Thanks for linking to this — this was a worthwhile perspective.
Reasonable perspectives like this are probably more common in the Muslim world than is hysteria over the cartoons, but we rarely get to hear about it since it doesn’t lead to anything “newsworthy,” like the burning of an embassy.
It’s a treat to have found your blog. A reasonable perspective, indeed.
It’s interesting to note that the U.S. seems to have largely escaped the wrath of the protesters, with the exception of a burning US flag included here and there for good measure.
The cartoons have already been published in a handful of papers in the US, but to my knowledge, no major print media have run them nor will they:
Although the US media roundly (and for good reason) savage fundamentalists and fallen preachers, they do not usually satirize religious belief as such. Particular churches or church leaders may fall in and out of favor, but people just “worship” religion. I know, bad play on words.
Also, my sense is that many Muslims, either through experience or perception, just might consider Americans to be a bit more serious about faith than those secular Europeans, so they would not expect US media to lampoon their Holy Prophet. I can just imagine conversations between US personnel and folks on the street In Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Note – Yesterday, the original Al Jazeera article linked to above contained a photo of the said spread in the Danish paper at a slight distance – with the Mohammed cartoons clearly visible. It’s gone now.
I posted in the next thread, “An Egyptian Call to … Boycott Egypt?”, that the Muslim rioters and fanatics have won the fight to regulate freedom of speech in Europe.
Muslim extreme violence have cause senior EU officials to cower and now they:
“proposed a European press charter that would commit journalists to PRUDENCE when reporting on Islam and other religions.”
This was reported in Feb 9th Washington Times World section.
Will moderate or liberal Muslims civilly protest limitations on free speech in the EU? I hope they do, but I doubt it.
I’m confused. The poster at Iraq The Model said that he has an internet connection but could not find the cartoons. Does the Iraqi government ban even the websites he has on his sidebar? This sounds like hyperbole.
I don’t find it confusing. The websites are not banned in Iraq (I’m unaware of any censorship of the web in Iraq, unlike Iran and other middle eastern countries) and Omar doesn’t suggest that censorship was the reason he had difficulty finding them when he looked. Maybe when he started looking they were hard to find because at that time they were only on Danish or Norwegian web sites. Now they’re all over the place. Anyway, his post doesn’t suggest censorship.
Thanks for linking to this — this was a worthwhile perspective.
Reasonable perspectives like this are probably more common in the Muslim world than is hysteria over the cartoons, but we rarely get to hear about it since it doesn’t lead to anything “newsworthy,” like the burning of an embassy.
Hi Tom,
It’s a treat to have found your blog. A reasonable perspective, indeed.
It’s interesting to note that the U.S. seems to have largely escaped the wrath of the protesters, with the exception of a burning US flag included here and there for good measure.
The cartoons have already been published in a handful of papers in the US, but to my knowledge, no major print media have run them nor will they:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7F439C09-5B28-4935-830B-88C7D60BF6F1.htm
Although the US media roundly (and for good reason) savage fundamentalists and fallen preachers, they do not usually satirize religious belief as such. Particular churches or church leaders may fall in and out of favor, but people just “worship” religion. I know, bad play on words.
Also, my sense is that many Muslims, either through experience or perception, just might consider Americans to be a bit more serious about faith than those secular Europeans, so they would not expect US media to lampoon their Holy Prophet. I can just imagine conversations between US personnel and folks on the street In Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Note – Yesterday, the original Al Jazeera article linked to above contained a photo of the said spread in the Danish paper at a slight distance – with the Mohammed cartoons clearly visible. It’s gone now.
In Liberty,
Tom
I posted the wrong link. This Al Jazeera article STILL contains the photo of the paper with the Mahometan cartoonage:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E70D2F93-02B5-4678-BEE6-ED5D5EA33C08.htm
I posted in the next thread, “An Egyptian Call to … Boycott Egypt?”, that the Muslim rioters and fanatics have won the fight to regulate freedom of speech in Europe.
Muslim extreme violence have cause senior EU officials to cower and now they:
“proposed a European press charter that would commit journalists to PRUDENCE when reporting on Islam and other religions.”
This was reported in Feb 9th Washington Times World section.
Will moderate or liberal Muslims civilly protest limitations on free speech in the EU? I hope they do, but I doubt it.
I’m confused. The poster at Iraq The Model said that he has an internet connection but could not find the cartoons. Does the Iraqi government ban even the websites he has on his sidebar? This sounds like hyperbole.
I don’t find it confusing. The websites are not banned in Iraq (I’m unaware of any censorship of the web in Iraq, unlike Iran and other middle eastern countries) and Omar doesn’t suggest that censorship was the reason he had difficulty finding them when he looked. Maybe when he started looking they were hard to find because at that time they were only on Danish or Norwegian web sites. Now they’re all over the place. Anyway, his post doesn’t suggest censorship.