Imperialism against sanctity
To further elaborate on the last post, I think that there is something deeper at work here. There is a certain sense among some people that we need to "reform" people in the Islamic world; the cartoons, and other depictions of similar sort are an effort to push buttons, and at bottom the point is the following: "Why are you offended? This isn't anything to be offended about. Grow up already." This stems from a view of the world which doesn't recognize anything as sacred. Nothing is off limits, and if some things are off limits for some people, they are regarded as deficient.
Now, there is a very important distinction between attempting to exercise this form of cultural imperialism, and a recognition that there are certain values which are universal. Rule of law, due process,freedom of speech, press, and worship are universal values. But that package of values does not include telling people that they shouldn't hold anything sacred, that they should not take offense at things that offend their deepest sense of what is sanctified.
1 comment:
hey,
I understand ure point on sacred beliefs Mahmood and I thought it was absolutely not subtle when that danish tabloid published those cartoons (cf the prophet with a bomb on his head). I do believe though that for a country to have real freedom of speech and press, u have to be able to say and caricature anything up to the limit it does not incite violence between communities. Two different and recent examples in France, the french newspaper charlie hebdo who published those danish cartoons won its trial whereas this syrian channel that used to air in france was canceled because of encouraging anti semitism (I think the US did the same). Caricature is as old as freedom of press, it can be interesting, subtle and encourage debate but it can also be insulting , erroneous and unrespectful (remenber all the french bashing I used to take from american media). The one danish cartoon about this jihadist going to heaven and not finding his promised 7 virgins because they have all been taken has been a very old joke that mudjahedins in Afghanistan used to tell themselves back in the eighties (cf to Olivier Roy's books on Islam and his travels in Central Asia). So auto derision is possible...I mean: how many times have we described in a satirical way christ...I also believe in sacred and respect Mahmood, but freedom of speech and to criticize is also sacred, even it can derive in stupid and ignorant remarks. Like the students used to say in the riots of 1968: "il est interdit d'interdire".
nico
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