Muslims decry French Mohammad cartoons as new insult

[dkf]

(Reuters) - Muslim leaders criticised a French magazine's publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday as another Western insult to their faith and urged France's government to take firm action against it.

"We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonour the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs," the acting head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Essam Erian, said.

The cartoons were featured in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Its front cover showed an Orthodox Jew pushing a turbaned figure in a wheelchair and several caricatures of the Prophet were included on its inside pages, including some of him naked.

Their publication follows widespread outrage and violent anti-Western protests in many Muslim countries in Africa and Asia in the past week over an anti-Muslim film posted on the Internet.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/19/film-protests-france-reaction-idUSL5E8KJC4Q20120919

[Bragi]

1. What if everyone published these cartoons?

Good for Charlie Hebdo. Makes one wonder if it might be good to have a special cartoon day set aside where all the major newspapers in the world ran cartoons featuring Mohammed, thereby making it impossible for the Muslim anger wranglers to focs on just one or two outlets or countries.

Having said that, we must remain aware that the last person who made this suggestion satirically (American cartoonist Molly Norris) is still in hiding from fatwa-loving thugs, though few people are likely aware of her plight, given the scary level of media self-censorship over reporting her fate.

See https://www.google.ca/search?q=molly+norris&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US fficial&client=firefox-a

[snooper2]

2. Why don't they decry fundies stoning women, or burning down schools?

You would think they have something a little more important to do with their time. Especially a politician in Egypt, bitching about a cartoon in a magazine in France. Almost makes you think he has an ulterior motive eh?

[jsr]

3. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party

Freedom, eh?

[Philosoraptor]

4. Some people are just way too thin skinned

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. I remember when I first started dating my husband and he was still in the army.

They had a new guy that was really sensitive about being teased in a certain way. So he got teased that way -- A LOT! It was relentless and complaining only made it worse. One day the light went on or he became desensitized or whatever. As soon as it didn't bother him they stopped teasing him about it. He was much more a part of the group after that.

It one thing to say "This offends 1.5 billion Muslims" but that is silently acknowledging that 4.5 billion non-Muslims don't feel beholden to these edicts. The more the radicals complain the worse the teasing will get. I'm not endorsing insults to anyone's religion; not Muslim, Jew, Christian, Mormon, Buddhist or anyone else, I'm just saying this as an observer of the phenomenon. The quickest way to end the "insults" to Muhammed are to stop being insulted.

I would add that respecct is a two-way street. Respect is not "Shut-up or I'll hurt you or some random stranger!" That's just extortion and intimidation. Respect is acknowledging that the other party has things they value as well; religious piety AND free speech.