Now known for more than their pastry

[brynndragon]

From Time: Freedom means learning to deal with being offended. Although the three additional cartoons that show things like a pedophile demonic Mohammad (these were never published in any paper, but found their way into the informational pamphlets that were spread throughout the "Muslim world") make the reaction less completely bugfuck insane. However, as doctorellisdee noted, this event demonstrates that the Muslim world is Not Ready for Primetime.

For them what haven't seen the cartoons in question (which would be a whole slew of my American friends, since no one here has the balls to publish the cartoons and only ABC deigned to show us what the hell the flamefest was all about, and only during the first mention of the story), you can find them here. I really like the one with the the moon and star intertwined with his face - I find it aesthetically appealing. Incidentally, you can try to keep up with events via wikipedia.

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

http://vito-excalibur.livejournal.com/84118.html

[the-xtina.livejournal.com]

*bursts into laughter*

[greyhame.livejournal.com]

On the one hand I agree, but on the other hand, what do you think the reaction would have been like in the US if a newspaper had responded to the Catholic child-abuse scandals by running cartoons of Jesus molesting children? Probably no buildings would have been set on fire and no one would have been killed -- probably, but remember that the people who firebomb abortion clincs think of themselves as good Christians just as surely as the members of Al Qaeda think of themselves as good Muslims -- but the level of rhetoric would have been much the same.

I don't think either that hypothetical reaction, or the actual reaction to the Danish cartoons, is acceptable, of course. But before we label others barbaric, we should check to make sure our own houses aren't made of glass.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I'm sure cartoons about Jesus molesting little children were drawn somewhere by someone, just as those cartoons showing Mohammed in a manner beyond disrespectful were drawn by someone somewhere. But they didn't appear in a single newspaper. The fact that complete and utter lies are being used to fan the flames of righteous anger make me angry and saddened - what has humanity come to that we purposefully pit people against each other, purposefully inciting others to the violence we wish to commit but don't have the guts to potentially put ourselves in harm's way?

The problem with "houses made of glass" saying is it says that if we fail to live up to an ideal we aren't allow to ask anyone else to aim for it either. Since humans are never perfect, we will never fully achieve any right completely, but there's a distinct diference between those who are trying and those who are not. We are *trying*, despite ourselves, to allow anyone to speak their opinion or do things that others consider taboo (I've never seen a Jew get pissed off that someone else was eating pork). I don't see why it's OK to say it's wrong to stone a woman who isn't wearing a Burqa but it's not OK to say that cartoons shouldn't incite violence.

I refuse to tolerate harm done to people. Count the bodies when this whole thing has blown over and I'll bet you money that more Middle Eastern people will be dead than Europeans and at their own hands. Whoever published those pamphlets with the horrible offensive cartoons are the ones who should get the blame for those cartoons, not the papers and the countries where those cartoons were never published. This pises me off for exactly the same reasons that the spying program and the Plume case and the Abramoff scandal and the Iraq war piss me off - people were taken in by lying leaders, and it's causing harm to them.

Our houses can be damaged by thrown rocks, but that doesn't mean they're made of glass.