Take this whole Prophet Mohammmad cartoon situation. A Danish newspaper showed some cartoons showing the Prophet as a terrorist. Naturally, Muslims are mad, so murderously so, for no images of the Prophet are allowed, not one. You know those pictures of Jesus, showing him until he looks like a divine God himself? That's why no images are allowed, for Prophet Mohammad is, for all his importance in human history and his achievements, just a man. Same for Jesus (Isa), Moses (Musa), Abraham (Isa) and so forth. No deifying humans allowed, just God Himself.
So fine, the Muslims complain, the Danish newspaper apologises. For me, the people behind the cartoons showed a total lack of judgement here. Maybe they're too used to lampooning Jesus? So what's making fun of another religious figurehead? But really, you can't blame them. "Forgive them, for they know not what they do" or something like that. So why boycott Danish products? One Danish newspaper does not speak for ALL of Denmark. Besides, their ice cream is way too good.
Now those other European newspapers, they knew EXACTLY what they were doing putting those cartoons on the front pages. All in the name of free speech, they say. Nothing to stop non-Muslims from making or publishing those images, they say. So much for respecting other religions, I say. They should understand that unlike most people in the West, Muslims are by their very nature conservative, some of them ultra-conservative. No way in hell will a Monty Python and the Life of Mohammad ever be made without some cinemas being torched. The editors of those newspapers, by stubbornly protecting their ideals of free press, are ignoring the fact they're being tactless and ignoring the beliefs of a sizable chunk of the world population by doing so. And I'm sure we all know the real reason why they're doing this.
Nothing like a controversial story like this to spike up readership numbers, eh?
Hmmm, I wonder how this post would do in the A Level General Paper exam...
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