On the 30th of September 2005, the Danish newspaper "Jyllands-Posten"
had published a caricature which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad with
a bomb on his head. About five months later this caricature and many more led
to Islamic protest across the Muslim world as well as in Europe especially in
Denmark (the origin of this crisis). Those protest escalated into violence with
instances of firing on crowds of protestors resulting in a total of more than
thousand casualties, including bombing Danish embassies in various countries
all over the world.
The famous caricature:
This video shows the consequences of this event:
You probably ask yourself what is my point in this case. This is an
example that shows the powerful role that media has to influence on a
particular community in the world.
The Muslim world went mad! And for what?! For a cartoon that have been
published on a Danish newspaper, which criticize the Islamic world a little bit.
Don't get me wrong! I agree with the Muslim world and their protest
against the caricatures that maybe had crossed the lines, but there is a right
way to protest without the use of violence and to threat on those who published
and create the caricatures. Everyone has the right to protest, and yet everyone
has also the right to have freedom of speech and expression.
"The cartoonists treated Islam the same way they treat
Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions. And by treating Muslims
in Denmark as equals they made a point: We are integrating you into the Danish
tradition of satire because you are part of our society, not strangers. The
cartoons are including, rather than excluding, Muslims."
But on the other hand, The Muslim World especially the Arab media is not
so innocent. They like to interpret Judaism in caricatures as the filthiest religious
in the whole world. And the big question is "Have you ever seen a mob
of Jews protest violently and threat on anyone?" I don’t think you'll
see something like that.
This caricature shows the hypocrisy of the Muslim and Arab world:
I am not religious person but if I had known there is serious harm to my
reputation or my people and it will carry a social protest, I'll join in the
protest as long it takes in a quiet and peaceful way.
Although we can use our body as offensive tool, I believe that we
shouldn't do it. The best way to settle disputes is by freedom of speech without
cursing and swearing.
As a human being we have the power and the ability with the right
communication and with the assistant of the worldwide media, to bring PEACE to
the world.
The 'Muhammad caricature' is examples how people can interpret wrong the
meaning that the author wanted to bring out to the public.
There is the famous phrase that says: "A picture is worth a
thousand words" – in this case "caricature was worth a thousand casualties".
I hope it is the last time that caricatures will cause undermining the stability of the world.
see you soon again
Ben
