Thursday, May 3, 2012

Freedom? Sharia? The Tunisian Example Shows, Once Again, That It's an Either/Or Proposition

Tunisia, the place when the much-vaunted "thaw" got its start, is finding it hard to strike the right "balance" between freedom and sharia. (A balance that cannot be found because it does not exist. You can have freedom or sharia: you cannot have both):
TUNIS—A Tunisian court fined a television boss 2,400 dinars ($1,550) on Thursday for showing a film that includes a scene depicting God, drawing U.S. criticism and highlighting a growing divide between Islamists and secularists.
The court found Nabil Karoui, head of the private TV station Nessma, guilty of disturbing public order and attacking moral values by broadcasting the award-winning animated film “Persepolis.”
The film, about a girl growing up in Iran, includes a scene depicting God, which is forbidden in Islam. It enraged some Salafi Islamists who subsequently attacked the station.
The fine was substantially less severe than the prison term that Karoui’s Islamist opponents had demanded. The charges carried a possible sentence of up to three years in prison.
Tunisia is struggling to balance religious sensitivities with newfound freedom of expression nearly 18 months after its revolution ousted veteran dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and set off a wave of “Arab Spring” uprisings in the region.
The United States expressed disappointment at the ruling... 
It may well be "disappointed," but even the most Islamophilic presidency ever cannot be in the least surprised. (If it is, it's even more dangerously clueless than we suspect.)

Update: Washington Times editorial--Obama embraces Islam.

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