As regular readers of this site know, I like to involve myself in discussions on the weighty questions confronting the country. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t contribute in my small, insignificant way to the national conversation on a variety of issues. War, peace, taxes, ethics, the law – anything and everything that tickles my fancy and that might engage my readers and other bloggers in conversation is fodder for this beast of a blog.

Then there are times when I read something so illustrative of both the looniness and loutishness of liberals that I have to take time to examine it. First, you have to figuratively remove it from the bottom of your shoe for it is usually so fetid and corrupt that you don’t know whether to forget about it and toss it in the “poop bag” or, overcome with curiosity, place the offending offal under a microscope and inspect it to discover its pathology.

In the case of Antonia Zerbisias, it might be a good idea to wear a full bio suit in order to read this diseased rant:

While Muslim religious extremists are rioting in the streets of Beirut, Gaza City and Kabul, Scandinavian embassies are being torched and Jordanians are deprived of their Danish feta over cartoons that were never actually published in any legitimate newspaper, the right-wing blogosphere has been staging its own “blogburst”: the act of reproducing the offending depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

It’s a “simultaneous, co-ordinated posting by a large group of webmasters and bloggers on a given topic,” says Israpundit who, along with Michelle Malkin, who is like Ann Coulter but not as funny and not so skinny, are leading the cartoon crusade.

Follow their politics and you’ll understand why they’re on this particular blogwagon: they hate Muslims. In fact, if they were to write about Jews the way they sometimes do about followers of the Prophet Muhammad, they’d be denounced as anti-Semites or Holocaust deniers.

First of all, I hardly feel the need to defend the willowy Malkin from the verbal onslaught of someone whose picture brings to mind the sharply defined features of Corporal Klinger from M*A*S*H* not to mention a body that brings back fond personal memories of a large canvas sack that I used to use as a hammock in the back yard.

But hey! That’s just me…

At any rate, getting to the maggoty portion of her rant (still wearing that bio suit, I hope!) her entire screed is based on the erroneous conclusion that conservative bloggers are republishing the cartoons because they hate Muslims.:

No doubt, the Kartoon Karnage Kapers are inexcusable, and threaten to escalate into even more senseless death and destruction. That’s why the absolute glee with which this has been received by the online cons strikes me as so puzzling. Do they enjoy the blood sport of watching out-of-control Muslim mobs in the streets?

It’s also bemusing to see how they have suddenly declared solidarity with the heretofore “appeasers” of Europe for republishing the cartoons.

In issuing their fatwa on the Muslims who are calling for the heads of people whose mightiest weapon is the pen, the North American pyjamahadeen have gone too far, using the incident as another reason to bash Muslims and sow further divisions between what are already “clashing civilizations.”

It’s like they have been waiting for just this opportunity.

Yes, dearie…”no doubt” you see “glee.” What else you can see with blinders on is a different question for another day. But how one can translate the passionate defense of the freedom of speech into “hate” and “glee” is the work of sheer, obstinate ignorance. Your point is one I partially agree with – that republishing the cartoons far and wide is not being helpful and is probably causing millions of ordinary Muslims pain. But the fact remains, it is a perfectly legitimate exercise in free speech to republish those cartoons as a way to show solidarity with people who have been forced into hiding in fear of their lives. While it is true that a small minority of conservatives hate all Muslims (you know…like the way you hate all conservatives), to paint Michelle Malkin and the overwhelming majority of conservative bloggers who are reposting the caricatures with the kind of broad brush your small minded rant appears to do is not only unworthy of someone who writes for a major newspaper but also demonstrates a shallowness of thought not uncommon with people of your ideological ilk.

And, dearest readers, if you thought our Antonia was a little off her noodle in what she’s written before, get a load of this:

To be honest, I think that, here in Canada anyway, our Muslim communities are too diverse and too embedded in our culture and society for any kind of concerted reaction.

As for violence, I would guess that Muslims are more victims than perpetrators.

After all, when Irshad Manji published her controversial The Trouble With Islam: A Wake Up Call for Honesty and Change in 2003, no harm ever came to her despite so many — again right-wing — bloggers’ musings that it would. That said, their fears helped Manji move a lot of books around the world.

Frankly, we’re a lot more tolerant society than our own intolerant right would like to believe.

Which makes me wonder who the real hate-mongers are: those who are cut off from modern communications technology and are more easily subject to the machinations of ignorant clerics — or those that should know better and who claim to be morally superior.

There is almost a dreamlike quality to those words; as if our Antonia lives in that delicious pre-wakeful state when you’re not sure whether or not the dream you just had was real. Best thing to do Antonia is pinch yourself honey because unless you wake up pretty quick, you are gonna be one disappointed Canuck.

I wonder if the name Salomon Rushdie rings a bell. And the fact that one insignificant Canadian author who wrote a book mildly critical of Islam didn’t get beheaded you see as forbearance on the part of the wild eyed fanatics, only shows you either to have the critical thinking skills of my pet cat Snowball or the naivete of a 7 year old. Let’s hope it’s the latter since Snowball is actually quite intelligent and I’m sure a much better conversationalist than you are.

People you call “hatemongers” for standing up for what they believe in – despite the fact that I personally think it wrongheaded and hurtful – are doing something with our liberty that absolutely must be done every once in a while. Our freedoms must be taken out and exercised vigorously or else, like unused muscles, they will atrophy, wither, and die.

Keep your hate to yourself, Antonia. And while you’re at it, try reading a little bit about our enemies from some other source besides the Daily Mail. They are the ones who believe we are in a clash of civilizations. And not to acknowledge that fact is almost as dangerous as handling one of your hate filled screeds.

UPDATE

Ace takes on the jewbaiting issue:

Gee, I don’t know. Perhaps it has something to do with the rather central tenet of liberal democracy that all ideas, no matter how offensive to some, should be responded to peaceably. Bad speech should be countered with good speech. Not with arson and rioting and murder and calls for terrorism.

As for the charge that Holocaust deniers would be called anti-Semites: well, yes, they would be, and they are. But again, the distinction that seems to elude this apologist for murder is that offensive speech should be met with more speech, not with molotov cocktails.

Not only that but all anti-Semites are not Holocaust deniers. In fact, many modern day Nazis brag about wanting to “finish what Hitler started.” Of course, if you’re like the Iranian President, you can be both and still be welcome in liberal circles as long as you’re anti-Bush.

NOTE: I had to republish this due to technical difficulties.

UPDATE II

And what does Our Miss Malkin think of being used as a foil in dear Antonia’s screed?

You show me one ounce of glee expressed on this website over the conflagration, and I’ll show you one ounce of genuine, unqualifed concern expressed by Ms. Zerbisias over the senseless Cartoon Jihad bloodshed of victims such as Father Santoro.

I’ve no more time to waste on Zerbisias and her ilk in the media who want to lecture us all about being hate-filled and misinformed—while spewing hatred themselves and refusing to fully inform. Glenn Reynolds and readers dispense with her most effectively here.

Youch! I felt that all the way over here.