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What do you think? let the discussion begin!

I myself think it's way too stupid to get THAT angry, it's only a cartoon, & noone cares if it's mohammed, jesus, god, budhaa or anyone else.
there has been and there are many caricatures about probably every religion related dude you can think of, & noone made a big deal out of it, i don't think that if it's about mohammed than it makes a difference.
please, don't say "you know nothing about it"...i do, since i live in a country which contains jews, christians, muslims, budhaists (not many though), druz (they're a small population anyway) & Bahai people =)

They just like to make some mess around. So it was good reason to start it. I doesn't saw these cartoons and can't say something more about that panic. I've just thinking that they got too much angry.

Long post..

The cartoons would have gone pretty much amiss everywhere but the couple of million danes that read the newspaper. If it wasn't for the crazy imam that sent people round the mddle east with pictures of the cartoons and other unpublished cartoons, also mocking allah.

Needless to say, the unpublished cartoons were a bit worse than the published ones. This then started a (small) uproar. Nothing too bad. Until the people started to be brainwashed about how the cartoons are a daily feature in newspapers and how the West continually mocks islam.

So you have the selected few feeding a frenzy with these lies, the masses being controlled by them, burning chit down and boycotting danish products, and the Western media is having a field day with overreacting to this, making people think the islam people are stupid for reacting like that to cartoons posted in denmark, and the islamic world gets more agitated by this.


The cartoons have little to do with the protesting. It was a break-out of the agitation risen from the Iraq war and the invasion of the West, and the continued criticism of their culture by world leaders. The cartoons were just the straw that broke the camel's back, and gave the protest leaders something to exploit.

imo, I have no idea why the danish newspaper decided to publish the cartoons, because they have nothing to do with free speech and it's a direct assault on islam.


That's how I feel anyway..

I hate religions, they are at the bottom of all evil.

It is exaggeration, how they act and feel. I'm sure there has been this kind of stuff done before, just that it hasn't been spread worldwide over the internet.

Hi all...

Since i'm from Malaysia and also a muslim's...i mean no offence here..i'm truly agree with Sammpa, it was a direct hit to us (muslims).. if we take a look from what the picture here http://www.humaneventsonline.com/sarticle.php?id=12146 is a shame to us.. it was very annoying as much insulting our prophet that we muslim's are some kind of terrorist..

we were very sensitive concerning about religous.. and we before never insult or make joke about other's because we respect other's too...some says many of the cartoons,jokes, etc worse than that were distributed but they does not printed out in an official daily newspaper...and most of all, i dont think people from they own followers make the cartoon to insult they own believes, does it?

as i mentioned i mean no offence just as my thought...but do all kind of respects, some may act extreamely.. and i appologise if my english was bad...i hope people who read this get the juice of it.. tq

Are the comics in bad taste? Yeah. Are they worth starting a war over? No. Is it a big enough deal to kill people over? Absolutely not!

The cartoons were first published by Jyllands-Posten in late September 2005; approximately two weeks later, nearly 3,500 people demonstrated peacefully in Copenhagen. In November, several European newspapers re-published the images, triggering more protests. Labour strikes began in Pakistan the following month, and several organizations criticized the Danish government. More protests occurred in January 2006, and later that month a boycott of Danish goods began. Several countries withdrew their ambassadors to Denmark, and widespread protests, some of them violent, began. The protests continued in February. In Damascus, Syria, both the Norwegian embassy and a building containing the Danish, Swedish, and Chilean embassies were stormed and set afire by protesters. The Danish General Consulate in Beirut was burned down by more than 10,000 protesters. As of February 10, 2006, at least 11 people have been killed in the protest

--Wikipedia entry on the timeline of the event.

While I am not advocating anti-muslim thoughts, clearly this is an issue of free speech. Is it up to the offended to decide on the possible merit of such? For a christian example; http://www.loljesus.com or the now defunct Jesus Is Hitler website. Are they all in bad taste? Yes. However, it's not illegal, or neccessarily EVIL.

EDIT: Just some extra stuff I found while looking online.

Tehran Newspaper to create a holocaust cartoon contest And from another article:

"Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on February 6th, 2006, that a "Zionist conspiracy" was to blame for the row over the cartoons, in his first reaction to the controversy: "The reason for the Zionist action is because of the loss they suffered by Hamas winning". Khamenai was referring to Hamas victory in the Palestinian legislative election, which took place in January 2006, several months after the publication of the cartoons."

And furthermore, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran said Israel should be "wiped off the map".

I don't know much about politics (I try to stay away), but here are two things I had on my mind.

First of all, the cartoon wasn't aimed at ALL Muslim people - it was aimed at the selected handful of assholes, who use their religion as an excuse to show their real faces. I saw a couple of cartoons, and it became immediately obvious to me what they were about. The only reason such a large group of people can misunderstand it and start rioting is if they didn't spend more than 15 seconds trying to figure out what the author meant to say. I'm positive there are some nasty cartoons about Muslims, a lot of them probably, published or not, but the ones I've seen weren't that general.

Also, I've actually seen some anti-semitic and anti-christian cartoons published by islamic newspapers/websites, and I gotta say, they were far worse and much more general, obviously propagating hate towards the entire religions.

I have nothing specific against any or all religions. I was born Christian, but I like to occasionally laugh my ass off when hearing a joke or reading a cartoon ridiculing religious fanatics in the US government for example...

IMHO,

1) If you find something offensive, there must be some truth in what is being said.

2) Freedom of Speech & Expression is a cornerstone of almost all democracies, and Denmark being a democracy...

3) Get over it, we all get jokes targetted at us, be it racial, social or religious.

Bandit

P.S: I am of indian origin living in South Africa (3rd generation)

Actually, the cartoons can be and are deemed in Denmark, and many other countries, illegal, as blasphemy is a crime (where blasphemy is making fun of religion), altough the right to free speech cuts across that law. There's at least one case in Denmark that charges were dropped on a blasphemy case when it was thought the charges would violate free speech.
Of course, it's also very illegal in Islamic countries.

There's a timeline here (goes way back): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 688602.stm
The first news article about a cartoon on bbc website (in case you're interested): http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4361260.stm

And a good read: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 708216.stm

@ Rommaster,

1) Not true. For a simplified example, you're mother is a b!tch. Probably not true, but many will find it offensive.

2) Freedom of speech is a corner-stone, but why do you have to make fun of other people through publishing things that have nothing to do with free speech.

3) Yup.

Samppa wrote:Actually, the cartoons can be and are deemed in Denmark, and many other countries, illegal, as blasphemy is a crime (where blasphemy is making fun of religion), altough the right to free speech cuts across that law. There's at least one case in Denmark that charges were dropped on a blasphemy case when it was thought the charges would violate free speech.
Of course, it's also very illegal in Islamic countries.

Blashphemy laws are old, outdated, and in almost all cases no longer enforced. Freedom of Speech in democracies trumps blashphemy laws in any case. That's why we can enjoy such works of art such as Life of Brian, and other less useful pieces such as Piss Christ, which is a crucifix in a bucket of urine.

But that's not the entire crux of the issue. You see, Muslims are just as guilty, if not more so. Zogo made an excellent point. Histrically we've seen:

* On June 6, 2002, Akhbar al-Khalij from Bahrain published a cartoon showing a Jew piercing a baby with a spear.
* On July 24, 2002 Al Watan from Qatar published a cartoon of Sharon drinking from a cup of Palestinian children's blood.
* On December 17, 2001, Keyhan published a cartoon showing a Jew in front of a Holocaust scenery, killing Arabs.
* Almost all Israeli prime ministers in the last 15 years (Shamir, Peres, Rabin, Barak, Sharon) have been depicted as Nazis. Jews are regularly depicted as spiders, octopuses, scorpions, snakes, thieves or other menacing-looking persons with exaggerated "Jewish" characteristics.
* Jewish religious symbols, notably the Star of David are displayed in derogatory fashion, such as e.g. being composed of a menacing snake.
* On May 17, 2001 the Palestinian Al Quds published a cartoon depicting Sharon eating Palestinian children.

Protests over cartoon images of the prophet Mohammed have spilled onto
cyberspace with a series of attacks against Danish and other western
websites. Islamist ire over the publication of the "satiric pictures"
portraying the prophet Mohammed, first published in Denish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten, has resulted in 1,000 attacks against web servers,
according [1] to defacement archive Zone-H. Danish sites have copped
the majority of attacks, but the barrage of assaults has also hit
Israeli and other western web servers.

Hacker groups from different Muslim nations have united in attacks
that promote both moderate and extremist manifestos. Some defacements
promote a boycott against Danish products, while others (such as those
by the self-styled IIB - Internet Islamic Brigades) threaten suicide
bombing attacks on Denmark.

The number of politically motivated attacks against Danish servers
gives a small measure of the strength of feeling over the issue.
Violence during demonstrations over the issue has claimed 10 lives in
Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world. �

source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/09 ... _protests/

Sammpa, i believe you were replying to me and not Rommaster

The cartoons are aimed at serious social satire, not just with the SOLE aim of making fun of islam. They make serious comments about serious issues in a way that we find amusing. No one is supporting blashphemy (though i personally think that the whole idea of blasphemy is a joke), but just the right for people to express themselves as they so wish.

By the way, something can only be offensive if you choose to take offense. I believe (incorrectly or not) that it is somewhat easier to take offence to something which is true, than something which is not.

Eg: "your mother is a whore" is infinately more insulting if your mother is actually a sex worker.

As always, my opinion

Bandit

heh, sorry about that Rom. Yes, I meant banditz.

Good point nighthawk, but 'two wrongs don't make a right' etc., för exempel if someone raped three people, would you be in a position to rape that person? I'm not using the killing example as I don't know your stance on the death penalty.


The thing about the situation is the difference in cultures is huge. We see crazy muslims, they see the oppressing west. You cannot blame them for reacting like they did, as you would have done the same had you been in their place, with their upbringing and culture.

Samppa wrote:The thing about the situation is the difference in cultures is huge. We see crazy Muslims, they see the oppressing west. You cannot blame them for reacting like they did, as you would have done the same had you been in their place, with their upbringing and culture.

I can and will blame these so called 'crazy Muslims' because they fail to differentiate between a privately owned newspaper, and the entire Danish Government.

That's like saying you're going to boycott America when some hick down in Alabama makes an unflattering remark. It's preposterous and has nothing to do with the real issue.

Boycott the paper, not the government.