Daft Danes and Daft Dogs
I'm disappointed that much of Europe is trumpeting the right to free speech, to publish anything, etc., but they are totally ignoring the need not to go overboard.
Depicting the prophet muhammed is blasphemous to begin with, but to make fun of him is downright inflammatory. There is an element of neo-nazism in many european countries, but i'm not sure that played a role in this.
A Catholic country like France should really know better than to publish such cartoons. Honestly--there are some pretty disturbing images of Jesus I could come up with that would royally piss them off.
I think that political tensions are such that the cartoons are simply a catalyst that taps into the resentment and rage that already exists in much of the muslim world. i feel much of that rage is justifiable. i can see the violence carrying on for awhile, and it is unusual for europe to be the recipient of such rage for the muslim world. apparently several european countries have donated millions of dollars to palestine, for example.
the wisest course of action at this point is to apologize and attempt to reach out and make amends to the offended parties. it really doesn't matter if we can understand or identify with their rage; we need to put out the fires, rather than reiterating our right to free speech.
Newspapers here could publish dreadfully demeaning images of Jesus in the name of free speech, but there's just no need to offend people. this is one more brick in the wall that is springing up between the muslim/arab world and the "west."
iran's president does concern me, though. he's proposing a cartoon contest poking fun at the holocaust and thinks we should move israel to alaska. that isn't just an offensive position, it is ignorant.
Depicting the prophet muhammed is blasphemous to begin with, but to make fun of him is downright inflammatory. There is an element of neo-nazism in many european countries, but i'm not sure that played a role in this.
A Catholic country like France should really know better than to publish such cartoons. Honestly--there are some pretty disturbing images of Jesus I could come up with that would royally piss them off.
I think that political tensions are such that the cartoons are simply a catalyst that taps into the resentment and rage that already exists in much of the muslim world. i feel much of that rage is justifiable. i can see the violence carrying on for awhile, and it is unusual for europe to be the recipient of such rage for the muslim world. apparently several european countries have donated millions of dollars to palestine, for example.
the wisest course of action at this point is to apologize and attempt to reach out and make amends to the offended parties. it really doesn't matter if we can understand or identify with their rage; we need to put out the fires, rather than reiterating our right to free speech.
Newspapers here could publish dreadfully demeaning images of Jesus in the name of free speech, but there's just no need to offend people. this is one more brick in the wall that is springing up between the muslim/arab world and the "west."
iran's president does concern me, though. he's proposing a cartoon contest poking fun at the holocaust and thinks we should move israel to alaska. that isn't just an offensive position, it is ignorant.
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