In case you guys haven't been following the news recently, a lot of Muslims are pissed (so what else is new?) because a Danish newspaper held a contest to draw funny pics about the Muslim prophet (Mohammad) as a test to see how far can they push their right of free speech. Now the Muslims are telling everybody to boycott everything Danish. I saw/read all of those cartoons and though most of them were rather crappy, none of them incited hatred & I have to admit, some of them were rather hilarious.
To avoid the risk of offending my family and most of my friends, I will not divulge who I think is right or wrong, but I will say this to my Muslim audience, boycotting Danish goods is not the way to go. If they offended you, then draw cartoons about how the only contribution by the Danish to the human civilization has been butter cookies and pastry! What the Danish people did may be offensive to you, but it was well within their legal rights, and all the crying and bitching on your side is not going to make them give up their right (and there is no reason why they should either).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Its not really about rights -- its about being purposefully hurtful to a lot of people...
In this case, people got hurt. Is the mass-organized reaction justified? I'd say in the interest of free speech -- actually yes it is...
Just like drawing cartoons that show a pope or a priest going carnal with a baby while commenting that people should send more of their young in for baptisms (thus satirizing the situation in the US a couple of years ago) would be hurtful to a lot of Christians who had nothing to do with that... similarly showing Mohammed wearing a bomb for a turban with a fuse attached is going to be hurtful to Muslims -- never mind insulting to history...
Yes, those cartoons were published to piss off Muslims but you have to keep in mind that they make fun of Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Joseph Smith, Chuck Norris... pretty much everybody who is anybody. But starting riots and burning flags is not the answer. And because they have been making a big fuss about it, the same cartoons have now been published in 8 different newspapers and now people all over the world, not just people in Denmark are watching those cartoons.
I am not crticizing the muslims for getting offended, I am criticizing them because I disagree with the way they have handled this situation.
I agree that starting riots and burning flags etc are not the best answer -- it may be free speech, and I may not want to censor it, but its not doing anyone any real good...
I did read that the French newspaper that published the cartoons? It's editor got fired for doing so... so some reactions have happened from this... but it has also given close-minded folks another reason to think Muslims are too 'different' for not being able to take a joke...
Another view, protesting the publishing of the cartoons on grounds that they hurt a whole set of people, is probably better than boycotting goods from that country that didn't have anything to do with the newspaper(s) in question... One way makes your point that the newspaper offended you, and then life goes on. The other way makes an impact of people that had nothing to do with the offending cartoons in question... which would you rather see?
Post a Comment