“Submit to havarti”
Posted by Richard on February 24, 2006
On Tuesday, one of my favorite liberals, Christopher Hitchens, posted a brilliant and impassioned column entitled "Stand Up for Denmark!" at Slate.com. Needless to say, you should read the whole thing, but this gives you a sense:
… A small democratic country with an open society, a system of confessional pluralism, and a free press has been subjected to a fantastic, incredible, organized campaign of lies and hatred and violence, extending to one of the gravest imaginable breaches of international law and civility: the violation of diplomatic immunity. And nobody in authority can be found to state the obvious and the necessary—that we stand with the Danes against this defamation and blackmail and sabotage. Instead, all compassion and concern is apparently to be expended upon those who lit the powder trail, and who yell and scream for joy as the embassies of democracies are put to the torch in the capital cities of miserable, fly-blown dictatorships. Let’s be sure we haven’t hurt the vandals’ feelings.
…Denmark is a fellow member of NATO and a country that sends its soldiers to help in the defense and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. And what is its reward from Washington? Not a word of solidarity, but instead some creepy words of apology to those who have attacked its freedom, its trade, its citizens, and its embassies. For shame. Surely here is a case that can be taken up by those who worry that America is too casual and arrogant with its allies. I feel terrible that I have taken so long to get around to this, but I wonder if anyone might feel like joining me in gathering outside the Danish Embassy in Washington, in a quiet and composed manner, to affirm some elementary friendship. Those who like the idea might contact me at christopher.hitchens@yahoo.com, and those who live in other cities with Danish consulates might wish to initiate a stand for decency on their own account.
Today, Hitchens and a modest group of supporters, including Cliff May, Andrew Sullivan, and Bill Kristol, held a peaceful rally at the Danish Embassy. Vital Perspective has nice pictures. So does Vodkapundit, although Stephen Green complained — and rightly so — that his photo source didn’t provide the critical component of successful rally photoblogging:
Hey, what’s a protest without some hot protest babes? And where are those pictures, Chris? Huh?
But the attendees had some clever and funny signs (the title of this post is one of them). Here’s my favorite, from Vital Perspective:
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