Posted on 02/02/2006 9:59:03 PM PST by buckeyeblogger
Doones-hammad
The growing furor by many Muslim groups regarding the depiction of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper has Muslims worldwide in an uproar:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Prophet_Drawings_Quran.html
Many of the stories I've read on the subject seem to take a sympathetic tact towards the nature of the protesters; that they've somehow been wronged. Perhaps the garish cartoon, which includes a caricature of Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse, is in very poor taste -- personally, I'm agnostic with regards to this situation. It's satire.
No doubt, in 1966 when Time magazine asked the question "Is God dead?" on the cover of their magazine they were inundated with complaints. But I seriously doubt that mainstream press outlets empathized with those offended in the manner they seem to be with this current situation. The press accounts I've read have ranged from slightly catering to downright acquiescing on the protestors behalf.
What in the hell ever happened to free speech? For that matter, what in the hell ever happened to those charged with administering it, defending it? I guess their beliefs in such lofty ideals only go so far, stretching only to the politically correct edge.
Decapitated Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh.
In November of 2004 Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh murdered by a young Muslim radical in the streets of Amsterdam, early one morning. Van Gogh was shot 8 times, his throat was slit and a knife with a message of 'jihad' was stabbed into his lifeless body. What was van Gogh's crime? Free speech. Van Gogh had just created a 10-minute short film about the mistreatment of women born into Muslim families. The story got scant mention by the American press and Hollywood (the defenders of high ideals and big ideas in films) ignored it. Van Gogh's murder didn't fit the "mold".
The same news outlets and writers that are decrying the actions of a cartoonist that was expressing a thought and a feeling need only to posit some questions to themselves to see why this story reeks of contradictions. I don't expect them to be so savvy to notice the glaringly obvious question: Why have there been no world wide boycotts of terrorism by devout and honest Muslims?
Certainly if boycotting an entire nation whose newspapers carried one artists' creation depicting the prophet Muhammad as a suicide bombing madman is enough stir up this anger. Should not the murder of thousands of innocent citizens in lower Manhattan, London, Washington D.C., Madrid and Bali bring about the same protestations?
My first line should read:
The depiction of the prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper has Muslims worldwide in an uproar:
bump
Well said.
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