The real argument on this issue is being missed by nearly everyone.
There are more than two sides but I will attempt to clarify a bit.
1) The radicals, who have their own (various) reasons for hating the West, are exploiting the cartoon event beyond its actual pertinence to Muslims.
2) The only authentic issue for Muslims is the visual portrayal of Mohammad. In the movies produced by Muslims about about the life of Mohammad you never see Mohammad. In scenes where he is present, he is portrayed as being not in view because he is somewhere behind the camera. The reason for this is that Muslims do not want pictures or statues that would encourage idol worship.
3) The Media is arguing that Islam is two faced, by demanding that no negatives be portrayed about Muslims in the media without a violent uprising by Muslims; while, Muslims regularly publish ugly portrayals about Westerners especially Jews. The media's argument is wrong. There are tons of negatives about Islam every day in the media. Books, magazines, websites, television, speeches, etc. There is nothing wrong with objecting to unfair portrayals and everyone does that.
4) This issue of publishing images of Mohammad is a separate issue, whether they are positive or negative.
Personally I don't see the problem. The images are not meant to be accurate representations. They are not meant to be kept and admired by worshippers. So there is no risk of them being used for idol worship. Objecting to them as being unfair representations of Mohammad or the religion would of course be reasonable but that is not what is happening.
The radical Muslims are exploiting the event, and they are successfully rallying moderates. However, westerners are also mis-interpreting the mainstream position of Muslims as being a general objection to freedom of speech, with regards to criticism of the religion...which only exacerbates the anxiety of everyone.
Hopefully we will get to a calmer more rational discourse in a few days,... or world wide armaggedon is always a stupid option that is available. I'm less confident that calm rational minds will prevail than I once was, but that is still what I hope for. |
