From Plea for ‘logical’ fury – World – smh.com.au:
Thousands of angry Muslim protesters torched the Danish consulate in Beirut at the weekend, a day after Syrians set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, damaged the Swedish embassy and tried to storm the French mission.
These actions are disturbing and are rightfully condemned. From the same article:
[On Al Jazeera,] Muslim scholar Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi condemned the burning of the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Arab capitals by Muslims angry over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed.
I’m also glad to know that editors at prominent Australian newspapers can see that the issue is more than just about “freedom of speech” and that reprinting the cartoons would only serve to inflame the situation even more.
From Local editors avoid cartoons – Cartoon Anger – Breaking News 24/7 – NEWS.com.au:
Press reports had described the cartoons in great detail and it was not necessary to publish them in the newspaper, [Sydney Morning Herald editor] Mr. Oakley said.‘To have a debate about pornography you don’t have to publish pornographic pictures,’ he said.
‘To have a debate about capital punishment you don’t have to publish pictures of people swinging from the gallows.
‘You can have a sensible discussion around this without publishing the images.’
Daily Telegraph editor David Penberthy also shared his thoughts:
While acknowledging Muslims’ anger at the cartoon, Mr. Penberthy condemned Islamic extremists for their violent response.“It is a pretty poor reflection on sections of this religion that there does seem to be such a level of immaturity at what is a pretty poorly drawn and unfunny cartoon,” Mr Penberthy said.
“The more radical sort of elements of Islam in Europe have done massive damage to their own credibility by the way they’ve responded to this.”
‘Twas a cut-n-paste job I know but I’ve already stated my position clearly previously. The addition of these quotes are to flesh out that position.
My previous posts:
Look at it from another angle
One more thing
Two notable quotes about the Islamic cartoons controversy
Scenes from a school yard
Freedom of Speech works both ways
Technorati tags: religion, Islam, Freedom of Speech, cartoons
8 Responses to “Much Ado About Cartoons”
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This is getting out of hand, I guess it’s not just about a stupid cartoon anymore.
Some are using it to voice out the unfairness muslim were treated by the westerners, to let out the anger that was builded up since the 15th century, to demostrate their loyalty, to protect and strengthen their faith… and few are taking this op just to gain power.
agreed – it’s basically like a wildfire. All it took was a little match. In this instance, the cartoons was the match. Both sides have to shoulder some blame on this. The Danish newspaper should not have printed those cartoons, and the extremists should not have taken violent action by burning the consulates.
The Western world should practice more cultural understanding and less trumpeting of their own values, and the extremists should practice some restraint and know that they are not helping the image of Islam globally.
Had the same thing happened with Christian cartoons, and had Christian Yahoos shot up the countryside, I bet those papers would have had no problem whatsoever printing the drawings.
lone ranger: true that. but countering the extremists’ hate with more of our own does not help the global situation.
Comparing “us” and “them” is counter-productive, and as always we should be thinking about how much harder are we making it for our soldiers currently fighting on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. They more than anyone else, are gonna bear the real brunt of this anger, disproportionate as it maybe.
I read, I saw, I followed over the weekend. Unbelievable.
‘Cos of that controversy, the exts. and the rads. are taking advantage of the situation and creating more chaos. While understanding their anger, they however, do not speak or act on behalf of all of us. I most certainly did not like what was published but do not condone their actions. I What disgusted me yesterday morning (from CNN “Live”) was that some of those involved in the torching of Danish Consulate, “picked on” a youth from a Christian school and pummeled him. What these exts. and rads. thought and actions of defending the Prophet (PBUH) only tarnished our image even more.
kynne: as unfortunately as it is, the image of Islam are being hijacked by the extremists and the radicals. Moderate Muslims everywhere should be offended by the cartoons but should also echo what you said and that is, these radicals do not represent Islam. And they should echo it loudly and coherently in one voice.
Otherwise, the cycle of perpetual hatred on both sides are just going to continue.
I’m kinda dissapointed that the govt. of Indonesia (the world’s most populous Muslim nation) and Malaysia has not spoken out about this and appealed for calm and to reiterate your points above.
The last time I heard about Indonesia is that they gave a dateline for the Danish embassies to come up with a satisfying apology…
Their govt wouldn’t dare to make their stand yet, coz no political parties want to anger their major voters. Hence they’ll wait out and see what’s the turn out before deciding what action is to be taken.
My bad – the Indonesian Prez and the Malaysian PM has asked for restraint.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11171517/from/RL.3/