A rchive Date
[ 09-02-2006 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Muslims ]
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[http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Columnists/Gleeson_John/2006/02/09/1432644.html
Media discover virtue of 'respect'
By JOHN GLEESON
Thu, February 9, 2006
What to make of the decision by most North American media to "sit out" the Danish cartoon furor by not publishing the offending images of the Prophet Muhammad? Is it about respect for the sensibilities of Muslims in our midst, or fear of reprisal? Is it behaving responsibly, as our politicians are urging, or an act of cowardice, as some pundits allege.
Winnipeg Sun cartoonist Danny Pruden is incensed over what he sees as North America's weak-kneed response to the global storm. "Since when does this country - and even more so, the guys down south - run like little babies?" asked Pruden, whose political cartoons have been appearing in the Sun for six years. "It irks me. At some point we have to stand up and say, 'Come on - it's a joke.' This is nuts."
An old pal out in B.C. was equally exasperated, but for the opposite reason. "The West," he fumed, "is occupying two Muslim countries, both invaded since 9/11, though neither had anything to do with 9/11. They've been killing Arabs, taking over their lands and telling them how to govern themselves, then western cartoonists make a mockery of the founder of their religion? What the hell's the matter with those Danes?"
Meanwhile, the death and destruction toll rises, as protesters who have never seen the cartoons condemn them anyway for defaming Islam and senior Muslim clerics condemn the violent rioters for - what else? - defaming Islam. And the more the cartoons become a story, the stranger it is that western media aren't showing the public what started it all - the cartoons.
Those who haven't seen them on the Internet haven't missed much. The one that is apparently deemed the most offensive shows the Prophet wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb. The only one that would likely strike Sun readers as remotely funny has the Prophet in heaven greeting a line of incoming suicide bombers with the words: "Stop stop. We ran out of virgins."
Cute, but is it worth going into hiding for? The Danish cartoonists who produced the 12 images for the newspaper Jyllands-Posten have reportedly done so, fearing for their lives.
The standard line is that Muslims are appalled because it's considered blasphemous to portray any likeness of Muhammad - let alone as a terrorist or an object of ridicule. Some scholars dispute the blasphemy claim, however, and the Internet is boiling over with images of the Prophet as depicted down through the ages, both by western and Muslim artists.
Defenders of free speech who were looking to western politicians to take up the sword have been gravely disappointed.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, though calling attacks on diplomatic missions abroad "deplorable," also said: "The sensitive issue highlights the need for a better understanding of Islam and of Muslim communities. Respect for cultural diversity and freedom of religion is a fundamental principle in Canada."
French President Jacques Chirac condemned "overt provocations" against Muslims. "Anything that can hurt the convictions of someone else, in particular religious convictions, should be avoided," Chirac said.
Even the U.S. State Department said Washington shares "the offence that Muslims have taken at these images."
It almost seems laughable, coming from a culture in which showing disrespect and causing offence are synonymous with enlightened thought and mass entertainment; yet here it is.
Muslims are teaching westerners the forgotten virtue of respect. Even the western media, if you can imagine that. And they're doing it in the time-honoured method that our society long ago renounced - fear of physical violence.
Danny Pruden is worried, though. "If we let these guys do it to us, then every group will do it to us," he warns.
And he's right. Unless, before that happens, we manage to figure out what we actually believe in.
John Gleeson is the editor of the Winnipeg Sun. He can be reached by e-mail at: jgleeson@wpgsun.com
Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@wpgsun.com.
Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved
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