How difficult is it to kill 20 people, torch 10 buildings, topple governments, and create pandemonium all around the world ? Apparently, it's as easy as drawing a cartoon. If you don't believe me, just ask the two employees of Jyllands-Posten, the danish newspaper that's creating headlines in dailies all over the world.
It all started when the Jyllands-Posten published a series of cartoon depicting the prophet Mohammad in a rather "humorous fashion". The first print was greeted by a very civilised protest by the Muslim ambassadors to the Danish PM. However, a subsequent reprint, by the Danish, and then by the French, German, Spanish and Italian daily has jolted the world in a way none of the editors could have imagined. The uproar spread like a wild fire amongst most of the Muslim dominated countries.
What started as a peaceful street protest has taken a very ugly and violent turn. 13 protesters in Afghanistan alone were killed in a rally. Scores of Danish flags have been torched, Danish embassies attacked. Other European embassies also had to face fire. Protests reached the www as more than 100 Danish websites have been hacked. The latest, Denmark is advising all Danes to leave Indonesia as their life may be under a threat.
In a world composed of hundreds of religions, we must learn to be tolerant towards other religious faiths. Its true, that some religions seem to possess more hardliners and fanatics than others, but that doesnt give us any right to mock their rigid stance. It's beyond doubt that the European dailies have only themselves to blame for raking the wrath they are facing from the muslim world and they sure do owe all a apology.
But that in no way justifies the scale of the protest. In a civilised world of today, such actions are totally unwarranted. In most cases these protests are run by a few fanatics whose sole aim is to divide and rule. In my opinion the protests have further widened the chasm and increased the hatred between the involved religions. Its a shame how a few protesting maniacs could have such a large impact. I always used to think that illiteracy is the root of all problems, but I think in most cases educated people are more rigid and intolerant in their views, cause they believe they know it all.
I would like to join all the Doomsday theorists in predicting that the next big destruction of the world wont be wrought by a "Little Boy" or a "Fat Man", but a few over caffeinated editors displaying their ignorance and a few hardliners brandishing their fanaticism. Cheers to this great civilisation !
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14 comments:
I saw the cartoons and they were not funny in the least. The only humor that can be derived from those are by their racist readers. The publishers knew exactly who they can offend, thats why they rejected similarly offensive cartoons of Jesus a few weeks back. Now they are trying to hide behind a "free press"? The Muslims (sorry, Moslems) are supposed to wag their tails and be grateful for the freedom for anyone to make a cheap joke about their faith? Do I justify the violence? No. But how about Iran threatening to publish a cartoon of Hitler sleeping with Anne Frank? Those who toot the horn of "Free Press" should welcome this "peaceful" protest by Iran. But will they?
I think, one morning, they should just let it be.Its over. No good can come from increasing the chasm. Yeah, true, the editors are at fault and definately you can't let it slip away just as a "overlook" but as mudit says..this is exactly what those free press morons want.F them!
Well said in the last para, its time the ppl in the media realized the power they are wielding over their millions of readers and begin to use this power constructively rather than creating all this media fueled chaos
from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_cartoon
" published the cartoons to highlight the difficulty experienced by Danish writer Kåre Bluitgen in finding artists to illustrate his children's book about Muhammad. Artists previously approached by Bluitgen were reportedly unwilling to work with him for fear of violent attacks by extremist Muslims."
If this the truth I have absolutely no objections with what the danes did in doing something to prove a point {I may not necessarily agree with the content of the cartoons}
The problem is one of a cultural chasm. You speak of "civilized world" in one single sweep. It is not so. While the western world is civilized, the middle east is not. The westerners, who freely lampoon their own god and take it in their stride are not able to understand the mindset of others. In this aspect Hinduism was better, inviting and withstanding criticism. Now it too is taking the path of fundamentalism and religious intolerance.
And the term "civilized" itself is a subjective thing.
@Anarkist...dude send me the link to the cartoons..ur point is well taken
@Totti..Unfortunatley I dont think we could ever wake up to such a morning..
@Rohan...Although its called Free Press, media has always been biased in some form or the other...I guess its up to us to gather facts from different sources and decide on what we want to believe
@Nice Try..I dont thing that justifies the cartoon in anyways...You cannot play with someone's religious sentiments..
@Jinguchakka...It's true that civilisation has reached different levels in different societies...but even the higly civilised ones dont behave that way always
But at the end of the day, it still is, just a cartoon. Can religion, which is supposed to be above all this, get shaken so easily? Should it be?
Here is the link to the cartoons. It might not last long.
dude .. i strongly disagree with you that you cannot play with "religious sentiments". the only thing you should care about is the truth. of course truth is relative. nevertheless religion/sentiments are easy, misguided, substitutes for the truth and hence ask for trouble in isolation. illogical combinations of the two are definitely unjustified in the first place.
Partially agree with 'nice try' there. Reporting the truth is the job of the media, and if some religious or other sentiments are hurt, then so be it. But, in this case, there was no reporting being done. The idea was to offend and nothing else. Thats just irresponsible in my book.
The westerners, who freely lampoon their own god and take it in their stride are not able to understand the mindset of others.
Every society has it's holy cows. The so called civilized western world has them too. The holocaust for example. (Try drawing swastikas on buildings in Europe in the name of freedom of expression). The cartoons were not meant to test the waters, the editors were fully aware they were lighting the fuse.
As for the protests, I think attacking embassies and threatening to kill is a waste of time. Boycotting Danish goods and probable stopping of sale of oil to them would send the message way too faster than burning embassies. Fear of "losses" works faster than fear of death. They didn't publish the "jesus" cartoon probably because of the same reason -'bottom line'. If a few Muslim readers go away, big deal; if all readers are pissed off they will have to close shop.
And about Hinduism being better: look at the goons attacking MF Hussain or attacking movie theaters or Hallmark stores on Valentine's day. The numbers may not be large, but they are there and they are a problem.
@Nice Try, Anarkist, Transmogrifier
I totally agree with Anarkist and Transmogrifier that the cartoons were definitely meant to poke fun and the editors were fully aware of the consequences....Their act is surely despicable...
Having said that I am sure most of the protesters have not even seen the cartoon or worse have not even heard of a country called Denmark. Most of them are doing it just for the feeling of belonging to a group...
And my comment was ignored! Hmph! And hmph again :p
@Casa...I am really sorry..for some reason I thought I had already replied to urs...blame these 3 guys with their long comments ..
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