Dan Gardner writes about the official UN position of finding the cartoons and the violent reaction to them equally offensive and he is tongue in cheek flabbergasted that they could apply the term equally to both sides. I am flabbergasted that he- and millions more- cannot accept the heights of offence to which these cartoons rise.
The western reaction to these cartoons is itself offensive; blowing them off as just cartoons, and that for freedom of speech to survive then people must be free to write and publish offensive material without fear of reprisal. The idealist in me agrees with this position, the realist in me says that when I speak, there might be consequences I have to deal with. For this reason, the pragmatist in me agrees that shouting fire in a crowded theater is not only morally wrong, but also legally reprehensible.
This is not a new position, but one codified in western legal systems to varying degrees. Canada goes further than most by actually having statutes to protect people against hate speech- something with which I don’t necessarily agree, since it unduly muzzles free speech.
The truly horrifying part about this entire controversy is not the Muslim reaction, but the Western reaction. While I do not condone rioting and death threats, it is not hard to fathom why they are occurring, and why some Muslims feel that they are the proper tools of protest. The western reaction is far more sinister. The western media in particular has very few examples of outright condemnation of these cartoons, unless they are showing a Muslim doing it. As a matter of fact, if I were to take my cues from the media, I would be believing that this controversy no longer has anything to do with the cartoons, but with how Muslims react to them.
On the one hand you have the bad Muslims rioting, protesting, killing, burning down buildings- all in an effort to take away our free speech. On the other you have other Muslims condemning the reaction. I say hogwash to both and let us focus on the real issues at the center of this controversy, the offensive cartoons.
What makes the western reaction disingenuous is how we would react to cartoons and other forms of free speech if they degraded, if they debased, if they insulted those ideals that are precious to us. The “official” (and by official I mean government and the media) reaction is one of glorious incredulity by an army of hypocrites. They are mystified that this reaction could occur and they are hypocritical for not condemning the original message that these cartoons convey. I would be ok with this if it actually meant freer and safer speech for all; but let’s face it that is not the intention of the reaction. The reaction is intended to cower Muslims into a position of subjugation to the will of the western world; much like blacks who way back when, were forced to endure the weight of bigotry with a smile- think Jackie Robinson.
Let us call these cartoons what they are, examples of western bigotry towards Islam. We in the west protest cartoons that do not rise to this level- the level being highly offensive to God, to Muslims, to their Holy Prophet Mohammed and to Islam. We stopped NBC from airing a television program, the Book of Daniel, because we thought it might be offensive and insulting to Christians. People do not draw cartoons making fun of the holocaust because most would find them highly offensive.
We do not condone cartoons that depict people in the most offensively negative ways (stereotypes) for fear of the reactions. Imagine Aislin drawing offensive cartoons of Blacks, Latinos, and Asian: the predictable response would be one of outrage, of protests, of violence, especially if the government did not condemn these depictions as wrong. Imagine if Aislin drew cartoons of Jesus in various homosexual situations or as having made a deal with the devil to fool the world…sorry the blasphemy just leaked out of my pen unto this page.
The point is, that the western reaction of counter-protesting that these cartoons were merely exercises in free speech is a dangerous one. It now opens the door to cartoonists to lampoon, debase, ridicule and culture they see fit, which is something they presently, legally have a right to do in some western nations. The danger is that we westerners can now only react to them as exercises in free speech and endure them half-heartedly as just cartoons, anything but would be hypocritical. You should be out there protesting with the offended and not merely sitting back laughing and/or condemning their reaction to being offended. The least you can do is agree that the material, even as a cartoon, is offensive.
1 comment:
I would like to know how much protection the "victims" of thesed cartoons would give to cartoons depicting western religions or cultural symbols in a negative way.
This is all part of the backlash that is being generated by immigrants that are heading to western countries and then trying to maintain the ways of the old country that they are in such a rush to leave.
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