Jeremy’s Little Corner Of The Web…

I came across a BBC article today on a row over the printing of a few caricatures in a Danish newspaper, one of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad with a headdress shaped like a bomb. Although this occurred last September, it seems to have caused a bit of outrage. I see two reasons for this:

1. Representations of Muhammad are banned by the Islamic faith (to prevent idolatry)
2. The caricatures (or at least one of them) portray one of the key figures in the Islamic faith as a terrorist

That's pretty harsh, if you ask me. The caricatures were re-published in other newspapers across Europe, and many Arab countries and groups have expressed their outrage. I say "rightfully so". The chief editor in charge of the France Soir paper (which re-published the caricatures) was recently fired in response to the publishing of the caricatures, and people now have their knickers in a knot because they feel it goes against the ideals of democracy, free speech and freedom of the press! Fair enough, but what about respecting other people and their beliefs?

If Jesus or the Virgin Mary were published in such a way (let's say with a bomb strapped to the chest) in an Arabic newspaper, the Western world would be up in arms about it! Swap the perspective on that and we might understand why so many Islamic people are furious. Free speech and democracy are fine, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable to go around disrespecting people and their faith.

Funnily enough, there's a Wikipedia article on this.

(via Fraser)

UPDATE:

Ehsan Masood wrote that:

As a writer, do I have the right in law to caricature other people if the net result is merely to cause offence? Absolutely. But will I exercise that right knowing that these "other people" are also likely to be my friends and neighbours, my parents' neighbours, my children's friends, people I have known for decades? The answer is self-evident. No.

I think that pretty much sums it up…