The brilliant mind who published the incendiary Muhammad cartoons tries to explain himself, but winds up making ridiculous excuses like this:
We have a tradition of satire when dealing with the royal family and other public figures, and that was reflected in the cartoons. The cartoonists treated Islam the same way they treat Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions. And by treating Muslims in Denmark as equals they made a point: We are integrating you into the Danish tradition of satire because you are part of our society, not strangers. The cartoons are including, rather than excluding, Muslims.
The cartoons do not in any way demonize or stereotype Muslims. In fact, they differ from one another both in the way they depict the prophet and in whom they target. One cartoon makes fun of Jyllands-Posten, portraying its cultural editors as a bunch of reactionary provocateurs. Another suggests that the children's writer who could not find an illustrator for his book went public just to get cheap publicity. A third puts the head of the anti-immigration Danish People's Party in a lineup, as if she is a suspected criminal.
One cartoon -- depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban -- has drawn the harshest criticism. Angry voices claim the cartoon is saying that the prophet is a terrorist or that every Muslim is a terrorist. I read it differently: Some individuals have taken the religion of Islam hostage by committing terrorist acts in the name of the prophet. They are the ones who have given the religion a bad name. The cartoon also plays into the fairy tale about Aladdin and the orange that fell into his turban and made his fortune. This suggests that the bomb comes from the outside world and is not an inherent characteristic of the prophet.
Alladdin??? The bomb in the turban pic was supposed to evoke Aladdin???
Not to respond to one religious insult with another, but Jesus, man, do you think we're all idiots? The cartoon is what it is, and if it needs that much explication, it's not a very good cartoon.
In his piece, Mr. Rose describes several incidents that depict Muslim reaction -- in his view overreaction -- to perceived religious slights. If he knows that, then he surely knew that the reaction to his cartoon contest would be vehemently negative. He chose to publish the cartoons anyway for the same reason right wing bloggers are still posting them to this day: as an in-your-face challenge to Muslims. No such challenge is routinely proferred to Christians, even with extremists like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in our midst.
Sorry, but there's no getting around the fact that the Muhammad cartoons were at best a blunder, at worst, evidence of callousness and/or Islamophobia on the part of Mr. Rose and his paper. He should accept his share of responsibility for the outcome, just as Muslim extremists who have stoked the cartoon wars and encouraged violence among legitimately angry Muslims in the streets of various capitals should accept their share.
If you'd like to share your thoughts with Flemming, he has been kind enough to post his email address: flemming.rose@jp.dk.
But please, no calling him names, you might offend him -- although, apparently he believes that offending someone is just another way of saying "you're one of use, and we care about you."
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