So a Danish newspaper ran some cartoons of Muhammad and Muslim’s are really angry. There are rules, I hear, against depictions of the “Prophet” and the Danish have violated them. When I first heard I thought that it was mighty insensitive of the normally liberal Danish society. The reaction in some Muslim nations has been intense including the most effective boycott I’ve ever heard of. Don’t forget that Danish filmmaker Theo Van Gogh was murdered for his work showing Muslim mistreatment of women. So there appears to be some existing tension between the Danish media and Islam already.
Well, as the title of this post (and the title of the BBC News headline it comes from) things have gotten kicked up a notch. The Western media has bent over backwards to portray Islam as a “peaceful religion”. Heck, our own President, ostensibly a Christian, called Islam a “noble religion” during the State of the Union address. Anyway, I have been amazed at our generally liberally-inclined media’s response to a religion that subjugates women. I thought they would be ill-disposed to it but they haven’t been. Till now. Newspapers in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain have all run the cartoons! What a shocker! I mean France??!!
Here’s some helpful quotes from this BBC News article:
Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Arab world “betrays a lack of understanding” of press freedom as “an essential accomplishment of democracy.”
In Berlin, Die Welt argued there was a right to blaspheme in the West, and asked whether Islam was capable of coping with satire.
Islam was given a pass on the feminist test for Western media but when it comes to their Sacred Cow, free speech, it appears that they can let things can only go only so far. So I wonder if this is the beginning of the end of the romance the Western media has had with Islam, portraying it as a misunderstood and persecuted religion. Christianity, of course, is the bad guy.
Somehow, I don’t think this tiff will last too long. Even with the media affirming their rights to say whatever they want, I think the lure of Islam will over come their political agendas. Can’t pass up a good story.
5 Comments
I think Van Gogh (the film maker, not the painter) was actually Dutch. But that doens’t affect your point.
Did you see scrappleface on this?
i came accross ur blog when i was searching at yahoo for the cartoon. here in malaysia, it’s not published. i wonder what the cartoon had done that make all muslim so pist. but the gesture is simple. everybody already know how sensitive this issue can be. but how can they easily published the cartoon still? when they already know it is “not nice” of them for doing that .. they are just putting flame to the hot oil.
i must say the religion itself is a symbol of peace and thoughtful. but .. put at it this way, even a sincere and so much deep in luv wife could file a divorce when the husband cheats.. why not a devoted muslim going absolutely mad when their religion and their belief of life being “terrorist”.. so they said.
i must say i am the modern one .. but .. whatever is wrong … is wrong. life itself has its own rules even without belief in certain religion. when u misused the freedom of speech and make politics about it and dont put any limits to urself .. then what for u go to school and learn about what’s right .. and what’s wrong?
Thank you for your comment Azera. My observation was not intended to prove the rightness or wrongness of the cartoons, rather it was intended to highlight the Western press’ response. Here in America, the press has been falling all over themselves to be nice to Islam. The same press is usually hostile to Christians who oppose abortion and stress that women who are mothers have a responsibility to their families. Yet Islam veils their women and curtails many of their rights in its strictest and most common expressions. I was wondering what it would take to “break that spell”. What it took was an attack on the right of the press to say what they want.
Was it a stupid thing to do? Oh, yes. Muslims are very protective of Muhammad and especially now when many feel their religion is under attack from the West. Was it immoral? No, it was not. Non-Muslim’s don’t believe that Muhammad was a prophet and so are not being sacrilegious in depicting him as a representation of Islam in general. No more so than when they portray Jesus in a cartoon. For Christians, that is an act of blasphemy since the Ten Commandments forbid making an image of God and Jesus Christ is God incarnate. However, when a political cartoon includes Jesus appears in the Western press, we don’t attack embassies a riot.
most of my non-muslim friends explain the same opinion like urs.
when u said that .. “However, when a political cartoon includes Jesus appears in the Western press, we don’t attack embassies a riot.” right, u know … me myself wont shoot others on the head if they did the same thing. seriously, i didnt go frickle abt it … but … the point of me wondering so much is …. why u must do it when u know such ‘relevent’ ppl will get hurt of ur action?
jst like what i told my bf “i’m telling my mother of what headache u gave me so that when i died of heart attact is not because of the disease, its bcoz of u… who gave me the problem make me got the heart attact. so u are the reason who actaully killed me.”