Who's more embarrassing?

I'm not sure who to be more embarrassed by. The paper that publishes an offensive cartoon of a major religion's prophet or the masses of that religion burning and calling for the execution of the offenders.

As some of you may be aware, 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten back in September and reprinted in European media this past week. I am shocked at the Western world for repeating such a bigoted expression in public papers. When Europe is dealing with the frustration of Muslims at the hands of those who seem not to respect or tolerate them, why pour fuel on the fire? No religion or point of view should ever be ridiculed. One may differ in opinion, but there is a well demarcated line between disagreement and insult.

That said, the response to such an offense is not destruction and violence. Protest, yes. Burning embassies, not quite. Groups like Hamas and their leader, Mahmoud Zahar, have called for the cartoonists to be punished by death. "We should have killed all those who offend the Prophet and instead here we are, protesting peacefully." he said. While it is true that Islamic law forbids any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and that death may be the response to insulting his name, the followers of Islam, while a not so silent majority, have to realize that not all of the world adheres to their laws. It is hard to practice tolerance in the face of massive intolerance (actions of the French government, the Iraq war, etc.), but abstaining from mass violence will go a long way towards having your protest succeed.

(Just for the record... the British protestors in the picture below (the ones with those orange signs) got it right and their slogans go to the very heart of the matter. "WE DO NOT FEAR DEBATE OR CRITICISM, BUT NO ONE LIKES ABUSE." Well done!)


Is an apology warranted? Absolutely. Should the cartoonists be fired from the paper? Yes and for an utter lack of responsibility at the very least. Should the governments of the countries who reprinted the cartoon apologize? Well...

Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is right. You can't apologize for the results of free press. Dissenting opinions, even ones of reckless hate, are a risk of such a system. Yet in free societies, as well as life, you must take the good with the bad. The goal, however, is to continually strive for the good. It is here that I find myself embarrassed by both sides. If either the editors of the European papers or the protestors valued the good in life, they wouldn't have given in to the bad so easily. The cartoons would not have been printed and reprinted. The embassies would not have been burned. Are we regressing to the days of Holy Wars? Have we forgotten that, at heart, we all seek the same level of harmony? Yes, there are agitators... extremists, if you will... on each side. Some more extreme than others. This doesn't excuse reckless acts of inhumanity.

For an overview of the tumult click HERE