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More on those Danish cartoons
Wed, Feb. 22nd, 2006 08:35 amI can't seem to let go of this news story.
It's been pretty clear all along that those Danish cartoons were provoking extremist Islam against the West. But finally, The New York Times is covering how all this is affecting moderate Muslims and, in particular, journalists who exhort their fellow faithful to take a more moderate approach. (Subscription may be required, but it's free and the Times doesn't send out spam.) These moderates are losing their jobs, being jailed, and worse. It just seems like this whole affair is a runaway train.
About a week ago, in an effort to better understand the reaction to these cartoons, I did a Google search to find them, and found them I did. (I can't find my original source, but Wikipedia's running an article about them with an image of the page from Jyllands-Posten, if you're curious. The cartoons in this reproduction are small, however, and some lose detail at this size, lessening their impact.) My first reaction to two of them was shock. My second reaction was that, as some columnists have said, some of them are no different than editorial cartoons I've seen in the U.S.; certainly I've seen American editorial cartoons that have shocked me. In both of these cases, however, my reaction to my shock was to stop, ask myself why I was shocked, and take the time to really consider the reasons—which is the point of editorial cartooning to begin with.
Please read this whole 'graph before you click through the included link
In an attempt to find a way to have an analogous experience to Muslim reaction to these cartoons so that I could better understand their perspective, I did a search on "anti-Semitic cartoons Saudi Arabia," and found this article. Some of the cartoons in this piece are pretty graphic, pretty gut-wrenching, and generally pretty repellant: Ariel Sharon happily bathing in blood, things like that. Frankly, they made me sick. And frankly, I think these cartoons, for their sheer explicitness and hate-mongering, are stronger stuff than the Danish cartoons. At the same time, I found myself wondering—and this was to the point of my exercise—if my revulsion at the sight of these cartoons was what those Muslims were feeling and what provoked their outrage. My guess would be yes. They made me angry. They hurt. At the same time, you still won't see me rioting in the streets and chopping people's heads off in the name of Moses.
I do understand that one cannot look at these cartoons in a vaccuum; there's no question in my mind that some of the reaction to them has to do not with them but with the war in Iraq, relations between the U.S. and Iran and Afghanistan, and relations between the Arab world and Israel. They are sadly inextricably linked. And so reactions to the cartoons become another outlet for rage and frustration. That's still not a justification for suicide bombing and hostage-taking.
Civilized people engage in civilized discourse. No matter how passions are inflamed, murder isn't a reasonable reaction to ink on paper. And in the end, from a religious perspective (since that's what Muslim extremists claim to be espousing), the sixth commandment pretty much covers the subject (that would be the one about not committing murder, for those of you keeping score). Though the Qur'an does not enumerate the commandments, it does exhort the faithful to follow them, to wit:
007.145 "And We ordained laws for him in the tablets in all matters, both commanding and explaining all things, (and said): 'Take and hold these with firmness, and enjoin thy people to hold fast by the best in the precepts'..."
So, in the end, though I can understand the passions these cartoons inflamed and even, to some extent, sympathize with them, I understand less and will never condone the actions taken as a result.
My heart still stands with those moderates who are trying to promote a more constructive response to the Danish cartoons. My head still believes that preserving free speech means occasionally putting up with the reprehensible. (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kyooverse, a week or more back, posted some good thoughts on this subject [which appeared to be locked or I'd link to them]. I think I still respectfully disagree with him, but his comments were and still are thought-provoking and worth examination.) In the end, all of this means we still have a long way to go as a species. I do not, however, relish some of the landscape I see coming up over the horizon.
It's been pretty clear all along that those Danish cartoons were provoking extremist Islam against the West. But finally, The New York Times is covering how all this is affecting moderate Muslims and, in particular, journalists who exhort their fellow faithful to take a more moderate approach. (Subscription may be required, but it's free and the Times doesn't send out spam.) These moderates are losing their jobs, being jailed, and worse. It just seems like this whole affair is a runaway train.
About a week ago, in an effort to better understand the reaction to these cartoons, I did a Google search to find them, and found them I did. (I can't find my original source, but Wikipedia's running an article about them with an image of the page from Jyllands-Posten, if you're curious. The cartoons in this reproduction are small, however, and some lose detail at this size, lessening their impact.) My first reaction to two of them was shock. My second reaction was that, as some columnists have said, some of them are no different than editorial cartoons I've seen in the U.S.; certainly I've seen American editorial cartoons that have shocked me. In both of these cases, however, my reaction to my shock was to stop, ask myself why I was shocked, and take the time to really consider the reasons—which is the point of editorial cartooning to begin with.
Please read this whole 'graph before you click through the included link
In an attempt to find a way to have an analogous experience to Muslim reaction to these cartoons so that I could better understand their perspective, I did a search on "anti-Semitic cartoons Saudi Arabia," and found this article. Some of the cartoons in this piece are pretty graphic, pretty gut-wrenching, and generally pretty repellant: Ariel Sharon happily bathing in blood, things like that. Frankly, they made me sick. And frankly, I think these cartoons, for their sheer explicitness and hate-mongering, are stronger stuff than the Danish cartoons. At the same time, I found myself wondering—and this was to the point of my exercise—if my revulsion at the sight of these cartoons was what those Muslims were feeling and what provoked their outrage. My guess would be yes. They made me angry. They hurt. At the same time, you still won't see me rioting in the streets and chopping people's heads off in the name of Moses.
I do understand that one cannot look at these cartoons in a vaccuum; there's no question in my mind that some of the reaction to them has to do not with them but with the war in Iraq, relations between the U.S. and Iran and Afghanistan, and relations between the Arab world and Israel. They are sadly inextricably linked. And so reactions to the cartoons become another outlet for rage and frustration. That's still not a justification for suicide bombing and hostage-taking.
Civilized people engage in civilized discourse. No matter how passions are inflamed, murder isn't a reasonable reaction to ink on paper. And in the end, from a religious perspective (since that's what Muslim extremists claim to be espousing), the sixth commandment pretty much covers the subject (that would be the one about not committing murder, for those of you keeping score). Though the Qur'an does not enumerate the commandments, it does exhort the faithful to follow them, to wit:
007.145 "And We ordained laws for him in the tablets in all matters, both commanding and explaining all things, (and said): 'Take and hold these with firmness, and enjoin thy people to hold fast by the best in the precepts'..."
So, in the end, though I can understand the passions these cartoons inflamed and even, to some extent, sympathize with them, I understand less and will never condone the actions taken as a result.
My heart still stands with those moderates who are trying to promote a more constructive response to the Danish cartoons. My head still believes that preserving free speech means occasionally putting up with the reprehensible. (
kyooverse, a week or more back, posted some good thoughts on this subject [which appeared to be locked or I'd link to them]. I think I still respectfully disagree with him, but his comments were and still are thought-provoking and worth examination.) In the end, all of this means we still have a long way to go as a species. I do not, however, relish some of the landscape I see coming up over the horizon.