Of Teddy Bears and Cartoons
The unspoken rules.


Victor Davis Hanson


Her crime? She inadvertently committed the felony of allowing her class to name a teddy bear “Mohammad.”

The teacher, Gillian Gibbons, has been pardoned by Sudan’s president (after initially being sentenced to 15 days in prison) and sent home to England. Yet that happy ending doesn’t erase the reaction in the streets of Khartoum. The tired story behind irrational anger in much of the Muslim world remains the same.



Likewise, the reaction to this madness is now stereotyped. Often apologies — not condemnation — follow from contrite Westerners. To prevent a recurrence, Western writers, filmmakers, teachers, and religious figures quietly edit their work and restrict their speech — but only when Islam is involved.


Few, though, ever explain why it is that Muslims — not Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, or atheists — are in the global news threatening to kill someone over a toy or a cartoon or an opera.




New mosques and conversions to Islam are common in the West. But to send missionaries to, or build a new church in, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, or Pakistan is to court death.

Condescension is also required. The demonstrator who waves a sword calling for a beheading is often excused. The poor guy must not be educated, rather than just cruel and dangerous. “We’re so sorry for the little mix-up” is the public Western answer to the shout of “Death to you!”