Not-So-Hidden Inconsistincies in the Danish Cartoons Story

I’ll be honest, initially I didn’t really care. I thought the Danish newspaper was being disrespectful, and at the same time I thought the Arab reaction was exaggerated. Then I read Eman’s post, and by seeing the issue through her eyes, I started feeling more sympathetic with the Arab point of view.

So now after observing and reading I thought I would share my two cents. Hopefully this post sheds some light onto the hot debate. I’m going to dive right into the contents without an introduction…

The Danes refuse to apologize saying that the cartoonist was just practicing his freedom of expression. To that I say, there are limits to freedom of expression, and there’s proof of these limitations coming from the people who invented freedom of expression. Let me explain.

In 2004 a photograph of American coffins on their way back from Iraq, published in the Seattle Times, caused the photographer to lose her job. Here are some more details..

“Last Sunday a newspaper in Seattle, Washington, published a rare photograph of soldiers' coffins, each of them containing the body of an American who had died in Iraq.
The coffins, each draped with the Stars and Stripes, had been loaded into the back of a cargo aircraft for a final journey to the US, where they would be buried. There were at least 18 of them in the picture, which was taken by a 50-year-old civilian contractor, Tami Silicio.
On Wednesday Ms Silicio was sacked from her job, for taking the photograph and sharing it with news organisations.” [Source]

The photograph was deemed “offending” by the Pentagon, a claim that was backed by Bush.

I’m no religious person, but I can easily tell that publishing offensive, stereotype filled, disrespectful cartoons of a prophet, is much more “offending” than publishing A Photo of dead American soldiers.

Where’s the consistency here?

The other thing about free speech is that it shouldn’t be offensive to any culture, religion, or peoples. Call it political correctness, call it respect, call it whatever you want. We all hold our tongues at points, and we do it out of respect. It’s a quality that humans have, we call it thoughtfulness. Here I again I ask for consistency. Let me explain again.

Late 2005, Iranian president boldly and stupidly denied the occurrence of the holocaust. Then, just after his denial, a worldwide uproar was heard telling him to apologize and take back his words. If you ask me, I think him denying the holocaust is equally dumb and appalling to publishing anti-religious cartoons. Both the cartoonist and the president are inconsiderate shallow pricks. But somehow, one statement is considered “anti-Semitic,” the other “freedom of expression.”

Where’s the consistency here?

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