European newspapers reprint 'offensive' Muhammad cartoon:

[LeftinOH]

(sorry if dupe)

'The image was one of 12 cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed originally published in September 2005. The cartoon depicted the prophet wearing a bomb as a turban with a lit fuse.

Violent demonstrations erupted across the world in early 2006 after other newspapers reprinted the images as a matter of free speech. The uproar came as some Muslims believe it is forbidden by the Quran to show an image of the prophet.

Many protesters directed their ire at Denmark, prompting the closure of several Danish embassies in predominantly Muslim countries, including Indonesia and Pakistan. There were also attacks on other diplomatic missions in Iran and Syria among others.

.....Newspapers in Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands also republished the drawing Wednesday as part of their coverage of Tuesday's arrests.'

On the one hand- one feels the need to 'maintain the peace' by not stirring up more trouble.. on the other hand, cartoonists could show Jesus Christ in a three-way with the Virgin Mary and St Paul.. and most Westerners would find it simply tastless at worst, stupid at best; its doubtful that murderous rage would result.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/13/denmark.cartoon/index.html

[physioex]

1. Religious Fundies get too offended.....

The purpose of art is to provoke. I remember the same controversy when Salman Rushie wrote Satanic Verses. If you don't like it, don't look at it or read it.

[frebrd]

2. It's a shame the papers in this country...

don't have that kind of balls.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. What's wrong with racist cartoons?

It's sad people can't take a joke.

:sarcasm:

[tekisui]

4. I don't see how reprinting the cartoons, after such a fierce reaction

is productive.

I am for free speech, but also for respect. The Danish newspaper knew the first reaction led to riots and murder attempts. Why fan it?

[physioex]

5. Silly....

Why not? What is the purpose of art? How else are people going to change?

[tekisui]

11. We will never change them through disrespecting them.

Art can be used in creative ways and challenging ways and even offensive ways.

What productivity will come from this? We know they have very absolute views and violent reactions. You are probably right. I just don't know if now is the time for these steps to be tried.

[Occulus]

10. And that would be the precise attitude the fundies who lean toward religious violence want n/t

[frebrd]

13. I'm also "for respect".

I respect everyone's right to believe what they want, no matter how mindless it may be. I do NOT respect their desire to force their religious idiocy on anyone else!

[tekisui]

14. I agree with everything you've said. My only point is "Chose your battles"

Is this fight worth it at this time?

Is the potential benefit worth the potential risk?

Maybe it is, but I don't think so. I think now would be a good time to make gestures of respect, not intentionally fan the flames of religious hate. The Danish papers knows they are religious extremists, and I appreciate their efforts to not be intimidated, I just wonder if it is worth it, at this time.

[orleans]

18. ok--silly me--who are the two people supposed to be? from left to right please? n/t

[DFW]

6. The question goes deeper than that

The question is whether certain foreign groups can be allowed to intimidate
the local press into self-censorship. They were welcomed with open arms, but
no one forced them to come. Countries such as Denmark offer comprehensive
assimilation programs, so that anyone coming can come as close to being one
of the locals as possible. Scandinavian newspapers are as scathing as any others
at making fun of any politician or religious symbol. The more in-your-face
something is, the more it can be expected to be ridiculed in the press. No
Scandinavian religious groups have yet gone around burning things just because
they have been the victims of offensive cartoons, not even Scientology, which
has had to put up with far more indignity in the European press than Islam.

If people want to move to Denmark, then they should live as the Danes do, or
not come. Denmark is one very tolerant country. Just about the only way to wear
out a Danish welcome is to start rioting and burning stuff. The Danes are not unique in this.

[physioex]

8. And that is exactly what some of the posters on this...

Topic do not understand. The rest of Europe is facing the same crisis.

[tekisui]

12. Point taken.

[physioex]

15. It's all good....

I am watching videos of Richard Dawkins on YouTube. The we way takes on religious nuts is hilarious. Check out the videos sometime. To be fair, I can't stand all religious fanaticism.....

[DFW]

17. Is it ever! My wife is a German social worker.

She works with unemployed people, mostly foreigners, trying to get them
back into the workforce--not an easy task in a country that, until recently,
mas made it financially more rewarding to be unemployed than to have a job.
She votes either Green or SPD consistently, but has had it up to her eyeballs
when men who have lived in Germany for 20 years come in to her office with
a translator. She has lost her patience with men such as the one who come in
to her office speaking broken English (no German), telling why they are not
able to get a job or go home, but have found the time to sire 15 (as in fifteen)
children while in Germany, and manage to convince the office of social services
to award him a free second apartment because he can't handle all the kids (his own!)
around.

If there were enough money to go around, that would be an annoyance. There no longer
is, and it is becoming, as you said, a crisis. Not so much because of the occasional
lowlife, but because it fosters xenophobic radical right-wing sentiments that Germany
has tried so very hard to eradicate. When Germans get told they have live on subsistence
level handouts, and foreigners get separate apartments to have their peace and quiet,
then resentment is built in. Many immigrant communities have demanded that German taxpayer
money be spent so that they can build a mosque in a German city, complete with a minaret
and a loudspeaker blasting the call to prayer five times a day. When they depict resistance
to this as "intolerance," even though a Methodist church in their home country wouldn't last
a day without getting burned down, they ask for trouble. Tolerance involves respecting the
traditions of where you are, not imposing your own traditions on someone else. If Denmark's
or Germany's traditions include being able to satirize any religion out there, then it is the
obligation of an immigrant--ANY immigrant--to respect that. Europe is not a jail. Anyone is
as free to leave as they are to come. If the (rather generous) terms of their welcome are not satisfactory, there are more appropriate reactions than setting neighborhood cars in flames.

[DangerDave921]

9. You nailed it

Self-censorship as a result of intimidation cannot be tolerated. And that is the goal -- to make people afraid to voice any criticism, even legitimate criticism, for fear of reprisal.

Islam is deserving of the same treatment as other religions. No more and no less. The reprinting of the cartoons is not to be offensive; it is to reaffirm the cherished right of free speech. Go Danes!

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. "its doubtful that murderous rage would result"

Well, gotta prod the hornet's nest so that you can then say "look at the mean hornets, maybe we should do something".

[Igel]

16. Are those people burning the image of a cross?

Isn't that disrespectful of Christianity and, by implication, of all Christians (at least those that use a cross)?

Or wouldn they argue that it's not Christianity they're dissing, but the state of Denmark, the people and process that have warped the cross (embedded in the flag) into meaning?

No, that can't be it. Because that's the kind of reasoning they assert is utterly impossible when used to justify the Muhammed images. Has to be the maximally offensive interpretation. And, just as printing images of Muhammed (whatever he actually looked like, if anybody like the person they believe existed really did exist) the Danes oppressed and offended all Muslims everywhere and personally violated Allah, so these Muslims have oppressed all Christians everywhere.

That is how their, um, logic went, right?