In an attempt to become a living caricature, an Iranian paper has countered Denmark’s publication of cartoons that caricature the prophet Muhammad by calling for cartoons about the holocaust.
It isn’t interesting that they will get some but I am more interested in what their response to the lack of response will be. Yes, there will be people who call them horrible – they probably will be – and people who call for boycotts – they should. The difference is this.
You will not have thousands of protesters destroying buildings and killing people. The “artist” won’t be condemned to death. And there is another vital difference.
This is a difference that makes the call for holocaust pictures so bizarre and sick. In Denmark, as in the US and most of Europe, you have freedom of speech; freedom of the press. The press is not the government. The government in Denmark is one of the most tolerant and liberal in its acceptance of Muslim immigrants.
In Iran, however, the paper is the state. They are one in the same. Not legally, of course. But in Iran, dissent is not an option and the paper prints what the paper is told to print. This is a concept that the rioter’s can’t fathom. They must hold the government culpable and hold all of Europe culpable because in their countries, if it is in print, it is the government.
What is even funnier – in a bizarre way – is that the caricatures showed Muhammad to be violent and warlike. How do those protesting react? Violence, calls for death. The irony is killing me – among others.
Don’t call me violent or I will kill you!!!
If I had a fit every time Christ was caricatured (South Park), dipped in Urine (art), or belittled, I would have had a heart attack three times over.
If you don't want to be caricatured, don't be one!
