Danish cartoon re Mohammed - misc thoughts

Flemming Rose, the editor of the Danish paper that published the cartoons is now on indefinite vacation. That might be appropriate, given his incredibly poor judgement.

The newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, had invited caricatures of Mohammad. 25 cartoonists responded, and some of the drawings / cartoons were published. I hope that most people could understand that these cartoons would be offensive. But I'm hesitant to join those chanting about free speech rights if they ignore that Muslims would be offended. Here is the USA, there are millions who profess to be Christians. Imagine how Christians would feel if there were caricatures of Jesus - in an uncomplimentary portrayal.

In fact, there had been some caricatures of Jesus submitted to Jyllands-Posten, but the editor refused to publish them, believing that many of the 175,000 subscribers to the paper - mostly conservative - would be offended. Shouldn't it be obvious as well that Muslims would be offended by the cartoons that were published? ...Especially given that the Muslim religion teaches that there should be no worship of idols and that there should be no paintings or statues of Mohammad.

Unfortunately, Mr. Rose must have thought that his newspaper would not be seen by many Muslims. It must have not even entered his mind that anyone viewing the paper would have a problem with the cartoons. Well, some lessons are not easily learned. In a further display of incredibly poor judgement, Mr Rose actually offered to assist Iran in their quest to acquire and publish cartoons of the Holocaust! Two wrongs do not make a right.

Yup. An indefinite vacation is a good idea.

Comments

[madmarine]

Ummm.... where have you been? There are an infinite number of unflattering usages of Jesus' image, Piss Christ comes immediately to mind. Did the Christians riot, burn down buildings? No. They expressed their disgust but didn't kill anyone.

As far as Mohammed's image is concerned, there are plenty of those in existance. The complaint is bogus. This was just another opportunity for the radicals to stir up the masses. Publising items like this is certainly distasteful, but when has that stopped the presses?

So, from your point of view, freedom of the press applies to anything (including our country's secrets) except when it pisses off the Muslim? Why just them? Oh, I know, because they react violently and knowbody else does. Another good reason to continue pressing these folks until they stop killing others.

Regards,Mad

[Joe Litton]

Nope. You missed the point. I'm saying that this editor should not publish cartoons that make fun of someone's religion - regardless of the religion - because that is something very personal and dear to an individual. And I do support free speech, and if the editor wants to make an insensitive decision, that is his right. In this case he chose first to go ahead and publish ONE type of cartoon. Then he was going to try and remedy the fallout by insulting another group.

It is a SUBSET of Muslims that react violently. And there are violent subset extremists of other religions. And you know that.

As for 'pressing these folks until they stop killing others' ...you are starting to sound more and more like an anti-Muslim bigot ...and I am serious about that statement. I have considered you in the past to be open-minded, even though we disagree on several things. But you seem now to be lumping all Muslims into a category of 'evil-doers' ...the same type of simplistic generalization that the Bush regime has been pushing on the public. Over-simplification makes for easy sound bites...a few simple slogans to drum repeatedly. But it paints neither an accurate nor complete picture.

Are you not willing to believe that the VAST MAJORITY of people on this planet abhor violence and cherish peace, be they Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and people of all faiths and people who claim no religion?

[Adeleida]

It's interesting to see the perceptions and reactions move around the world. I think I'm truly grateful for Joe's post, as it is similar to a lot of views being aired in South Africa. I guess when one has a scarred history like ours, the value of freedom of speech is just another value on par with things like the value of dignity and the right of keeping one's religion and its symbols sacred. Peace with one another across all diversities came at such a price, I would like to think that there are better things we could occupy our time with than voicing (or sketching) marginalising and generalising opinions that could only alienate the targeted party. The cartoon was blocked from South African newspapers and I honestly appreciate that because I don't understand the impact of the cartoons to a Muslim person fully, I don't feel the pain they caused and they don't make me laugh or nod in agreement, they leave me completely cold and confused as to why anyone would resort to framing a whole religion when a small, removed and extreme minority should be the target. Why on earth would I want to continue the distribution of a picture at my local supermarket if it is obviously the mockery of something sacred to a larger group of people who has not done me any harm?

[madmarine]

Anti-Muslim bigot? Joe, that is really beneath you. When did I slur you personally? Is this the best that you have? If I disagree, then I get painted with a "bigot" label? Just because I object to terrorists killing Americans and others?

Joe, I don't care what religion they belong to. If they, not all (and you know perfectly well that is what I intended), but the terrorists and those that support them, insist on killing folk then I'm against them. I would say the same for any religious group including my own or atheists for that matter. And, at the risk of further irrating you, I wish that we would hear the same from mainstream Muslims about their exremist brothers! It's pretty quiet out there.

And I do think that most people on the planet wish to live in peace. The bad news is there are still some that don't. When free people are threatened by them, they need to be dealt with.

Regards,Mad

[Joe Litton]

Adeleida: Hey, thanks for commenting. I was hoping that MM and I weren't the only ones reading and communicating here :)

Mad: I do thank you for clarifying. When we'd worked together and over the years since, I've had tremendous respect for your integrity and intellectual rigor. Then you posted a comment about "Omar", then the comment on this post referencing "Muslims", and another comment with the "with us or against us" phrase, and I very definitely was wondering if you were morphing. The comments were striking me as sounding more like Bill O'Reilly or Rush than the gentleman I'd known. I was, it would seem, hypersensitive.

Now, I don't know what news sources you frequent, but I have most definitely read Muslims condemning the actions of the extremist Muslims. Locally, the statements wishing for cooler heads to prevail have been voiced by the Tampa Muslim community in the local papers multiple times in the 2 years that we've been here.

May we all live to see a world where such ridiculous violence exists only in historical accounts of an insane past of long ago. May we know a world in which people feel no need for guns, in which nighttime walks to view the stars can be taken ANYWHERE with no need for concern for crime risk. May we know a peace that is so pervasive that our grandchildren cannot fathom the hatred that we have witnessed in our lives. It IS possible.

[madmarine]

Joe:

I read all kinds of sources. My comment was that their appeared to be a dearth of appeals for calm over this incident by Muslim clerics and heads of Islamic states. Not that there aren't any, but not alot.

As far as your last sentence... From your mouth to G-d's ear!

Mad