One of the original 12 cartoons. Click picture to view them all.
I. Background- The Original Mohammed Cartoon Crisis:
Now that the cartoons are once again making headlines it might be interesting to take a look at some articles from the original ''cartoon crisis'' that people may have missed.
Many people believe that the cartoons were originally published just to annoy Muslims-- or for mere shock value-- which after all does sell newspapers. However that is not the case.
Rather, Flemming Rose, the culture editor of Jyllands-Posten, had a really good reason for publishing them. He explains his motivations in this article-- Why I Published Those Cartoons. (His reasons are probably quite different than you might imagine).
When the cartoons were first published there wasn't all that much controversy. In fact, after the original publication of the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten they were published (by Moslems) in Al Fager, an Egyptian paper-- with not a word of protest!
What actually inflamed passions was a tour of a few Muslim countries made by some radical Danish Imams. They brought with them copies of the 12 (relatively mild) original cartons-- but also added 3 more highly inflammatory fakes.
With a few minor exceptions the American media refused to publish them. They came up with a great excuse-- that they wanted to respect Muslim's sensibilites. (And as most people know by now, many Muslims are often quite easily offended.)
Many Muslims claim that while the cartoons offend Muslims-- they themselves greatly respect other religions. Click the picture for more information. (Hattip: Suricou Raven).
Jeff Jacoby points out in a column in the Boston Globe-- while that excuse made the media look good-- it wasn't their real motivation for not publishing the cartoons.
Are images of Mohammed totally forbidden in Islam? This article examines that question: "Forbidden" Images of Mohammed - Merely a Big Hoax?
Photo-Mohammed, U.S. Supreme Court bldg., Washington D.C.
Finally: The BBC (often called the ''Biased Broadcasting Company''-- for good reason) has made a surprisingly good-- and surprisingly unbiased -- program on the cartoons. Video: Why Democracy? - Bloody Cartoons. (Spanish Pundit has explanations of this video in Spanish.)
II. Updates-The Current Crisis:
1. 1/12/08: An attempt to pressure Wikipedia to remove pictures of Mohammed but Wikipedia refuses to bow down to pressure by extremists.
2. 1/18/08: A journalist in Belarus- Sentenced to three years' in prison for publishing the Mohammed Cartoons.
3. 2/6/08: Fox News posts Mohammad pictures in story about Muslims seething at the cartoons being published in Wikipedia.
4. 2/7/08: Three Islamic extremists are held in plot- an attempt to actually murder a Danish cartoonist
5. 2/13/08: 11 Danish newspapers take a strong stand for free speech by publishing the cartoons after arrests in murder plot against cartoonist.
6. 2/16/08: Danish MPs refuse cartoon apology; cancel scheduled trip to Iran
7. 2/22/08: Belarus court frees Mohammad cartoon publisher
8. 3/11/08: Jordanian Group Filing Mo-Toon Lawsuit
Western Resistance has more information about these issues: Islam And The War Against Freedom Of Expression
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4 comments:
Great collectiuon, BTW I believe it's "DHIMMITUDE" (spelling in tags).
Arab Racism & Islamofascism
Thanks for pointing that out ;-]
...I will make the correction.
I believe that the cartoons were so offensive because they insinuated that Muhammad was a terrorist and thus anyone who is Muslim is also terrorist.
Denmark has a powerful far right neo Nazi party which wields power in that nation. These cartoons only sought to further alienate an immigrant population.
Free speech? how many critical Israeili cartoons are printed in America. You can't be a holocaust denier in germany or France no matter matter how reprehensible, yet you can perpetuate stereotypes about every single Muslim.
Papers ought to be free to say and print anything they want. I just wish there were a level playing field, and that they didn't act to promote the ideas that extremists perpetuate.
Actually, your belief is incorrect. In fact, the cartoons were not particularly offensive-- in fact, they were so innocuous that after they were originally published, there were no significant complaints.
And, a while later, they were actually published in Egypt-- again, with hardly a peep from anyone!
So-- why did all the brouhaha erupt-- and so long after they were originally published? Because-- some radical Danish Imams decided to use them for their own selfish political ends-- and went on a tour of the middle east-- in order to inflame the Arab world. If you like to know the real story, the article is HERE
You said "Denmark has a powerful far right neo Nazi party which wields power in that nation." This is another of your beliefs that is untrue. (The Danes have a strong tradition of free speech-- which is why they permitted the cartoons to be published, and also why they also people to express pro-Nazi viewpoints-- something that is not allowed, for example, in Germany. But-- the Danish neo-Nazis are a small, insignificant group.
"Free speech? how many critical Israeli cartoons are printed in America". Again, you are poorly informed. You are making assumptions about things you know nothing (or very little) about. There are numerous anti-Semitic cartoons published in the Arab media. But such bigoted material is not allowed in Israel.
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