I tried to post to this thread 3 or 4 times before, but my words disappeared each time I hit the "Post Reply" button..?

Being Danish, I've followed the cartoon situation with great interest.

Personally, I don't think I would have printed the drawings if the decision was mine.. I believe the freedom of speech comes with an obligation of consideration and respect. Respect is not equivalent to submission and fear does not generate respect.

Still, there are other interesting points in all this.

This is not the first time the Prophet has been exposed in drawings and other images - if you investigate, you'll find that it has been done hundreds of times during history (and this goes for satiric images too) - but never with reactions like what we see this time.

The people in the Arab countries have been misinformed about what goes on here. They have been told by the imams and the media there eg. that Jyllands-Posten (the Danish newspaper) is owned and controlled by the government (whis it isn't) and that koran books have been set on fire in the streets of Copenhagen (which never happened). They have also been shown false images of the Prophet having a pig's nose, which did not come from here.

That is one explanation to the massive reactions. Another is that Denmark is a very small country, and it's possible to threat and harrass without consequenses. I seriously doubt the reactions to be the same, had the cartoons been printed in an American newspaper at first.

Another thing I find important, is that there has been no violent or overly aggressive reactions here in Denmark AT ALL. And there are many muslim immigrants here. I live in an area with quite a few and I notice no difference when I walk the streets or go the store.

The worst consequence I see here is that if we were to have an election now, the outmost right-wing party would gain more votes than usual, and that's sad... And we may loose our export to the Arab countries for good - but it's 2% of the total export, so our economies would survive, I guess..

I just think it's worth considering that all the fuss is going on the Arab states, not here where it actually happened.

Message edited on: 02/14/2006 03:04

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