These cartoons everyone is going on about are driving me mad. Firstly because they have resulted in wall-to-wall coverage in the UK media, street protests in London, and resulting waste of police resources, but also because without the Internet I would not have been able to see the cartoons with my own eyes.
There are a number of issues of great concern here. Given the lack of real information available, people are making uninformed judgements, and what's more are drawing influence from the public hysteria over terrorism and Islamophobia to produce even more ridiculous arguments.
Opinions range from those who think the cartoons are funny, to those who are so incensed as to march through London proclaiming ‘Freedom go to hell' and ‘Europe is the curse, Islam is the future'. I'm nearer the former camp, though I find the cartoons (now that I've actually seen them) intriging rather than amusing.
What I do find shocking is that I had to turn to an American website to see the cartoons, and that there are political leaders in Britain condemning their publication. The fear of being labelled anti-Islamist and being hounded out of office is actually driving our media and government into a frighteningly extremist viewpoint of its own. This is the same media that pursued Princess Diana to her death, takes great pride in prising cracks in the lives of the famous, and salivates over who's going to break down first in the annual “I'm a celebrity” extravaganza. Publish these cartoons, and let the public see what the fuss is about. Stop claiming moral high ground that does not exist.
As for the protestors, these are the only people in this whole business who have actually broken any laws (unless incitment to murder suddenly became legal when I wasn't watching), and no-one seems in a hurry to arrest them. I have no sympathy for them, and they should be punished for their crimes.
To any muslem person who has been offended by the cartoons, I would say that I can understand your strength of feeling. You believe devoutly in something, hold it sacred, and someone has lampooned it in front of a readership of millions. So don't buy the paper again. Boycott Danish products if you must. But don't attack the right to speak freely, even if what is said is repugnant to you. Because that is what tolerance is all about - not accepting other religions as right or correct or even valid, but accepting other people's right to say what they like about yours.
I link to these cartoons not because I approve of them, but because they are relevant to the debate. To stifle debate is to stifle democracy, and that is the worst crime of all.
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