The Rants of Issachar

I'm posting the cartoons below to make a point. I didn't earlier because I wasn't sure about copyright. At this point, they're all over the internet, so I'm guessing the copyright isn't being enforced. If you don't want to see them, change your browser settings so images aren't loaded.


The controversy over the cartoons depicting Mohammed continues to smoulder. Bucking the trend in the Muslim world, the Jordanian tabloid Al Shihan published three of the twelve cartoons and an editorial that stated "Muslims of the world, be reasonable". It's publishing company responded by pulling all copies from the newsstands and fired Jihad Momani the tabloid's editor in chief. A spokesman for the Jordian government Nasser Jawdeh demanded "an immediate apology from the newspaper for this serious error" and said that the tabloid could face sanctions. (According to Jordan's Petra news agency).

Haroon Siddiqui writing in the Toronto Star implies that the publication of the photos was motivated by the European's press' "tendency to exploit anti-immigrant, particularly anti-Muslim, bigotry". She also implies that westerners would never publish cartoons that malign Christianity or Judaism.

First of all, that's not the point. No one's saying that Muslims have to publish the cartoons. We're saying that they have to defend other people's right to do so.

Second of all, Siddiqui is wrong. Westerners do publish cartoons mocking Christianity and Judaism. Check out the one implying that Jesus molested children. I'd say Ms. Siddiqui is obviously incorrect. I don't like that cartoon, but I'm not trying to shut up the person publishing it. (And if I did, my fellow westerners wouldn't listen to me).

It doesn't matter if "anti-Islamic provocateurs" are "baiting Muslims, repeatedly, knowing full well the depth of Muslim feelings about their most cherished beliefs" as Ms Siddiqui says. Accepting the right of "provocateurs" to provoke is part of being in the modern world.

As Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "We are talking about an issue with fundamental significance to how democracies work." Exactly right. Free speech is essential to a working democracy. Forbidding statements for being offensive to Islam and/or Muslims is not compatible with a real democracy and free nations.

Free nations do not include a special place for Islam. Muslims need to come to terms with.

Posted by:  Ugly Jesus

Given the uproar about the Muslim cartoons, I wanted to invite you to see "Ugly" Jesus... he's not "Pretty" or "GQ"... www.uglyjesus.com Does Jesus care how he was depicted, or even that he was depicted in art?

Sincerely,
Ray Charles Istre
www.uglyjesus.com