The recent republication of a series of political cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad has been greeted by an international, intercultural and interfaith firestorm.
Originally commissioned in September 2005 for the independent Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the cartoons have become emblematic of the negative stereotypes propagated and fueled by the U.S.-led War on (Islamic) Terror.
Negative stereotypes abound: Mohammad with a bomb wrapped in his turban; Mohammad standing menacingly before two veiled women with a crescent shaped sword in his hands; Mohammad telling a long line of what appear to be terrorists that heaven has run out of virgins. In yet another cartoon it is written, "Prophet!/daft and dumb/keeping woman/under thumb."
Now, these cartoons may have been intended to express the artists' indignation over terrorist acts committed in the name of The Prophet. But the cartoons' vitriolic messages pushes the tenuous excuse of political expression.
Freedom of expression includes a certain responsibility.
If Danish cartoonists and editors are free to print their opinions and political cartoons, then Muslims should absolutely be free to express offense at the material. However, while the former assumed "the pen is mightier" route, many radical members of the latter have taken to the sword.
Although Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been issuing public apologies for the cartoons, hordes of outraged Muslims in European and Middle Eastern cities have continued to express their outrage in the most brutal of ways:
Flags have been desecrated, Rasmussen has been burned in effigy, embassies in Beirut, Lebanon, Damascus and Syria have fallen in flames, and protesters in London are threatening a Sept. 11 of their own. At one rally, Londoner protesters carried signs that said "Europe take some lessons from 9/11" and "Slay those who insult Islam."
By all reasonable standards, this very vocal and volatile minority of Islamic protesters is doing precious little to change the cartoons' negative portrayal of Muslims. People who respond to the caricatures with such aggression and violence only reaffirm the stereotypes portrayed in these political cartoons and in U.S. warmongering rhetoric.
Frankly, I feel badly for moderates on both sides of the debate. Muslim clerics and political leaders who have tried to advocate a moderate voice and agenda are being met with only violence as a reward.
In an effort to avoid further aggravation, some news sources have refused to print or broadcast the cartoons in question.
CNN issued the following rationale: "CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of the Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself."
USA TODAY similarly disclosed that it is seeking to avoid "symbolism likely to be perceived as gratuitously offensive to readers' religious beliefs."
While I am in part disappointed in that these images will remain inaccessible to much of the American public, I'm also thankful that many American news editors have astutely discerned the volatility of the situation and accordingly opted to promote vibrant debate without creating a vehicle for violence.
I wholeheartedly believe that a free press should be provocative without being intentionally incendiary. But I do, howsoever reluctantly, support the decision of news sources to not reprint the cartoons in question.
What I simply cannot condone, however, is the decision of a prominent Iranian newspaper to hold a cartoon competition to test whether the West will similarly defend freedom of expression if the subject is the Holocaust and Nazi genocide against the Jews.
The controversial Prophet cartoons have already claimed far more lives than they should have, and I can only imagine that the ensuing Holocaust and Nazi genocide cartoons will further kindle, rather than abet, this global inter-creed cruelty.
Regardless of how well the West tests in this newspaper's social experiment, the publication of anti-Semitic hatemongering cartoons will only incite further bloodshed.
Although the stakes are high, this is no time for national political figureheads to start issuing apologies on behalf of cartoonists or independent newspapers. This is no time for retaliatory, punitive action. And this is certainly no time for an Iranian newspaper to host a potentially explosive social experiment.
This is, rather, a time to reassert the concepts of freedom, tolerance and responsibility. To foster mutual understanding and forgiveness. And to ask for peace, despite all of our differences.
Optimistically assuming, of course, that peace is even possible.
Boston Cote is a Trinity senior. Her column runs every Friday.
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