Where does the line between tolerance and censorship begin?
So there’s this Danish dairy company that has worked for years to make an inroads into the middle east/muslim market. Since the whole hubub about that danish cartoon, they have lost their entire marketshare in those countries. They’re losing $200,000,000 a day. Really sucks for them that a single cartoonist chose to piss off the Sunni muslim population of the world.
Really, that’s what he did, whether or not he intended to is questionable. On the one hand, the cartoons were obviously derogatory, on the other they were also obviously satire and political commentary. Unfortunately for this guy, it’s against the Sunni religion. I say Sunni religion because Shiites have no problem with depictions of their prophet, though they may take offense personally, there’s no fatwa against it.
The end result here is Denmark–actually most of europe–is an uproar. One side has been described as “Islamic Xenophobia,” angry at the violence, boycotts, and protests over what is simply a cartoon. The other side is demanding “tolerance” in the form of censorship of these cartoons.
Now I can fully understand that some people/groups/religions have things that are no-noes. Some prohibitions make sense outside of the religion, and some don’t. This really doesn’t. If you’re not a Muslim, then Mohammed was just some guy over there, an important historical figure without a doubt–but no one to be revered. Obviously a muslim can’t force his views on you, you won’t change your mind and suddenly revere the man–thus shunning depictions of him, but also obviously they can show their disgust by boycotting you and your products. That may not be the most enlightened situation, but it’s their right to do so. You can’t force your products or views on them any more than they can force their beliefs on you. So where does that leave us?
Impasse. You’d think it would be simple for the more culturally flexible (read: apathetic) organizations to bend to the Islamic will in this case, but it’s gone beyond that already. Regretably Imams the world over are pushing boycotts… of the entire country! There is no out for Denmark, the entire country will suffer because of one cartoonist, a few newspapers, and a whole lot of childish muslims.
That’s right, I just stereotyped a religion as being childish. I will qualify that of course it’s not all of Islam, just a large portion of Sunnis, but there’s really no avoiding this conclusion. They are expecting us (being non sunnis) to bend to their beliefs, when they themselves will not accept ours.
But what’s new?
5 Comments
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Comment by Noel Rose Crave (^_^) — February 10, 2006 @ 1:25 pm
Be careful, Alex or the muslims will boycott you! You’ll feel the sting of all their hate as they all conscentrate on you all at once. You may just burst into flames! (O_O)
Seriously though, this is one of the main reasons why I could never get into politics. I mean all the issues seemed so simple and the solutions often seemed so obvious, yet disputes lasted years and bred hatred and fear of “them” and solutions were always “just out of reach.” That and I can hardly understand a damn thing they’re saying. I had to have Matt explain to me what a filabuster was. (>_
Comment by Alex — February 10, 2006 @ 1:28 pm
I’m more concerned about an explosive than a boycott, but I don’t think I’m an obvious enough infidel to warrant that sort of behavior.
Comment by Alistair — February 10, 2006 @ 11:05 pm
Nice post on this topic. I’ve given my thoughts and responded here …
Promote Censorship and be Labeled Tolerant; Criticize Violence and Promote Free Speech and your a Racist, Xenophobic, Bigot.
Comment by Alex — April 6, 2006 @ 7:36 pm
Wow.. what the hell is that?
Comment by Anonymous — April 15, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
i need to contact noel rose crave
jonnestover@hotmail.com