Letters to the Editor
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offensive cartoons?
Really, it's about time for Salon to publish these cartoons. I've seen them in the foreign press websites and they're really not that bad. A few of them are very positive looking, several more make valid criticisms of Islam and only a couple seem over the top.
It's time for the Muslim world to stop whining and acept a little criticism. A couple of the cartoons were in regard to many Muslim states' treatment of women. fair enough. I mean, if Salon can criticise Wedding Crashers misogyny, I think Saudi Arabia should be on the list.
If we really want to avoid a clash of civilisations, it's about time the other side dropped the outrage (where, by the way, is the outrage over the suicide bombs in Iraq) and grew up a little.
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Clash all too real
What could better demonstrate that there really is something to the "Clash of Civilizations" than this article? To a secular Westerner, those cartoons are pedestrian in the extreme. The edgiest of them suggest there might be a link between Islam - personified by the Prophet himself - and suicide bombings. I won't offer an opinion either way, but given what we see on our news screens, it's a valid issue to be raising. That's so obvious it's almost boring.
To a Muslim, thought, these cartoons are virulent hate speech. It shows up the West as decadent and hypocritical. The article describes the ho-hum images as "ugly", "repugnant", "ignorant", "offensive", "barefaced hate-mongering", "racist", etc - the most extreme of terms.
This disconnect implies one of two things: Either, there are already simmering tensions between the Muslim world and the West that mean the ugliest motives are ascribed to these images; or, the Western view of what is legitimate commentary in the world of ideas is just completely alien to the Muslim view. In the first case, the "clash" is already well underway, in the second, it's clearly just beginning.
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Ever heard of Monty Python?
The worst thing about the Mohammed cartoons is that they aren't particularly clever or funny. Every religion deserves some great satire; it looks like Islam is still waiting for its chance.
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Perception vs. Reality- or What You Refuse To Learn About Could Kill you
So many Salon writers and readers fail to understand a fundamental truth- many people are willing to die and kill because of their faith. MOST of those people are Muslim. This fact is not altered in any way by the generalization perpetrated by ignorance. When you say "oh, we all pray to the same God" or "really, all religion is bunk" or "I'm sure, deep down, that Muslims and Christians and Jews can all get along." These sentiments and statements are based on a deep ignorance of history, of faith, and of scripture.
I challenge you with this- BEFORE deciding to laugh at people like me who believe correctly that religion matters, that faith drives people, and that ALL religions are UNLIKE one another- do some research. READ the Koran, the Torah and the Bible. These are the books that have recorded and propelled much of the history and the the future events of the world, so it might help you in ways you don't understand.
Certainly when you are informed you won't, as the author of this article, sound so stupid.
Most people do not sing kum-bay-ya and gather around the tree to give homage to Earth Momma or the great spirit of the Greatful Dead. Most people in the world have specific creeds they live by and Gods they pray to that specificly state that anyone like you should be killed right away. These people include Muslims.
In non-Muslim nations, people are generally free to be as ignorant as you about everything. In Muslim nations, you bow down or die by the sword.
The public relations tag-line for Islam is "the religion of peace." The centuries old tagline that is much more appropriate is "the religion of the sword."
Your KIDS are going to suffer from your ignorance and unwillingness to get involved in the current jugernaut of the Holy war that we are engaged in.
You laughing away that idea does not protect your children. It endangeres them, for those burning flags and killing people because of a silly cartoon won't "play nice" just because you think they should.
Again, before sending any foolishness into the ether about this, get educated, then get involved.
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The problem in Islam
is that they don't even see what has happened to themselves. The point of not creating an image of Mohammed was so that the Muslim population would not idolize him. It is clear from the reactions to the cartoons that this has failed. The reaction has been so strong because Mohammed has indeed become idolized. Unless they can reverse this they will always be on a hair trigger, and it has nothing to do with the West.
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I can't believe I'm writing about cartoons!!!
When a system of belief claims to be absolutely true and does not allow rational criticism and debate it should automatically be discarded as dangerous. This should thus happen to all major superstitious belief systems, i.e., religions, if they are so constructed.
It so happens that a very vocal minority of the "Muslim world", along with many necessarily less vocal fundamentalist Christians, orthodox Jews, etc. do not accept this basic premise of enlightened reasoning. Too bad. The author of this piece finds "the cartoons" in question "ignorant and offensive". Tough. Life can be so hard! In reality the cartoons are a mixed bunch: Some are pretty funny, others mediocre, some in bad taste, and one even pokes fun at the publishing Danish newspaper itself.
It you don’t want to be offended by cartoons, simply skip the funny pages in the future, but please don’t tell me what I can and can not read!
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Clash or simply friction?
It would be foolhardy to think that there isn't some friction between, in general, the Middle East and the West (I hate making these generalizations but, at some point, generalization must happen if we are to be able to say anything). However, to imply that what we are seeing now is a clash between two monolithic, homogenous, and opposed civilizations would be equally foolhardy.
The situation is much more complicated, as the author rightly demonstrated. Yet, to see that would require a nuanced, deep approach to understanding the situation, something that doesn't jive with the sound-bite laden, all-or-nothing attitude in the popular press. The American population in general is woefully uninformed about actual life in the Middle East, as are many people in the Middle East with respect to the U.S. The first step in reconciling our differences is not to point fingers and launch into attacking the other side, but to give each culture a fair inspection, and to learn about it. I myself am planning on travelling to Syria and Egypt over the summer, so that I can experience the region for myself, rather than learn about it from some uninformed anchor man reiterating the agenda of his producers.
Education, or lack thereof, will be the driving force in the next century, even more than in previous ones.