Monday, February 13, 2006

Loony Toons

Everybody has heard of the Mohamed cartoon by now, and of the raucous protests it's caused. But what's it really about?

It's about two major points.

A) Freedom of press.

B) Not only acceptance of Islam, but also the involuntary submission for non-believers.

I see it like this. The cartoons were clearly inflammatory (you can see them on Wikipedia), and intentionally insensitive. I don't know the prowess of this Danish newspaper that published the cartoons, but I doubt it's that large of a publication. Some kind of political power blew this story up to intentionally stir up such a mess. but what side is the question?

You could see it from the western perspective, as an Islamic extremist group fanning the flames of hatred and trying to create an excuse to facilitate more violence on Western interests.

Or it could be viewed from the angle that western media continues to paint the middle east as an area populated with violent religious hard-liners.

A newspaper should print whatever they think is fit to print. The folks they offend should encourage others to ignore such stupidity instead of rallying against it. How could a "news" outlet continue to offend, corrupt, brainwash, ect., if no one pays any attention. Instead what's happened in Denmark is that the newspaper that initially printed the offensive cartoons has received global publicity. And when the unrest settles down, that newspaper will be remembered for what happened and more subscribers will join just to see if they do it again.

Also, the Islamic world can't expect for non-belivers (kaffir) to totally respect the customs or philosophies of their religion all the time. The world should accept Islam as real and good for millions of people. But Muslims in turn should accept and allow outsiders to do whatever they do, so long as it doesn't directly interfere with their personal life. The cartoon idolized Mohamed. A big no-no in Islam. But it had no direct impact in anyone's life who simply ignored it. Unlike, say, an invasion of an Islamic country. That's direct involvement.

I want people out there to consider both sides of these news reports, and to decide on their own what is really behind it all. This weird situation has been backed by a powerful organization. Who and why is what matters.