Nuthin' Funny About These Cartoons

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims are taking to the streets in protest. What are they so mad about? How fanatics have usurped their great religion and unfairly demonized them to the West? That terrorists murder innocent civilians and children in Baghdad, Chechnya, Afghanistan and across the Middle East in the name of Allah? That their governments permit them almost no freedom of speech, freedom of the press or even the right to choose their own leaders?

No. The widespread protests, which have resulted in arson, murder and vandalism are over a cartoon that defames the prophet Muhammad. You probably haven’t seen the cartoon (you can see it here), and it’s quite obvious very few of the protesting Islamic radicals have seen it either. The cartoon is obviously in poor taste, but nothing compared with what President Bush and other political figures get on a daily basis in editorial cartoons and in print around the world.

Many of these protests are whipped up by authoritarian regimes in Iran, Syria and other Arabic despot states to detract their citizens from their own failures. But even with that in mind, the fanaticism and intolerance shown by these protests illustrates a troubling ethical and judgmental divide that the West should heed. Nobody protests an unarmed reporter being murdered or beheaded, or a group of Chechen rebels killing schoolchildren. But if a cartoon unbecoming to Muhammad is buried in a small paper in a small Western country? Look out!

You may remember a few years ago, an artist made a picture of the Virgin Mary partially composed of elephant dung. And the famous photographer Andres Serrano had a work of art called “Piss Christ” of a crucifix in a bottle of urine. It’s your call on whether these were part of the American freedom of expression or an offense to Christianity. There were protests and outcries, but nothing that approached what we’re seeing in the radical Muslim community. And other religions from Judaism to Buddhism have been the recipient of some truly heinous words and artwork through the centuries, yet did not respond with the violent and intolerant. In fact, many Muslim countries routinely run cartoons or editorials calling for the extermination of Jews and the destruction of Israel. Yet you don’t see Jews, Israelis or even Germans burning flags, destroying embassies or threatening Muslim lives in response.

Another thing is equally troubling; the self-censorship of many American and European media outlets in response to this virulent double standard. They are refusing to run these rather tame cartoons. A French paper even fired its editor after he chose to run them. If anything, every newspaper and television news source should show the cartoon to demonstrate its commitment to freedom of expression and refusal to kowtow to the demands of Muslim extremists, whose so-called “protests” are just a cover for their prejudice and justification for jihad.