More on the blasphemous cartoons
In the context of this as evidence of arguable insurmountable differences between the West and Islam, two items:
1. As I mention in a comment below, newspapers in the following European countries have reprinted the cartoons: France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, according to Bloomberg; and the Guardian reports newspapers in Hungary, Norway, Iceland, and the Netherlands have, as well.
[UPDATE posted Friday, Feb. 3: Last night, on the News Hour's segment on the controversy, they had footage of a Muslim man holding up the cartoons, voicing his outrage about them. And while he was talking, the camera zoomed right in. Later footage showed a cartoon in a newspaper, but only about 1/3 of the cartoon was visible - the shot was mostly of the headline. You could tell they were very concerned about not being among the first U.S. media sources to rebroadcast the cartoons.]
Note: A newspaper in Jordan also reprinted the cartoons, and suggested Muslims calm down. Jordan is pretty close to the United States, though. AND: The paper on Thursday apparently withdrew all of its papers with the caroons and the paper's publisher said it will punish those responsible.
2. A Cincinnati newspaper today encourages its readers to counteract the boycott of Danish goods, writing, "It's not asking too much in defense of freedom of expression for us to hoist a couple of cold Carlsbergs and enjoy a toasted havarti cheese sandwich."
Are other U.S. (or otherwise Western) papers calling for support of the Danes? Probably, I haven't checked.
Update: Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post has an editorial on the subject today.
But you know what I'm saying.
1. As I mention in a comment below, newspapers in the following European countries have reprinted the cartoons: France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy, according to Bloomberg; and the Guardian reports newspapers in Hungary, Norway, Iceland, and the Netherlands have, as well.
[UPDATE posted Friday, Feb. 3: Last night, on the News Hour's segment on the controversy, they had footage of a Muslim man holding up the cartoons, voicing his outrage about them. And while he was talking, the camera zoomed right in. Later footage showed a cartoon in a newspaper, but only about 1/3 of the cartoon was visible - the shot was mostly of the headline. You could tell they were very concerned about not being among the first U.S. media sources to rebroadcast the cartoons.]
Note: A newspaper in Jordan also reprinted the cartoons, and suggested Muslims calm down. Jordan is pretty close to the United States, though. AND: The paper on Thursday apparently withdrew all of its papers with the caroons and the paper's publisher said it will punish those responsible.
2. A Cincinnati newspaper today encourages its readers to counteract the boycott of Danish goods, writing, "It's not asking too much in defense of freedom of expression for us to hoist a couple of cold Carlsbergs and enjoy a toasted havarti cheese sandwich."
Are other U.S. (or otherwise Western) papers calling for support of the Danes? Probably, I haven't checked.
Update: Neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post has an editorial on the subject today.
But you know what I'm saying.
posted by bp at
2:21 PM
3 Comments:
The director for publication in the French Newspaper "France Soir", who decided to publish some of these cartoons, got fired today...
... Where our "sens de l'humour" ?
By
Admin, at 2:40 PM
I'm actually quite disappointed because I've not seen any American papers rise to the defense of free speech. And this is the country that defended "Piss Christ" in 1987!
By
Miguel Centellas, at 2:50 PM
Ou est le "sens de l'humour" indeed!
And Miguel, good point about "Piss Christ." There certainly was discord about that piece of work, but it was really over whether it should be federally funded or not - not whether it should be permitted.
One commment I read today compared the cartoons with a theoretical cartoon of the Pope raping a kid. Some of the Muhammad cartoons are that offensive, to be sure. They certainly are disrespectful.
But it's the literally violent response that makes this uproar stand out.
For comparison: the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff co-wrote a letter to the Washington Post today, angry about a cartoon involving a limbless U.S. soldier.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020102098.html
No one, however, put on a ski mask and picked up an AK-47 and stormed the Post's offices.
Perhaps this says something about a society not being used to democratic means of expression - whether they live in a recently democratized country, or a non-democratic one. That's one theory, anyway.
By
bp, at 3:28 PM
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