Front Page

Feb 4, 2006

EDITORIAL NOTE
A kick in the eyeballs

Asia Times Online will not be republishing the now notorious Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, unlike the various European publications that have chosen to do so as a demonstration of freedom of expression.

We agree with Ehsan Ahrari's statement in today's article that freedom of expression does not mean open season on Islam or any other religion. We believe that matters of religious belief are personal, and should stay that way. As many of our "Letters to

the Editor" writers have discovered, disparaging remarks about religions get the "..." treatment.

This means, too, that not only should insults be avoided, but also attempts to impose one's beliefs - religious or otherwise - on others. Whether it's the forcible imposition of "democracy" by one country on another, or demands that foreign media abide by the tenets of one's religion, we believe that nations and individuals alike should mind their own business.

But we do not believe that the fundamental issues behind the cartoon furor have much to do with either blasphemy or freedom of expression.

If blasphemy were the problem, the loud voices raised in protest have very successfully disseminated the blasphemy - much more effectively than the misguided Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, that originally published the cartoons. The protests have turned the issue into a full-blown news story, and millions of people who would not otherwise have done so have now seen the cartoons.

At the same time of course, the protesters' flag-burnings and threats against the various publishers of the cartoons do nothing but harden anti-Muslim attitudes in the West. And this is what it's all about. Poke each other often enough with a stick - or a cartoon, or a fuel-laden airliner - and tolerance wears thin. Forget the "winning hearts and minds" drivel, or at least collapse in hysterical laughter over it. Civilizational war is what the protagonists want, and that's what they're getting.

(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing .)

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