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Friday, February 24, 2006 12:00 AM

Them damn pictures

By caving in to fanatics over the Danish cartoons, the West has shown that it is not only gutless but brainless.

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  • Thursday, February 23, 2006 11:28 PM

    Cartoons and Context

    Doug Marlette forgets there is a context to the printing of cartoons. That's why they work. In the case of Jyllands-Posten's publishing of the images of Mohammed, the context is that the paper is a right-wing publication supporting a government that depends upon the support of the anti-immigration People's Party. Accordingly, the Danish government made a very serious (and economically devastating) decision not to address the offense that the cartoons created to local Muslims by meeting with them and conveying a few words of reconciliation which would have resulted in the whole dispute blowing over. And of course we know the context in which the Arab governments reacted to the cartoons - one in which allowed them to use the situation to be seen as coming to the defense of Islam - when militarily and economically there are unable or unwilling to do much of substance.

    I think most newspaper in "the West" recognize the games that are being played, and simply don't want to participate in them. Freedom of the press is not being threatened. In fact, as the publication of Doug Marlette's own cartoons show, one can print whatever one wishes, especially in Tulsa, which I presume is a town that treats all its citizens fairly, including the few Muslims there. What one cannot do - in Denmark or elsewhere - is continue without reaction a hostile attitude and action against a group of people who have real grievances - e.g., after being allowed into Denmark Muslims continue to be seriously discriminated against. The New York Times reports that "for 20 years, Muslims have been denied a permit to build mosques in Copenhagen. And there are no Muslim cemeteries in Denmark, so the bodies of Muslims have to be flown back to their home countries for proper burial."

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