Clash Over Cartoons

No serious American newspaper would commission images of Jesus that were solely designed to offend Christians. And if one did, the reaction would be swift and certain. Politicians would take to the floors of Congress and call down thunder on create,the malefactors. Some Christians would react with fury and boycotts and flaming e-mails that couldn't be printed in a family newspaper; others would react with sadness, prayer and earnest letters to the editor. There would be mayhem, though it is unlikely that semiautomatic weapons would be brandished in the streets. Fortunately, it's not likely to happen, because good newspapers are governed, in their use of images, by the basic principle of news value .

When those now-infamous 12 cartoons of the prophet Muhammad were first published in Denmark, they had virtually no news value at all. They were created as a provocation -- Islam generally forbids the making of images of its highest prophet -- in a conservative newspaper, which wanted to make a point about freedom of speech in liberal, secular Western democracy. Depending on your point of view, it was a stick in the eye meant to provoke debate, or just a stick in the eye. More...

Muslims, in their rage, need to understand that this door swings in both directions. If you want the world to respect the sacred aspects and images of your religion in turn you must also respect the sacred aspects and images of other religions as well. Including Judaism and Christianity. You can't have it one way!! You cannot support those who hide behind your religion as an excuse to murder "non believers" in the name of God! Or use mosques as safe havens for terrorists and weapons of carnage and murder! When you do this, you debase your own religion and thus non believers loose any respect for your faith! Good Muslims should understand that they become part of the problem, and debase their own religion, when they themselves don't speak out against islamo-facists "geo-political murderers" who hide behind and distort a their beliefs in order to force their own will on others through murder and "martyrdom". The world will not stand back and accept this.