An Exercise in Self-Censorship
You have to love a good storm in a tea cup.
France Soir has re-published the drawings of the Prophet Muhammad that caused a bit of a brouhaha among Muslims when they were printed in a Danish daily. The newspaper said: "religious dogma has no place in a secular society". Apparently Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet, which I can see does have several advantages. When the drawings originally appeared in a Danish newspaper (Sept. 30th), there were death threats and calls to boycott Danish products (what, no bacon?). The images were prompted by a desire to flout the very tradition mentioned above. The depictions include incendiary images such as Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.
Now, with the French "intelligentsia" picking up the baton of freedom of expression, the editor of the Danish paper has said the paper would not have done so had it known the drawings would lead to a boycott of Danish goods and threats against lives. According to a spokesman, the drawings (which were not just of the Prophet) were published partly as an exercise in freedom of speech and against self-censorship.
I suppose if you respond to death threats by cowering, that is not strictly self-censorship; however, can someone explain to me why the pictures were published in the first place, if the principle behind doing so are not worth standing up for? Is the West confused or what?
France Soir has re-published the drawings of the Prophet Muhammad that caused a bit of a brouhaha among Muslims when they were printed in a Danish daily. The newspaper said: "religious dogma has no place in a secular society". Apparently Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet, which I can see does have several advantages. When the drawings originally appeared in a Danish newspaper (Sept. 30th), there were death threats and calls to boycott Danish products (what, no bacon?). The images were prompted by a desire to flout the very tradition mentioned above. The depictions include incendiary images such as Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse.
Now, with the French "intelligentsia" picking up the baton of freedom of expression, the editor of the Danish paper has said the paper would not have done so had it known the drawings would lead to a boycott of Danish goods and threats against lives. According to a spokesman, the drawings (which were not just of the Prophet) were published partly as an exercise in freedom of speech and against self-censorship.
I suppose if you respond to death threats by cowering, that is not strictly self-censorship; however, can someone explain to me why the pictures were published in the first place, if the principle behind doing so are not worth standing up for? Is the West confused or what?
posted by Jambutty at 10:17 am
2 Comments:
Has there been any follow-up reaction to the sacking of the France Soir editor responsible for re-publishing these cartoons? Did his/her fellow employees rally around him, as one would expect, or accept it meekly?
I see the Jordanian editor has been fired, but no news on Arnaud Levy of France-Soir. Anyone know anything about that?
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