Press freedom and religious cartoons
I had originally decided that I wouldn’t comment on this, but, well, those who know me also know that there’s not way I can keep my mouth shut and DON’T comment on hot political topics – I always have to have an opinion.
The freedom to write and say whatever you want, and the publishing of these satiric cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. First of all, I haven’t seen these drawings, I’m sure if I searched for it on the internet I would be able to find them, but I don’t feel the need to see them, because seeing them published will neither please me or make me outraged. I am not a very religious person, I do believe in a God, and if someone asks me about it I might tell them about it – but most of all I believe that religion is a private thing – something that people should keep to themselves. I would never ever try to force my believes on anyone, and I don’t want anyone else to force theirs on me.
I truly believe in the right to speak and write almost anything you want, as long as it doesn’t violates or hurts another person. What I don’t believe in is some small CHRISTIAN newspaper from the Southern part of Norway publishing these drawings to make sure that we will still in the future have the right to write and say whatever we want. I DON’T believe that those are their true motives for publishing the drawings. To me it seems like a typical religious contest, who can say or do the worst thing to other people’s religion? I suspect that Magazin (the name of the paper) has published these drawings to offend and provoke Muslims, so that they now can sit back and say: “hey, watch these crazy Muslim people and what they’re doing. They’re very dangerous, and we’re the good people because we fight for your right to speak and write whatever you want!” I guess they got what they wanted. They did manage to offend and provoke possibly the entire Islamic world, so I hope they’re happy about that – I mean, be careful what you wish for and so on…. I’m sure they got the result they were aiming for, but perhaps even a bit more than that.
Now that this “thing” has happened I’m sure that there will be parties on both sides of the conflict who will use this for whatever it is worth to make the conflict even worse than it is now. I think there are truly bad people in all religions, but I don’t think all religious persons are bad. I think there are a lot of people without a religion who are bad too, but I don’t think that all non-religious people are bad. But there will always be people who take advantage of a bad situation because they’ve got something to gain on it getting worse that will unfortunately also happen in this case.
In this debate, where most Norwegians who speak their mind these days say that “oh yes, we must defend the freedom of speech”, it is interesting also to remember that it is only 27 years since the movie “Monty Python: Life of Brian” was banned in Norwegian cinemas because it could offend and provoke Christians. 27 years isn’t such a long time, but most Norwegians seem to have forgotten about that already when they criticize the Muslims for being outraged in the very same way that some people were about “Life of Brian” ONLY 27 years ago.
I will always defend the right of free speech, because the reason why we need free speech is to ensure that we will continue to live in a Democratic and free country. But I suspect that the publishing of these cartoons hasn’t got anything to do with the right of free speech, it’s only done to hurt, harm and provoke people! And then I’ll admit I just don’t get it! Then I think the publishing of these drawings are wrong, and it’s just sad!
I will also say that I think burning embassies and consulates, and killing people over this is also completely horribly wrong. Violence will never solve any problems, it will just make them larger, which is exactly what is happening the very moment I’m writing this. And that’s sad too!
The freedom to write and say whatever you want, and the publishing of these satiric cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. First of all, I haven’t seen these drawings, I’m sure if I searched for it on the internet I would be able to find them, but I don’t feel the need to see them, because seeing them published will neither please me or make me outraged. I am not a very religious person, I do believe in a God, and if someone asks me about it I might tell them about it – but most of all I believe that religion is a private thing – something that people should keep to themselves. I would never ever try to force my believes on anyone, and I don’t want anyone else to force theirs on me.
I truly believe in the right to speak and write almost anything you want, as long as it doesn’t violates or hurts another person. What I don’t believe in is some small CHRISTIAN newspaper from the Southern part of Norway publishing these drawings to make sure that we will still in the future have the right to write and say whatever we want. I DON’T believe that those are their true motives for publishing the drawings. To me it seems like a typical religious contest, who can say or do the worst thing to other people’s religion? I suspect that Magazin (the name of the paper) has published these drawings to offend and provoke Muslims, so that they now can sit back and say: “hey, watch these crazy Muslim people and what they’re doing. They’re very dangerous, and we’re the good people because we fight for your right to speak and write whatever you want!” I guess they got what they wanted. They did manage to offend and provoke possibly the entire Islamic world, so I hope they’re happy about that – I mean, be careful what you wish for and so on…. I’m sure they got the result they were aiming for, but perhaps even a bit more than that.
Now that this “thing” has happened I’m sure that there will be parties on both sides of the conflict who will use this for whatever it is worth to make the conflict even worse than it is now. I think there are truly bad people in all religions, but I don’t think all religious persons are bad. I think there are a lot of people without a religion who are bad too, but I don’t think that all non-religious people are bad. But there will always be people who take advantage of a bad situation because they’ve got something to gain on it getting worse that will unfortunately also happen in this case.
In this debate, where most Norwegians who speak their mind these days say that “oh yes, we must defend the freedom of speech”, it is interesting also to remember that it is only 27 years since the movie “Monty Python: Life of Brian” was banned in Norwegian cinemas because it could offend and provoke Christians. 27 years isn’t such a long time, but most Norwegians seem to have forgotten about that already when they criticize the Muslims for being outraged in the very same way that some people were about “Life of Brian” ONLY 27 years ago.
I will always defend the right of free speech, because the reason why we need free speech is to ensure that we will continue to live in a Democratic and free country. But I suspect that the publishing of these cartoons hasn’t got anything to do with the right of free speech, it’s only done to hurt, harm and provoke people! And then I’ll admit I just don’t get it! Then I think the publishing of these drawings are wrong, and it’s just sad!
I will also say that I think burning embassies and consulates, and killing people over this is also completely horribly wrong. Violence will never solve any problems, it will just make them larger, which is exactly what is happening the very moment I’m writing this. And that’s sad too!
posted by Lena M Bakke @ 4:53 PM
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