posted
I find it really troubling the reaction to the "offensive" cartoons that were published in Denmark had on the middle east. Violence, vandalism, etc. You gotta figure that would be the reaction given the track record clerics stirring up trouble with the masses. I'm wondering how many people involved in this have actually seen the cartoons? Friggen sheep!
Anyway same thing happened back in the '80s in Iran after Salman Rushdie published his "Satanic Verses" immediately after which he went into hiding when Iran put a million dollar bounty on his head. I've read in a Danish article now that bounties have been put on the cartoonists heads as well!
Apparantly depictions of the prophet Mohammed are not permitted (even though I've seen several depictions in arabic artwork that's hundreds of years old) but I'm not sure if it is written anywhere in the religious texts of Islam to kill someone over it.
Remember when Monty Python's "Life of Brian" or Scorcese's "The Last Temptation of Christ" was released? It surely offended many of the Christian faith, however rather than burning down movie theaters and rioting in the streets I believe people spoke out against the films being offensive and went a legal route trying to get them banned. Which didn't work luckily!
I don't know why a poorly drawn charicature of a person that no one has ever seen published in a newspaper from a foreign country is considered more offensive to these people than say... slicing a bound person's head off with a dull knive, running into a subway car with a bag of explosives, flying an airplane or two into a building, etc...
I dunno, it seems like a double standard considering all the cartoons you can find in middle eastern publications with depictions of Jews in them rivaling anything Julius Striecher could have put out in "Der Sturmer" in Nazi Germany.
This cartoon kinda sums up all this for me!
For those of you brave enough to view the images from history as well as the cartoons that caused all this furor just click this link! The Danish cartoons are about 2/3rds of the way down. Image Archive
posted
Well, just so everybody knows, Muslims and Christians aren't the only people raising hell over offensive imagery. Pretty much any and all groups take issue with things like this from time to time...sometimes it just seems more ridiculous than others.
As for the topic at hand, I'm sort of torn with how I feel about it. Without a doubt I think the vandalism and violence and bounties on heads and everything is going way too far over basically too little. I'm also all about freedoms of speech, and I don't think anybody should be a slave to fear and stifle or cut off something that they truly feel in their heart needs to be said.
With that said however, I feel that with these freedoms should come responsibility in using them. For instance, if a guy wanted to shout the "n-word" at a Black Panther rally, he shouldn't have to be bound by law into keeping his mouth shut...but at the same time this guy shouldn't act surprised if he gets his ass handed to him by a group of Black Panthers for acting like a jerk in the first place.
These artists wanted to express something, and that's all fine and dandy, but now that a hornet's nest of problems has been kicked up there shouldn't be a lot of surprise over it. What did they think was going to happen? The Middle Eastern people would get a healthy chuckle out of seeing an icon to them lampooned? Muslims haven't been as softened up as Christians have, whereas we can see Jesus Christ getting made fun of around the clock, all in the name of freedom of speech.
Sure, it's very hypocritical...when you can see Jews demonified in Arab papers constantly then hell gets raised by Arabs when Mohammed is poked fun at...but then, different people take issue with different things. I'm sure if the majority of Jewish people thought like Abraham Foxman and the cry-babies at the ADL, the Arab cartoonists would have bounties on their heads or be locked behind bars already.
The hypocrisy, while certainly being there and definitely sucking, isn't really the issue here I don't think. I think it's about freedoms, and then accountability when you exercise these freedoms. People are wondering why the Arab people get so upset when Mohammed is made fun of, but I wonder how these same people would react if, say, Martin Luther King Jr were made fun of the same way? Let some politically incorrect cartoonists make fun of King with some silly drawings, and I guarantee you that these same people who are thinking the Arabs are stupid for taking offense will be screaming for blood themselves. If not blood, then definitely the firing and black-balling of said cartoonists...
Again, I think anybody and everybody should be allowed to say, draw, write, or whatever it is they have in their minds...but with this freedom should come the responsibility in knowing how and when to use it. In other words, just because you can poke a grizzly bear with a stick doesn't necessarily mean that you should poke a grizzly bear with a stick...letalone cry about it if the bear gets mad enough to take your arm off for doing it in the first place.
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quote:Originally posted by Hal: Superb reply, Lou. My English is too limited to have written it as well as you but I think/feel the same way about the whole topic.
-Hal-
Thank you sir.
-------------------- Like Girls? LikeReal Barefoot Girls?! Then this place is for you! www.dennis-n-mara.com Your best source for some Real Deal Hardcore Barefoot Girls! Posts: 5427 | Registered: Jul 2003
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Noooo! Not Hagar! He's one of the few cool characters left in the funny papers!
-------------------- Like Girls? LikeReal Barefoot Girls?! Then this place is for you! www.dennis-n-mara.com Your best source for some Real Deal Hardcore Barefoot Girls! Posts: 5427 | Registered: Jul 2003
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