Europe and the Mohammed Controversy

Earlier this week a Dutch newspaper ran a set of newspaper cartoons that were extremely offensive to Muslims that can be seen to the right (I know its small, but the basic jist of them is that Mohammed is seen in one with a bomb under his turban and it goes from there).


I think one of the reasons for the outrage that is lost on many is that Islam is strongly against any representation of Mohammed, this is why we don’t see pictures of Mohammed like we do with Jesus in the West. Because this is lost on so many the reaction probably just appears just to be silly, which it is not. I think it is safe to assume that if a prominent paper in the United States published a cartoon of a similarly offensive nature about African-Americans or Jews there would be outrage. But on the other hand, Andrew Sullivan is correct that the blasphemy of these cartoons is nothing compared to the blasphemous murder of innocent civilians that so many protesting Islamists turn a blind eye to.

And even if it is blasphemous, this level of outrage is beyond anything that would be considered acceptable in the United States (think about what Salman Rushdie went through when he wrote the Satanic Verse). You only have to look at the slogans on signs held by protesters in London today (one of them is to the right, but go here for the whole set), not only is it ridiculous but it is scary.

It is one thing to protest the actions and opinions of some, but another to threaten them with violence. Freedom of the press is sacred in the west and newspapers ought to be allowed to publish most anything (there are some exceptions but there is no need to get into them here). This is the argument that is lost on the Islamists. Ironically I just finished reading Locke's A Letter Concerning Toleration which is the root of many of our modern feelings on religion. It is the reason that we think to ourselves, "I wouldn't care if someone attacked my god, it's their loss." Getting such sentiment to take hold in the Middle East might go a long way in achieving peace and stability but how the hell we do that seems to be a much more difficult proposition than anyone would have thought 4 years ago.

-Mr. Alec

PS What do you think of the pictures? I might do that more now. We'll see. I might be breaking copyright laws, but who cares, right?