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Why I Published the Muhammad Cartoons-When we should apologize -- and when we shouldn't.
Washington Post | Frontpagemagazine ^ | February 20, 2006 | Flemming Rose

Posted on 02/20/2006 5:54:24 AM PST by SJackson

Childish. Irresponsible. Hate speech. A provocation just for the sake of provocation. A PR stunt. Critics of 12 cartoons of the prophet Muhammad I decided to publish in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten have not minced their words. They say that freedom of expression does not imply an endorsement of insulting people's religious feelings, and besides, they add, the media censor themselves every day. So, please do not teach us a lesson about limitless freedom of speech.

I agree that the freedom to publish things doesn't mean you publish everything. Jyllands-Posten would not publish pornographic images or graphic details of dead bodies; swear words rarely make it into our pages. So we are not fundamentalists in our support for freedom of expression.

But the cartoon story is different.

Those examples have to do with exercising restraint because of ethical standards and taste; call it editing. By contrast, I commissioned the cartoons in response to several incidents of self-censorship in Europe caused by widening fears and feelings of intimidation in dealing with issues related to Islam. And I still believe that this is a topic that we Europeans must confront, challenging moderate Muslims to speak out. The idea wasn't to provoke gratuitously -- and we certainly didn't intend to trigger violent demonstrations throughout the Muslim world. Our goal was simply to push back self-imposed limits on expression that seemed to be closing in tighter.

(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: apology; cartoons; denmark; flemmingrose; jyllandsposten

1 posted on 02/20/2006 5:54:25 AM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson

Bump!


2 posted on 02/20/2006 5:56:18 AM PST by Rummyfan
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To: SJackson
The reactions from the muzzie is a pure VALIDATION of the cartoons! Hmmmm???

Buy Danish products, they are of high quality!!!
3 posted on 02/20/2006 5:58:42 AM PST by danamco
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To: SJackson
well OK then.
4 posted on 02/20/2006 6:01:42 AM PST by Vaquero (time again for the Crusades.)
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To: SJackson

Muslim extremists have moral (immoral?) clarity about their cause. We have mush-minded moral non-clarity. Setting a force with moral clarity against one without it is like setting a lion after a lamb.


5 posted on 02/20/2006 6:03:11 AM PST by JamesP81
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
If you'd like to be on or off this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking the keyword or topic Israel.

---------------------------

6 posted on 02/20/2006 6:03:22 AM PST by SJackson (There is but one language which can be held to these people, and this is terror, William Eaton)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: SJackson

The reactions from the muzzie is a pure VALIDATION of the cartoons! Hmmmm???

Buy Danish products, they are of high quality!!!


8 posted on 02/20/2006 6:14:20 AM PST by danamco
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To: SJackson

Question:

How many Christians rioted over the "Piss Christ"?

Piss Christ. Artist: Andres Serrano Artist's Lifespan: c. 1950- Title: Piss Christ
Date: 1989. Location of Origin: United States Medium: Esoteric medium ...
http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/502.html

How many were killed in an anger over "Madonna"?

madonna is The Holy Virgin Mary, a 1996 collage by Chris Ofili, an award-winning British artist, which incorporates elephant feces. ...
www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/991008/madonna.html - 10k -







9 posted on 02/20/2006 6:32:59 AM PST by TET1968
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To: All
More and more it's emerging that this is not a free press issue. It's about courage and America's MSM ain't got none.

The cartoons were to counter the self-censorship in Europe caused by widening fears and feelings of intimidation in dealing with issues related to Islam.

Welcome to the 21st century. Chi-coms tell google, Yahoo, and other "American" corporations how to run their businesses (here as well as in Red China?) and radical Islam dictates what can or cannot be covered by our MSM.

10 posted on 02/20/2006 6:40:17 AM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (Hillary is the she in shenanigans.)
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To: TET1968

Yet, we have Canadian university students in a student-led newspaper who drew up a cartoon with Jesus and Mohammed kissing each other lovingly but only with Jesus' face showing.
http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2006/02/cartoon-of-mohammed-and-jesus-kissing.html

Hypocrisy is just dripping over there.


11 posted on 02/20/2006 7:00:32 AM PST by kokonut
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To: TET1968
Question: How many Christians rioted over the "[****] Christ"?

Take the point further: what would the Muslims of New York City (and the world) have done if an image of Muhammed in a container of human waste appeared in a museum justified not only as freedom of expression but vaunted as "art"?

12 posted on 02/20/2006 7:56:08 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (i'd rather hunt with Cheney than drive with Kennedy)
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To: SJackson

can-it-be-that-a-european-journalist-has-balls-alert?


13 posted on 02/20/2006 7:57:17 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (i'd rather hunt with Cheney than drive with Kennedy)
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To: SJackson
"Our goal was simply to push back self-imposed limits on expression that seemed to be closing in tighter."

Good on you.

14 posted on 02/20/2006 8:51:13 AM PST by Earthdweller ("West to Islam" Cake. Butter your liberals, slowly cook France, stir in Europe then watch it rise.)
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