cartoons (real or fake). I am not sure which part of “would it justify violent retaliation? Would it justify government intervention in the newspaper? OF COURSE NOT” or “totally inappropriate and wrong”, from my post, was unclear.

    I am sorry. Pick a side. You are either with us, or against us.

  7. C’mon, Poonjabi

    Please, call me Drrrty.

    surely you can’t be so gullible as to take the word of those devious politicians on hot button issues like this?

    You mean those savages? Of course not! As you can see from this secretly filmed, never-before seen footage, the clerics have succeeded in shutting down Basant and removing the jahiliyyah that was infecting their country. As you’ll see, there is no fun to be had: no dancing (especially not between members of the opposite sex!), no music, no Westerners allowed, and no women without veils or men attending to them. Look at how backwards they are not try not to pity them, just try.

  8. I’m not a Dane, but to me at least the popularity of so-called ‘shock jocks’ in the United States, with their vile, vituperative use of language, is at least as bizarre and alien as the Mohammed cartoons are to you. From my point of view Americans can be just as racially insensitive, and they have less of an excuse, since the USA is a very multicultural country. I’m not defending Jyllands-Posten, which I’ve heard is fit to wipe your feet with, but I do have to point out that there is no competition as to who is better – and also that there are people who read this site who are not from the USA. Sometimes the attitudes here can be really frustrating and alienating(I don’t blame the bloggers, but some of the commentators).

    Meena: Sorry I missed this earlier. As an American I do not believe that we are “better” than Denmark or that we get to lord moral superiority over them. I see how my remarks could’ve come across that way though, and I apologize.

    That said, I honestly do not believe a major USA newspaper could have done what Jyllands-Posten did without serious blowback. My point in making this comparison is not to say that America has the moral high ground over Denmark, because we don’t, but to say that if this occurred in America there would be issues other than free speech coming into play. Those issues would not necessarily TRUMP free speech, but they would exist. So it was odd to me that similar issues were totally ignored as if they do not exist for Denmark either.

    That doesn’t mean American racism doesn’t come out in OTHER ways – it absolutely and unfortunately does. In the interest of not being a hypocrite, I’m fine with a Dane pointing out things the USA media gets away with that theirs could not.

  9. That said, I honestly do not believe a major USA newspaper could have done what Jyllands-Posten did without serious blowback. My point in making this comparison is not to say that America has the moral high ground over Denmark, because we don’t, but to say that if this occurred in America there would be issues other than free speech coming into play. Those issues would not necessarily TRUMP free speech, but they would exist. So it was odd to me that similar issues were totally ignored as if they do not exist for Denmark either.

    if an american newspaper published a black-sambo photo its circulation would be deep-sixed and americans of all colors would protest in marches peacefully. that’s the difference between savages and the civilized 😉

  10. DJ Drrrty: Yes there is a safety issue too…but the following is also taken from the link you provided:

    The country’s religious parties, traditionally against the festival for its supposedly Hindu origin, then started demanding that the ban be brought back. They accused the Punjab government of allowing the sport on the orders of President Musharraf. Blasphemy A new twist was added to their protest this year when some members of the hardline Muslim Jamaat-e-Islami party declared that the festival was initiated in the memory of a Hindu who was hanged for blaspheming against the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Fearing that the protests could lead to a breakdown in law and order, the Punjab government reimposed the ban. “They have banned it just before the festival weekend,” says Karam Illahi, a kite manufacturer in Lahore. “I have already invested all my money in making kites and strings but now I cannot sell them. “Why couldn’t the government have made up its mind earlier,” he says. Over the years, the Basant festival has drawn thousands of revellers to Lahore from all over the world. Even Indian movie stars had started participating in the festival which peaks with an all-night flood-lit kite flying marathon on the eve of the festival.

  11. MORE ON BASANT:

    Basant in Pakistan In the pre-partitioned Punjab, Hindus of Punjab–especially Lahore–celebrated the Basant Panchami by flying kites. Muslims of Punjab at that time did not celebrate the Basant with the same enthusiasm, as it was considered as a Hindu festival, though younger Muslim folk did participate in kite flying as an event. At the time of partition in 1947, population of Lahore city was almost equally divided between Muslims (52%) and Hindus/Sikh (48%). By the end of September 1947, almost all the Hindus had left West Punjab/Lahore for India, but their tradition of Basant remained; and even today Lahore take pride in Basant and fly kites from their rooftops with the same enthusiasm.

    [edit] Lahori Basant Being the historic capital of Punjab there is no other place where Basant is celebrated with as much vigour and enthusiasm as the ancient city of Lahore. Although traditionally it was a festivel confined to the old-walled city it has spread all through out the city. It was for many years officially backed by the government and sponsored by multinational corporations. Although Basant “travels” throughout Pakistani Punjab it is Lahore which made it popular not only in Pakistan but all over the world as the largest kite festival.

    [edit] 2005 kite ban in Pakistan Historically, there have been hundreds of people killed or injured each year falling off rooftops and being cut by kite strings. While participating in “kite battles,” some kite fliers even coat their strings with glass or shards of metal, leading to more injuries. The Lahore High Court (LHC) has been moved against the official celebration of Basant in Pakistan.

    In 2005, an advocate MD Tahir of Lahore High Court, Pakistan, contended that Basant was purely an event of Hindu community who observed it as part of their religious rituals. He said that forefathers of Pakistani Muslims had never taken part in Basant celebrations, though they also deemed it a part of their culture. The petitioner said that Pakistan was a poor country and Basant festivities could not please them by any means. He argued that frequent power breakdowns because of kite-flying were depriving people of electricity supply for hours and they were also exposed to life threats by kite-string on roads. Aerial firing and use of firecrackers was another factor of disturbance for patients, students and the elderly people, he said. He also counted the death toll taking place every year on Basant day as a ground to seek a complete ban on kite-flying and Basant festivities in the country. The petitioner said that the government was spending millions of rupees to entertain foreign guests on Basant, rather than spending it to improve literacy rate, inadequate medical facilities and the provision of basic amenities to common people. As a result, in 2005, kite flying has been banned in Pakistan. Violent protests have occurred outside the Pakistani Supreme Court house, and further protests are planned. Despite the ban on kite flying one can see hundreds of kites every afternoon and evening on Lahore’s sky and the number of kites is even higher on Sundays and public holidays. [2]

    The Basant ban was lifted by the supreme court of Pakistan for 15 days in March but was again enforced late night on 10 March by the chief minister of Punjab, Pervaiz Elahi. On January 4, 2006, the provincial government of Punjab lifted the ban for 24 hours so that kite flying can be enjoyed on the holiday. [3]

    [edit] Basant and Sufi Culture Sufis are credited for bringing the festival into the Muslim pantheon in the India subcontinent. By the Mughal period, Basant was a popular festival at the major Sufi shrines. We have, for example, mentions of Nizam Auliya ki Basant, Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki ki Basant, Khusrau ki Basant; festivals arranged around the shrines of these various sufi saints. Khusrau, the famous sufi-poet of the thirteenth century, even composed verses on Basant:

    Aaj basant mana lay suhagan, aaj basant mana lay Anjan manjan kar piya mori, lambay neher laga lay Tu kya sovay neend ki maasi,

    so jaagay teray bhaag, suhaagun, Aaj basant mana layñ. Oonchi naar kay oonchay chitvan,

    ayso diyo hai banaaye Shah Amir tuhay dekhan ko, nainon say naina milaaye, Suhaagun, aaj basant manaalay.

    Celebrate basant today, O bride, Celebrate basant today Bring out your lotions,and decorate your long hair Oh why are you the servant of sleep? Even your fate is wide awake, Celebrate basant today O high lady with high looks, […], when the king looks at you, you meet his eyes, O Bride, Celebrate basant today [bad translation

    Another historic account is given in the book “Punjab Under the Later Mughals.” According to this book, when Zakariya Khan (1707-1759) was the governor of Punjab, a Hindu of Sialkot, by the name of Hakeekat Rai Bakhmal Puri spoke words of disrespect for the Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima due to teasing by Muslim boys. He was arrested and sent to Lahore to await trial. The court, gave him capital punishment. The Hindu population was stirred to request Zakariya Khan to lift the death sentence given to Hakeekat Rai but he did not accede to their request. Eventually the death penalty was carried out and the entire Hindu population went into mourning.

    As a tribute to the memory of this child, a prosperous Hindu, Kalu Ram initiated the Basant ‘mela’ in (Marrhi) Kot Khwaja Saeed (Khoje Shahi) in Lahore. (This place is now known as Baway di marrhi.) It is the last stop on the route of Wagon no. 60 from Bhati Gate. Dr. B.S. Nijjar states on Page no. 279 of his book that the Basant ‘mela’ is celebrated in memory of Hakeekat Rai. [4]

  14. All right, maybe being garroted or sliced open by a glass-coated kite-string (LOL WUT) isn’t exactly mundane, but at least the government is taking steps to stop the pointless deaths of these people.

    I guess the GoP (Govt of Pakistan) shall soon ban suicide bombers.

  15. diplomat cannot go beyond the cultural and social mores of the country he/she is representing. Does the social fabric allow her to express her opinion without fear of retribution? I mean, this is a country where the Presidents are hanged by successors. Where an ex-Prime minister was assasinated just a few months ago. Does her diplomat’s salary match the risk-premium for her job description? Give the poor woman a break. Her only mistake is that she took up the job of representing savages to a civilized world. She should quit and retire.

    why would one go in to paki politics in the first place, unless they were just either corrupt, stupid or ridiculously idealistic/naive? i can’t respect any of those qualities (although i can perhaps forgive idealism). and i agree, my country is full of savages and morons (at least the masses), and that is why i’d never represent them. she chose to and then she went on to blame denmark for the cartoons and ‘unleashing trouble’. so umm…no, i can’t give her a break. if our politicians and ambassadors continue to be such pussies and keep bowing down to the crazy fundamentalists, we’re doomed. well, actually, we’re probably doomed anyway but these idiots aren’t helping.

  16. if our politicians and ambassadors continue to be such pussies

    I don’t think Sarah is a woman…and so she may not be Pakistani either…

  17. 161 · Amitabh said

    MORE ON BASANT: [edit] Basant and Sufi Culture Sufis are credited for bringing the festival into the Muslim pantheon in the India subcontinent. By the Mughal period, Basant was a popular festival at the major Sufi shrines. We have, for example, mentions of Nizam Auliya ki Basant, Khwaja Bakhtiar Kaki ki Basant, Khusrau ki Basant; festivals arranged around the shrines of these various sufi saints. Khusrau, the famous sufi-poet of the thirteenth century, even composed verses on Basant

    This is totally wrong. Basant started as a Hindu festival and has roots going back to the pre-Islamic times. Basant comes from the Sanskrit word for spring, “Vasant”. And it is not just celebrated in Punjab. It is celebrated in HP, UP, Rajasthan, Delhi and Gujarat. Probably other places as well.

  18. JGandhi: I read that statement differently, to me it looks like they are saying that Sufis introduced the secular aspects of the Hindu Basant tradition (i.e. kite flying) to mainstream Punjabi Muslims (i.e. as opposed to claiming they invented Basant)

  19. 168 · louiecypher said

    JGandhi: I read that statement differently, to me it looks like they are saying that Sufis introduced the secular aspects of the Hindu Basant tradition (i.e. kite flying) to mainstream Punjabi Muslims (i.e. as opposed to claiming they invented Basant)

    I reread that statement and you may be right.

    Though I doubt Basant needed to be introduced to Punjabi Muslims. I think it is more reasonable to assume that Punjabi Muslims simply carried on the tradition because they inherited from their Hindu forefathers and/or saw it practiced among their Sikh and Hindu neighbors.

  20. amitabh,

    why? do paki women not use the word pussies? i hope that isn’t what you were implying? we’re not all crazy hijabi, ‘kill the kaffir’, raving lunatics, you know.

    or may be i’m just the bad apple. or black sheep.

    in any case, definitely a woman, unfortunately a paki. blog link’s there this time btw, so feel free to peruse archives full of abuses and rants and confirm both facts.

  21. As a Pakistani, it is so embarrassing when these idiots go out and consistently do ridiculously stupid (and horrible) things like bombing embassies or burning effigies. I understand people hold certain things sacred but expecting others to do so is incredibly silly.

    Well said. People affected by “secular progressivitis” (a disease targeting the liberal arts crowd and makes them fear the danger of Hindutvadis everywhere) are unable to understand this.

  22. 170 · sarah said

    amitabh, why? do paki women not use the word pussies? i hope that isn’t what you were implying? we’re not all crazy hijabi, ‘kill the kaffir’, raving lunatics, you know. or may be i’m just the bad apple. or black sheep. in any case, definitely a woman, unfortunately a paki. blog link’s there this time btw, so feel free to peruse archives full of abuses and rants and confirm both facts.

    Pakistani female or not, I’d definitely watch your use of the abbreviation ‘paki’ if I were you – in some parts of the world(most notably the UK) it’s a highly offensive slur.

  23. This is totally wrong. Basant started as a Hindu festival and has roots going back to the pre-Islamic times. Basant comes from the Sanskrit word for spring, “Vasant”. And it is not just celebrated in Punjab. It is celebrated in HP, UP, Rajasthan, Delhi and Gujarat. Probably other places as well.

    I think they are just describing how Sufis incorporated pre-existing indigenous practices into their own practices…it was a composite culture.

    Muslim Punjabis reportedly celebrated Vaisakhi with gusto pre-1947 and especially before the 1920s or so…because it’s a harvest festival with strong folk elements, going back centuries…it was always part of their own ancestors’ culture…

  24. Sarah, Hey–I took a look at your blog, and read enough to say I’ll definitely read more when I have the chance! You seem to be quite the free spirit–are you still enjoying the convertible?! 😉 Pls. keep commenting!!

  25. in any case, definitely a woman, unfortunately a paki. blog link’s there this time btw, so feel free to peruse archives full of abuses and rants and confirm both facts.

    Haven’t seen your blog yet…but I apologise for saying I doubted you were a woman…haven’t heard too many women use the word ‘pussies’ in the way you did…but nothing wrong with it. Your views seem honest enough.

  26. Listen, I do understand that there are segments of the European Muslim populations that are unhappy, radicalized and violent.

    It is the action of the idiots that make it harder for all people who share the same skin tone as these 3rd world scum in Europe.

  27. As anybody here been to Denmark at all. One of my best friends since middle school has lived in Denmark for almost a decade. He left Canada as your typical white gulit liberal and has moved very far to the right because of what he sees in the muslim community in Denmark.

    His words are that[muslim immigrants] all they do is bitch and moan and take advantage of the country social system and just collect welfare, don’t work and talk about how much they hate the culture of the country they live in. The funny thing is 2 more of white liberal friends were living in Holland[5 years] and Sweden[3 years]and now are back in Canada and basically say the same things.

    I wonder if Europe had gotten asian immigrants from countries like South Korea and Japan or South Americans like from places like Argentina and Chile that would they be causing the same problems, I don’t think so.

  28. His words are that[muslim immigrants] all they do is bitch and moan and take advantage of the country social system and just collect welfare,

    hey, sounds like what pat and i say about blacks and mexicans. maybe we should get together with your “typical white liberal” friends.

  29. talk about how much they hate the culture of the country they live in

    That does seem to be a running theme…

    Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.Other passages in the school’s textbooks state that “the Jews conspired against Islam and its people” and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed “polytheists.”link

  30. amitabh, don’t worry about it.

    rob, thanks. and yeah, the convertible is great although i feel extremely pretentious & conscious driving it top down!

    meena, i know it’s a slur but i’m reclaiming it! actually, to be honest, given that i AM pakistani & i’m too lazy to type the whole word, using the abbreviation seems perfectly natural.

  31. typical white gulit liberal

    I don’t get that. Guilt over what, exactly?

  34. My friends sound like alot of the people that live in Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Sweden and Norway.

  35. Isn’t it obvious? because they are over generalising and blaming all their woes on one segment of the Danish population.

    The ‘welfare’ system there is very good but im sure there are many good and bad people who benefit from it.

  37. The welfare issues just illustrate one of the classic truisms about generous welfare states: they require very high social solidarity in order to maintain political support for them. Everyone needs to feel that everybody else is doing their fair share, and not just taking a free ride on society’s dime. This is problematic when you introduce immigrant groups with widely differing cultures and education/income levels.

  38. 141 · Ponniyin Selvan said

    Good to know that. If you can let us know the name of the flick, that’d be great too. 🙂

    I’d rather the Chola Empire not extend to my choli 🙂