I Should Be Allowed To Think
Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the song with the same title and knows which artist it's by... answers at the end of the post. Anyways, the issue that reminded me of this song: the reaction to the Danish cartoon of Mohammed... read the latest developments here.
It annoys me that people are willing to go around burning embassies just because they were criticized. However, what I think is even worse is how the media's allowed to criticize selectively, but people get up in arms over things like this. For example, far worse things are printed about George W. Bush every day... I have no problem with these (even though I heartily disagree with many of them), and I think that they serve a useful role of keeping people interested in politics and keeping tabs on the government. There are even TV shows (like Jon Stewart's Daily Show, for example, and many other less prominent ones) that basically use criticizing Bush as their whole programming list, and even raison d'etre. Again, they're providing a somewhat useful role. However, why is there nothing from the other side? Why can the right wing never say anything without getting raked over the coals? For example, Danish newspaper cartoon, which isn't even decidedly right-wing but somehow dares to manage to criticize the Left's favorite cultural/religous group (Palestinians) for electing Parliament whose platform is to commit genocide? I can understand why this is offensive to many Muslims, but it really isn't fair to allow free speech in only one direction. For example, there are plenty of people who go around saying that the Jews made up the Holocaust and should be wiped off the face of the Earth (the Iranian President is only the most prominent example)... I don't see anyone even peacefully protesting outside the Iranian embassy. This cartoon is not making up facts: rather, it's exaggerating for effect to show the reality of Muslim extremism. I have no problem with Islam in general, and I don't think the cartoonist does either: like every religion, it has those who abuse it in the name of God, and do not reflect on the whole. However, it seems to me that as many shots as possible can be taken at Israel, the U.S., Jews and Christians, and right-wing politicians, but everyone else is somehow protected from free speech. Even just in ordinary conversation, Bush jokes fly a mile a minute (and now people are making Harper ones too), yet no one is allowed to even indicate that they might support some ideas of the right wing without being looked at strangely or even shunned. It's almost Orwellian: all ideologies are equal, but some are more equal than others...
The song is "I Should Be Allowed To Think" by They Might Be Giants: amazing band, and I highly recommend them.
Edit: For evidence of my point about reverse discrimination, check out this interesting page by a Middle East analyst, Tom Gross, where he has collected a grouping of cartoons from Arab nations and newspapers often labeled as moderate and allied to the West. Every one of these cartoons goes at least as far as the Danish ones, but in the opposite direction, and many are more offensive (to my mind, anyways): these "liberal and moderate" papers are publishing cartoons referring to Israel as the Nazis and the Palestinian camps as Auschwitz, and even one that implies Israel orchestrated the attacks of September 11, 2001. I haven't seen any embassy firebombings or threats against the citizens of these nations as a result. Again, I fully support freedom of speech, and I say that these countries and papers can print what they like: they just then shouldn't be outraged when others are allowed to do the same (and even on a smaller scale).
It annoys me that people are willing to go around burning embassies just because they were criticized. However, what I think is even worse is how the media's allowed to criticize selectively, but people get up in arms over things like this. For example, far worse things are printed about George W. Bush every day... I have no problem with these (even though I heartily disagree with many of them), and I think that they serve a useful role of keeping people interested in politics and keeping tabs on the government. There are even TV shows (like Jon Stewart's Daily Show, for example, and many other less prominent ones) that basically use criticizing Bush as their whole programming list, and even raison d'etre. Again, they're providing a somewhat useful role. However, why is there nothing from the other side? Why can the right wing never say anything without getting raked over the coals? For example, Danish newspaper cartoon, which isn't even decidedly right-wing but somehow dares to manage to criticize the Left's favorite cultural/religous group (Palestinians) for electing Parliament whose platform is to commit genocide? I can understand why this is offensive to many Muslims, but it really isn't fair to allow free speech in only one direction. For example, there are plenty of people who go around saying that the Jews made up the Holocaust and should be wiped off the face of the Earth (the Iranian President is only the most prominent example)... I don't see anyone even peacefully protesting outside the Iranian embassy. This cartoon is not making up facts: rather, it's exaggerating for effect to show the reality of Muslim extremism. I have no problem with Islam in general, and I don't think the cartoonist does either: like every religion, it has those who abuse it in the name of God, and do not reflect on the whole. However, it seems to me that as many shots as possible can be taken at Israel, the U.S., Jews and Christians, and right-wing politicians, but everyone else is somehow protected from free speech. Even just in ordinary conversation, Bush jokes fly a mile a minute (and now people are making Harper ones too), yet no one is allowed to even indicate that they might support some ideas of the right wing without being looked at strangely or even shunned. It's almost Orwellian: all ideologies are equal, but some are more equal than others...
The song is "I Should Be Allowed To Think" by They Might Be Giants: amazing band, and I highly recommend them.
Edit: For evidence of my point about reverse discrimination, check out this interesting page by a Middle East analyst, Tom Gross, where he has collected a grouping of cartoons from Arab nations and newspapers often labeled as moderate and allied to the West. Every one of these cartoons goes at least as far as the Danish ones, but in the opposite direction, and many are more offensive (to my mind, anyways): these "liberal and moderate" papers are publishing cartoons referring to Israel as the Nazis and the Palestinian camps as Auschwitz, and even one that implies Israel orchestrated the attacks of September 11, 2001. I haven't seen any embassy firebombings or threats against the citizens of these nations as a result. Again, I fully support freedom of speech, and I say that these countries and papers can print what they like: they just then shouldn't be outraged when others are allowed to do the same (and even on a smaller scale).
posted by Andrew Bucholtz at 11:58 p.m.
6 Comments:
But I think when you know that making images of another religions god goes against the core of who they are, what does it mean as brothers in Christ to be sensitive to that? I haven't thought of it as a freedom of speech thing; but why do something you KNOW will draw a reaction. It's like draw the cartoon to just give extremists a reason to do what they do. I just look at it as political taunting, and I wonder what our responsibility is to NOT get involved with that. Maybe if you found a non-extremist Islamic person who condemned the drawings, maybe it would help you understand their perspective better. I think you are wrong to assume it is only extremists who are very, very upset by this.
Again, it comes back to freedom of speech for me... there are incredibly offensive things posted about things I agree with all the time, and if people have the right to say these, why do they not have the right to speak out against how Islam is used to justify terrorism? Besides, the cartoons I linked are far worse, especially the one that says the Jews conducted 9/11. That is flagrantly in violation of the facts: the Danish cartoons are an opinion on the fact that suicide bombers use Islam to justify their actions. Furthermore, these cartoons were not published by a Danish state media company (according to the information I've found, at least), yet Muslim nations are treating them as if that is national policy. The other cartoons I linked are mostly from government-censored or supported papers, yet Western countries do not treat them as foreign policy. Besides, I wasn't assuming it's only extremists upset by this: I would expect most Muslims to be upset by these cartoons, and hopefully most of them are also upset with the violence committed in response. However, free speech results in upsetting people. Every other group in the world (especially the Jews) is constantly slandered, mocked, and defamed: all these cartoons have done is add Islam to the club.
Boosh, dear boosh, it's plain that you're trapped in a very liberal college, so I can understand why you think no one can voice their conservative opinions. The truth is, if anything, the opposite is true. North America is experiencing a conservative movement. Listen to talk radio, watch Fox news, visit Texas. They'll make The Daily Show and the Colbert Report seem very bipartisan by comparison. The very mention of the 'Left's favorite people group' as Palestinian-Arabs cracks me up. Trust me, outside of your campus, very few people support the Palestinians (can you guess where I’m at?) even among left-wingers. Do you have any idea how much Isreali propaganda we receive in the west? I understand it's less so in Canada, but Israel has a specific budget (something like $5 million if my memory can be trusted) for the sole purpose of having their side presented in American media. I don't remember all the details, but I can ask my sister if you'd like; she's studying this in some sort of global politics course.
I do understand what you’re saying though; I remember reading something by Alexis de Tocqueville about a lack of true independence of mind and freedom of discussion in the West. His point is that, though you won’t be purged or sent off to the gulag archipelago, if you divert from the majority you will be socially shunned and called out and figuratively hung and yadda yadda. Sorta goes with his ideas about the tyranny of the majority. So, at your campus, you’re the minority and you feel you don’t have much freedom to express your right wing ideas. The reality is, in North America, you’re currently part of the majority my friend.
Now, let’s role play for a second here. Let’s pretend that you’re not born into a country with your cute little liberal democracy and all these (beautiful) ideals of liberty, justice, and equality. Instead, let’s say you were born into some Islamic country with a sort of theocratic authoritarian government. The Middle East is filled with ‘em. Your freedom of expression, if any, is very limited. Pretty much any critique of your state or your religion is off limits. Sucks right? Well not really, because you’ve brain washed and fed with propaganda to love your leader and, of course, your religion. Now, you get to see these cartoons produced by the west insensitively mock the founder of your religion while also committing some heinous crime against your belief system. (The WASP equivalent? Best I can think of: cartoons of Jesus running around breaking the 10 commandments, killing Jews, burning black people – but even that isn’t quite the same methinks). In reality, it’s an attack against your religion, which is, like, your life. I’d probably be a little pissed as well, but it’s hard to really to full comprehend and push out all the beautiful American ideals that I’ve been saturated in my entire life.
Anyways, you seem to be missing the reason why these cartoons are so offensive. It's not that their religion is being critiqued or slandered; it's the simple fact that these cartoons contain pictures of Mohammed - which is expressly against their religion. Muslims believe strongly that no image of Mohammed should ever be constructed; especially in such a mocking and cartoonish form. I don't think we, with our religion fueled with American ideals of freedom and what not, can fully comprehend what a religious violation would mean to this religion. There is nothing comparable in our religion or our cultural. So really, this is an issue of freedom of speech vs religious and cultural tolerance.
This cartoon is just another log thrown on the blazing fire started by Western foreign policy. Instead of being tolerant and charitable, the West has always found a way to jump in (usually somewhere with oil) and force our own ideals down the throats of whoever we felt needed them. And that’s barely touching the surface of the whole Israel – Palestinian Arab conflict – which is for another time.
"Every one of these cartoons goes at least as far as the Danish ones, but in the opposite direction, and many are more offensive (to my mind, anyways)"
Not even close. Nothing in there breaks the laws of my religion. They are all political cartoons, not an attack on any religion.
So I looked at that website, and aside from the ridiculous 9/11 one, the only thing I found anywhere close to offensive was the stereotypical image of what Jews looks like.
I even found myself agreeing with most of them.
Ah right, so you "agree" with Ariel Sharon being depicted holding a swastika, or a swastika made out of Israeli fighter jets? Of course: those aren't offensive at all... they aren't even attacks on a religion, but on a ethnic group of people just for existing. If similar things were published about any other group, people would be up in arms... goes to show how "selective" the tolerance in our society is.
Well Dave, you're certainly entitled to your opinions on what is relatively more or less offensive: for myself, I certainly find a cartoon that suggests that Mohammed encouraged violent martyrdom to kill infidels (which is the interpretation of his words in the Koran that suicide bombers use to justify their actions) closer to the truth than an a cartoon that gives Ariel Sharon a bloody swastika-shaped axe... you don't find it offensive at all to link an ethnic group to the regime that brutally slaughtered 6 million of their group? People just don't take notice of this because the Israelis are civilized enough not to go around launching mob riots over it... Oh, and by the way, if the Palestians only wanted their own land, don't you think they'd go along with the plan to create a separate Palestinian state? Ever since the modern state of Israel was created, the Arab world has been trying to wipe it off the face of the earth. Fortunately, some of the Arab states have mellowed out lately, but others certainly haven't... read the comments of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, who agrees that Israel should be "wiped off the map", and called it "a disgraceful stain in the Islamic world" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Ahmadinejad.
Also, Hamas, recently elected into Palestinian government, still has in its charter to destroy the state of Israel (plus any secular Arab government, just for the heck of it)... they're certainly "tolerant and charitable", so we should be too...(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas).
Furthermore, to go back to your point about publishing images of Mohammed being against Islamic law: since when is a press that doesn't subscribe to religous law supposed to follow it? Look at any cartoon in the world, and I'm pretty sure you can find some religion whose laws are violated by it. The separation of church and state, not to mention a free press, means that religious law doesn't apply in the secular arena. It doesn't apply for any other religion: people haven't(and shouldn't) stopped using God's name in cartoons in ways that Jews and/or Christians would consider deeply blasphemous, and thus against their relgious laws. You can't expect people who don't follow a religion to obey its laws.
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