LINCOLN, Neb. - You want to talk about offensive cartoons? Cartoons that are shocking, bloody and inappropriate? If so, you really should start reading newspapers from Saudi Arabia.
One of the jewels of anti-Semitism I've dug up is a cartoon of Ariel Sharon using a swastika as an axe to chop up Palestinian babies. Was it an angry, frustrated response to the Muhammad cartoons that have ignited the Muslim world in protest? No - it was published in the Arab News on April 10, 2002.
Before you form an opinion on the subject, I recommend that you look up the 12 cartoons that are causing a ruckus, then hop on over to the Anti-Defamation League's Web site. There, the ADL has a month-by-month catalog of blatantly racist and anti-Semitic writings and cartoons from Arab media.
Many Arabic newspapers have been pretty hypocritical in their writings. Not that the Jyllands-Posten, which commissioned the Muhammad cartoons, has a pearly reputation for treating Muslims fairly; take an excerpt from an editorial as an example:
"Islam is even more totalitarian than Nazism. Nazis did not demand that people should grow a Hitler-type moustache. Islam interferes in every aspect of life, right from dress to eating habits."
Don't be fooled by the claim that the cartoons are purely an exercise in free speech - they are well in line with the paper's published opinions about Muslims.
However, the thing about free speech is that it equally protects the speech we do like and the speech we don't. This fact makes free speech necessary, yet frustrating.
Reporters Without Borders - a watchdog organization for the freedom of the press - notes that most of the media in several Islamic countries is run by the government. The Arab News, for example, is a Saudi paper. The royal family controls its opinions and content.
Hence, when it publishes inflammatory cartoons full of hatred, it can only do this with the implied consent of the Saudi government. In Iran, Syria or Saudi Arabia, an apology from a newspaper actually comes from the government. Perhaps this is why some protesters have ignored the fact that the newspaper has apologized for the cartoons and demanded the Danish government apologize instead.
While conveniently ignoring the crazy rhetoric from his government, former Iranian President Muhammad Khatami has stated, "Insulting and inflaming actions are not freedom of speech." Whoops! He should have checked with the current Iranian president, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," before he made the statement.
One Iranian paper, Hamshahri, has started a Holocaust cartoon competition. I think the belief system of current Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could barely be labeled as Islam anymore.
However, it's important to note there are many Muslims who, while offended, aren't as radical as Iran's rulers. The Organization of the Islamic Conference, an organization of 57 Islamic states, has called for calm. Thousands of Muslims in Egypt and Jordan have marched peacefully and called for boycotts of Danish products.
It's fairly easy to come down hard on militant Islam and fairly difficult to sort between normal Islamic beliefs and crazy-militant-Islamic ones. As a general rule of thumb, statements about Islam coming from the political ruling party of Syria or Iran is a chest-thumping load of crap.
Taking a page from Hitler's playbook, the president of Iran usually blames the Jews or the West in general for the country's problems. Just like the Wizard of Oz exclaiming "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," Ahmadinejad would like his people to ignore the fact that 40 percent of the population is below the poverty line and focus on something else.
Most Muslims really are peaceful people. They are offended for religious reasons, not political. They really do have a reason to peacefully protest or boycott. We shouldn't draw conclusions about Islam based on extremists. After all, we don't judge Christians based on the bombings of Eric Rudolph (the American Christian terrorist who bombed the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Ga.).
The newspaper has apologized for its publication, an apology that should be aimed at those Muslims truly offended. However, for those leaders who are using the cartoons as political currency or as a reason to incite the masses, no apology - or respect - is needed.
-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed - include your full name, major and year in school.
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