Political Cartoons

I don't know if people in America have been following this much, but there's a huge uproar in the Muslim community over a few political cartoons printed in a Danish newspaper and then reprinted around European newspapers, one of them showing Muhammed holding a bomb. No British paper has printed the cartoons, but they did show them briefly on the BBC. It's a big deal because Muslims contend you're not supposed to show any depiction of the prophet, let alone in a manner that degrades him. It's turned into a huge debate of Free Speech over Decency.

It's a little scary, because in the Middle East some rioters have set fire to Danish and Norwegian embassies. Some of the signs the protestors were carrying said things like "Europe Remember 9/11" and other threatening messages. It's been more subdued in Britain, mainly because they didn't show the cartoons, and many of the leading British Muslims have condemned the violent protests.

From what I've heard, the cartoons weren't even that original or good and shouldn't have been printed based on that. The fact that they offend an entire religion makes them more sensational and able to grab attention. I'm all for freedom of speech, but we in the media also have a duty as "gatekeepers" to exercise restraint when it comes to offensive speech. In other words, I'm against stupidity in speech. The tensions go beyond the cartoons, but they sparked something on an unimaginable scale. I'm guessing the whole thing will die down soon, but there must be some way that Westerners can ease tensions with the Muslim community. It's not impossible: India, Malaysia and Indonesia all have large Muslim populations and are tolerant of other religions. Even Moorish Spain (before the Inquisition) was considered a very tolerant society that was led by Muslims. So it's possible.