Tue 7 Feb 2006
Cultural sensitivities are and important thing. No one wants to see their Norse heroes depicted as thick skulled axe draggers. The French don’t like references to hygene or cowardice. Americans insist Uncle Sam is not imperialist and Jesus has a plan for your life. Crocodile Dundee, Buddha the jolly fat nit-wit, the parsimonious Jew. It is all touchy, it all makes it into the press; it is all cultural fodder for those trying to make us think or piss us off.
Is one culture special enough to be exempted from this treatment?
Jews and Muslims do not eat pork. I eat pork and so do people I know. None of us are causing a riot. You don’t like depictions of your religious icon? Don’t draw them. You don’t like it when others draw them? Suck it up.
Protesters protest at the embassies of the countries where the people live that draw pictures to go into newspapers for people to read. The actions of those persons are legal in those countries and beyond the jurisdiction of the governments they protest.
What is Denmark going to do? “Sorry boys no more journalism carreer for you. You drew a picture of the prophet Mohammad (may Allah truly bless him) and now you must go”.
Don’t buy La Monde (et al). Write a petition. Tell all of your friends not to buy it. Live in an autocratic regime where copies of La Monde are not permitted. These are all valid reactions.
Demanding Western Countries become dictatorships just so they have the power to suppress journalism? What do you expect to achieve?
nicely done. way to get at it without getting at it. btw - when I first got wind of this, I went on a search for pics of Jesus that might be offensive to a christian - for comparison’s sake. and I found lots of them, all of them done by americans.
“What we say to Muslims is that we must not at this time stoop to the level of those who want to resort to insulting the prophet of Islam as a terrorist. We should engage in peaceful, responsible protest.” Haji Mustafa, a representative of Muslim group, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, conveys his dismay at Muslims threatening Westerners with violence during a demonstration in London.
Is this an islamic voice of reason?!?!? Could it be? Let us take the log out of our own eye before we take the splinter out of someone elses….or should that be the other way around? hmmmmmm
I am deeply saddened by both sides, and we both have nearly valid arguments. The problem is the methods of communication between cultures. Given a fundamental belief in the same God and core rules - ie. the 10 commandments - the escalating riots cannot nor should not be tolerated by any culture/society/religion/group. Killing cannot justify any actions, nor can two wrongs make a right. All religions preach peace, forgivness, and love yet to practice what they preach appears a nearly hurculean task - and let us in the west not take the ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude now for we have strayed in the past as well.
Antagonistic? Maybe. Freedom restricting? Maybe. Insensitive? Maybe. Justified? Maybe. Representative? Maybe. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. Sadly, some peoples vision is much more near-sighted then others.
I have more to say here but didnt want to post it all:
http://spaces.msn.com/johntomkinson/blog/cns!717098417E116974!1052.trak
Sorry Will, bad link. Heres the rest:
http://spaces.msn.com/johntomkinson/blog/cns!717098417E116974!1052.entry
I tried to comment on john’s “blog” but it wouldn’t let me - hotmail was down again. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY JOHN YOU NEED TO GO TO ANOTHER SOFTWARE!!! MSN IS SO FRUSTRATING!!! I even have a hotmail account and it wouldn’t let me sign in. I even have commented before on your blog and it still wouldn’t let me comment. argh!
Anyway, what I was going to say to john is not relevant here because he didn’t post all of his comments as he did on his site. He’ll just have to go to my blog to see the juicy link I have for him instead.
[…] 7 February 2006 Lampooning Cultural Icons P1090493 Originally uploaded by ms_doyle. Where I am motivated by the recent Chinatown parade and by the riots following the publication of cartoons including depictions of the prophet Mohammad. […]