What started a couple of weeks ago as a small wave of protest about the publication in Denmark of some cartoon images of Mohammad has become a virtual "tsunami" of Muslim anger.
It is tempting to call it a "jihad"
If the reaction of western media, and politicians is anything to judge by, we may be lost.
It is troubling to witness editors fired for reproducing the drawings, and politicians expressing regret for any upset that they may have caused. The image of the Danish Prime Minister prostrating himself before the media thugs of the Arab world demonstrates how far Europe has declined since World War II. Remember WWII? Recall how the Danes protected their Jewish population by evacuating them to Sweden in advance of the German invasion. No one apologized to Hitler for that.
Today, Agence France Press reports (the Renaissance Man gets it via Yahoo) that United States media outlets are avoiding the publication of the images on the basis that they might be offensive. Given the frequency with which the most insulting images are published about Christian religious figures, dieties and beliefs, these comments are unfathomable. Bennetton has made a virtual industry out of insulting Christianity, the Pope and any other value that anyone in the west might hold dear.
Given the frequency with which things like "Piss Christ" are reproduced in everything from the NY Times to Time Magazine, the Renaissance Man is left to conclude that North American publications, who are now so sensitive about offending the values of some (i.e. Muslim) readers, have been publishing Anti-Catholic, other anti-Christian and Anti- Jewish images out of conviction and agreement with the sentiments expressed.
The caricatures offend Sharia law. If the caricatures were created in a country governed by Sharia Law, it would probably be justifiable to prosecute.
But the Renaissance Man does not live in such a country and neither adheres to nor feels bound by such law. Indeed, if flogging, amputation and stoning were acceptable punishments, this site would be called the "Pre-Renaissance Man", or "Medieval Man".
Some of the cartoons are not fair comment about Mohammad (though, there is nothing wrong with expressing those opinions), but one that seems highly appropriate in the "Turbans as Bomb" image. Mohammad was warlike...he was a military campaigner, and the radical Islamists of today's world cite his conduct as an example for their own atrocities. Accordingly, it is fair comment, and clever at that (in light of the numerous unusual places suicide bombers hide their explosive surprises).
BTW:
If you are interested in the AFP story, here is an exerpt
Editors contacted at several news organizations throughout the country said they were covering the escalating row over the cartoons but had generally decided not to reprint them or air them on television out of respect for their readers or viewers.
"If I were faced with something that I know is gonna be offensive to many of our readers, I would think twice about whether the benefit of publication outweighed the offense it might give," Fred Hiatt, editorial page editor at the Washington Post, told AFP.
Keith Richburg, the paper's foreign editor, said he had ruled out running the cartoons, even to better illustrate news articles about the row, as they would likely offend readers.
"This is a clear example where people would find those offensive so we don't see any particular reason to do it just for shock value," he said.
Hiatt and Richburg said the paper had also ruled out running the cartoons -- as several European newspapers have done -- to defend the right to free speech and in solidarity with the Danish newspaper that first published them. The drawings have sparked violent protests and boycotts of Danish products across the Muslim world.
One of the cartoons shows the Muslim prophet wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise is running out of virgins for suicide bombers.
The Islamic religion bans depictions of Mohammed.
Peter Gavrilovich, foreign editor of the daily Detroit Free Press in the state of Michigan, which has one of the largest Arab communities outside the Middle East, said it was out of the question for his paper to reprint the cartoons, either to illustrate the story or to show solidarity with counterparts in Europe.
"I don't think we would run a cartoon in this newspaper that would be deemed offensive to any religious figure," Gavrilovich told AFP. "We're very careful in terms of any photo or any caricature that we run."
Maria Henson, deputy foreign editor at the Sacramento Bee in California, said her publication had not yet decided whether to reprint the cartoons and was planning to run an editorial on the issue this weekend.
The New York Times declined to comment for this article.
CNN television on Thursday showed copies of European newspapers that have printed the cartoons but blocked out the images of Mohammed saying it did not wish to offend viewers.
The television network ABC for its part showed a copy of a French newspaper with one of the cartoons clearly visible. The drawing depicts God speaking with the prophet and telling him: "Stop complaining Mohammed. We've all been caricatured."
The NBC network also gave coverage to the uproar but said it had decided against airing the cartoons, which were nonetheless available on the network's website.
Here's the link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060203/ts_alt_afp/europeislammediaus
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