Thursday, February 02, 2006

Freedom of Speech



Last September the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published some cartoons depicting Mohammed. This has angered much of the Muslim world as it is forbidden in their "religion" to show images of their prophet. We are all used to the death threats issued to anyone who they decide to hate and the newspaper has received it's fair share. Over the last few months other European newspapers have come out in support of Jyllands-Posten and have also published these cartoons and others. I was surprised that the media is actually defending free speech at the expense of alienating their Moslem friends.

All the cartoons can be seen here. Update on 8 Feb: the cartoons can now been seen on the Elder of Ziyon blog here along with some of the anti-Jewish cartoons published by the Arab world by way of comparison.


I originally heard this story on The World Today on ABC Radio. A transcript of the show can be found here.

Also, while surfing the web, I discovered the website of Front Page Magazine which includes an opinion piece by Robert Spencer titled Thou Shalt not Draw. The essay provides a good run-down of this latest stoush.



While you are at the Front Page Mag site you can download a booklet by a David Meir-Levi called Big Lies which describes the war in the Middle East over the last 60 years and the historical facts surrounding the conflict. Scroll down until you see the graphic above and click on it to display the booklet.
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