this whole cartoon mess
February 11th, 2006 Stephen Lau
Update 11: Saudi Cleric Demands Trial Over Drawings - Forbes.com “Where is the world with all its agencies and organizations? Is there only freedom of expression when it involves insults to Muslims? With one voice…we will reject the apology and demand a trial,” Al Riyad, a Saudi daily newspaper, quoted al-Seedes as saying.
another quote: “It is also a disservice to democracy. It sends a conflicting message to the Muslim community: that in a democracy it is permissible to offend Islam. This message damages efforts to prove that democracy and Islam go together.”
this whole cartoon fiasco has me pretty annoyed to be honest. first off, Indonesian President Yudhoyono (the originator of that second quote) is confusing a government-model with government-ideals. there can be dictatorships with freedom of speech, just as there can be a democratically elected government which represses freedom of expression. that being said, in a country with freedom of expression/speech - it is permissable to offend anybody, within reason. i agree this is a fine line, but in the same newspapers we offend homosexuals, heterosexuals, Catholics, Protestants, Athesists, and yes…. Muslims. i’m sorry, but i can’t think of any party (political, sexual, religious, etc.) of significant size that hasn’t been up for lampooning before.
the first quote is what pisses me off the most… “Is there only freedom of expression when it involves insults to Muslims?“. uh. hi. have you actually read one of our corrupt western newspapers before? we insult lots of people. our most popular targets we insult and offend are our very own leaders: the democratically elected LEADER and representative of our country.
where was all this outrage and anger when Bin Laden twisted and distorted the image of Islam in his name when he killed innocent people in the name of Islam and the prophet? these violent protests are only serving to strengthen and support the image of violence-in-Islam that the cartoons portrayed; and that is a saddening thought.
2 Comments Add your own
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Geoff Arnold | February 12th, 2006 at 09:21
Last time I looked, it wasn’t Westerners who were drawing a bright line between Muslims and others. See this piece by Sully about Sistani.
I’m really puzzled about this. There are millions of Muslims who are citizens of the USA. Yet the claim that all non-Muslims are unclean (specifically, in the same category as shit and dead bodies) is clearly incompatible with US constitutional notions of equality. If US Muslims don’t believe these things, why aren’t they out there arguing with Sistani and his ilk and coming up with a Muslim ethics which is compatible with Western values? (And if they DO believe in what Sistani preaches, how can they live in the West?)
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Update: here’s one Muslim woman standing up for sanity.
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