Lizbeth Marcs ([identity profile] liz-marcs.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] liz_marcs 2006-02-06 04:53 pm (UTC)

That is exactly what Juan Cole was pointing out.

That vast majority of Muslim countries are utterly indifferent to the caricatures.

A lot of the controversy has to do with matters other than religion, i.e., politics or protests against European and American imperialist policy in the region.

Personally, yeah, I've seen some of the caricatures (I actually found a link to them here) and really, the ones I "get" are stupid and racist. People have every right to be upset.

On the other hand, I there is a free speech issue and the Danish government is right. There is nothing they can do to stop publication.

The only thing that I can't seem to discover is whether the cartoons originated in a right-wing Danish newspaper that had shown racism in the past. The source of the cartoons is a little muddled to me, but then again, I've been sick so I'm not sure on the deal.

Although I do question why there were smattering of papers in Europe that gleefully picked up all 12 cartoons and re-ran them, especially given the ethnic tensions that are slowly building in a lot of EU countries as a result of racism.

Me thinks there's something just a leeeeeetle bit more than "protesting religious persecution" and "protecting freedom of speech" on both sides of this little argument.

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