Islam cartoons: Nine years later, I told you so

Lagniappe ^ | January 15, 2015 | Jeff Poor

[Rufus2007]

WASHINGTON D.C. — In September 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 editorial cartoons critical of Islam — most of which depicted the Muslim prophet, Muhammad. By February 2006, protests were erupting around the world over those dozen cartoons. Between February and May of that year, nearly 200 people died because of the outrage stoked over those cartoons.

The uprising brought to the forefront real questions about speech and the nature of free expression. Questions like whether free societies should draw boundaries around free speech and if yes, where? Why should Muslims be the only sect immune from offense? Can other protected classes be shielded from speech they do not like?

At the time of the original controversy, as the editor of the University of South Alabama student newspaper The Vanguard, my staff and I decided we would reprint one of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons as our editorial to make a statement.

...(more)...

[Rufus2007]

We didn't learn our lesson from all the violence 10 years ago. All the tolerance and understanding of these people isn't going to change hundreds of years of barbarism.

[babble-on]

Well said, Jeff Poor!

[Nateman]