The Basic Rules For Deserving and Receiving Apologies

A Primer On Apologies and Culpability

Here is a truly ignorant statment about the Muslem Cartoon Protests:

Both the Danish newspaper and the protesting Muslims are wrong.

Maybe this is true, or maybe not. I don't think the newspaper was wrong considering the context as described by the editor. Even if you think publishing the cartoons was wrong, it is simply not true that they are EQUALLY wrong.

Even if you think that the Danish newspaper owed Muslims an apology on the morning after the cartoons were published, the newspaper does NOT owe Muslims an apology anymore.

Let me explain the basic rules of owing and receiving apologies:

1. If you are offended, you have the RIGHT to ASK for an apology. You do not have the right to RECIEVE an apology. True apologies can only be freely given.
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2. If you go ape, that is, if you freak out in an outrageously offensive manner totally out of proportion to the offence, then you might even POISON the ability for you and those sharing your cause to RECEIVE an *honest* apology.
   
   When that happens, the only apology you can possibly receive will have all the intrinsic meaning of the soothing words a cop gives to someone threatening to jump off a ledge. It is just words meant to calm down a maniac. It will never be an true apology after that.
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3. Furthermore, if you act that way, then you no longer even DESERVE an apology. You deserve only REBUKE instead. And that is all Muslims as a whole deserve anymore. Why? Because their leaders and spokesmen have failed to rebuke the outrageous behavior of Muslims.
   
   Christians call this "excommunicating". It means essentially, "throwing someone out of your community" and an excommunicated party is consigned to Hell (unless he gets a chance to repent and be accepted back into the community).
   
   Muslim leaders haven't done this with the outrageous behavior of the protestors, or the murder-suicide bombers or others who murder in the name of Islam. They haven't stated the obvious, that martyr is killed for his Faith. He does not kill himself. They have not repudiated the belief that Paradise awaits those who offer such a repugnant sacrifice to Allah...or even declared that such an act does not weigh in their favor. Instead, the Islamic leaders and the public faces of Islam have excused and justified those actions. Consequently, Islam's banner has been hijacked by the whoever is willing to act the most insanely and brutally in order to attract the attention of cameras.
   
   So, now when reasonable Muslims ask for an apology, it is like asking for money from someone while there is a big guy with a black mask and hunting knife behind him who is your friend. You may not be doing anything threatening, but the threat is there anyway.
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4. However, simply being Muslim at an individual level does not cause your owe an apology for the maniacs protesting the cartoons. If you have always repudiated beheaders and other killers who claim to share your religion, you stand with the rest of the reasonable world: neither owing or deserving an apology.

Now you know.