[Buddha-l] Buddhism and blasphemy

[Braitstein Lara]

Does the fact that Muslims who live in Denmark and
suffer daily (as a group) from racism and ignorance,
and live as a barely tolerated and totally
disenfranchised minority, not figure into how you look
at a deliberate transgression of Sunni Islamic norms? 
  Does the fact that Islam is consistently
misrepresented and Muslims (among others, to be sure)
are being killed all over the world not figure into
how you evaluate what’s happening?  Would you not
consider for a moment how a radically unequal
distribution of power in a society (or the world over,
for that matter) has some impact on where the lines
between “free speech” and “hate speech” are drawn?

>The only other cartoon that appears even minimally
provocative -- >and if THIS is provocative, that's an
even BIGGER problem -- has >someone,ostensibly the
Prophet, standing on a cloud in Paradise >toward which
a string of frazzled suicide bombers are advancing. He
>says to them:  "Stop, Stop, we ran out of virgins."
Some of us might >even prefer THIS Prophet  to the one
imagined by those who find this >offensive.

Who are you to say that "it's a problem" that minority
populations react to being humiliated?  And who is the
Prophet of Islam to you, that any Muslim should care
what you want him to be?

How do you feel about “Whites Only” signs?  Or
charicatures of Jews with big hooked noses, rubbing
their hands together?  Or depictions of Blacks as
jungle-dwelling savages, leaping about with spears in
their hands and worshipping Coke cans?  Or snuff
films?  Hey – those aren’t examples of Free Speech. 
That’s hate propagation!   Very good – now how about a
minority group suffering daily humiliation and
misrepresentation of their religion, having their most
sacred Prophet dessicrated in the name of free speech
by the same people who are prejudiced against and many
cases killing them?  Hmmm. well
 maybe that's worth
thinking about.  

And here's something else for you - the same paper
that ran these "innocent" and "inoffensive" cartoons
insulting Islam refused to run cartoons of Jesus,
saying that readers may find it offensive.  Here's the
link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoonprotests/story/0,,1703552,00.html

It's amazing to me how many people are happy to look
only at the end result - rioting Muslims - and satisfy
themselves that their prejudices have been confirmed
and they need not reflect further.    

Lara Braitstein


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