My Advice to the Cartoon Protesters

While things are beginning to calm down elsewhere, the cartoon protests continue in Pakistan and are claiming more lives. However, this time the lives taken appear to be thru carelessness, as the protesters fire guns into the air.

I have not been sympathetic to the protesters during this time, but have been annoyed by how many Westerners are more eager to poke and prod the Muslims by reprinting the cartoons over and over, rather than allowing a true dialogue to emerge. Some westerners are doing this out of principle, but it really seems like others are doing it out of spite. And it is not helping.

So, if the West will not behave, let me give some advice to the East. The forms of protest you are currently using are NOT speaking to the Western mind. We see you venting anger/passion in an uncontrolled way that costs YOU nothing, but punishes innocents. It tells us that you are like an angry child - lashing out blindly because of uncontrolled emotion, rather than having a philosophical/religious point to make. This is likely not how you see yourselves, but it is how the West sees you. It makes us LESS likely to accept or respect anything you have to say.

If you want the West to pay attention, learn from the successful protesters against the West: Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. We respect and listen to those who protest by showing THEY are willing to pay the price for their beliefs. These men went on hunger strikes, staged peaceful sit-ins, calmly endured arrest, and would have died (did die) for their beliefs. All without hurting innocents. If you want to get our attention, have 10 or 20 of the most respected leaders go on a public hunger strike. Have them say that they will not again eat, until there is an acknowledgement of your grievances.

This will get MASSIVE play in the Western press, and sympathy from the Western peoples. It will put incredible political pressure on Western Leaders, from their own people. And it will show that your fight is not merely the public venting of general anger or frustration. This will speak to the West.

It is time for the Muslim world to take one step in trying to speak the language of the West. This is a small gesture, but one which will get our attention. If you can show that you understand us enough to protest non-violently, then it will encourage us to take the next step toward understanding you. It will also show that the ancient culture of the Middle East understands a way of fighting that is NOT Bin Ladenism. A movement of non-violence within the Muslim community would be the ultimate rejection of 9/11 in the eyes of the Western World. And that is what we have been waiting for.