Hot off the Press

Few days ago Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten showed a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. While the Danish are laughing at the caricature, apparently it is not that funny to the Muslims, where any depiction of the Prophets is prohibited. Libyan Government closed down their embassy in Copenhagen so did Saudi Arabia. 17 other Muslim countries are about to do the same if Danish Government did not apologize to the Muslims on behalf of the newspaper. The newspaper did apologize, but maintained that they have the rights to practise freedom of speech.

Today, France Soir, Germany’s Die Welt, La Stampa in Italy and El Periodico in Spain all showed the caricature in support of Jyllands-Posten in Denmark. As if the situation now is not bad enough, their actions just add more anger to the Muslim world. Why is this happening? It is because they want to show that they have every right to do so under the banner of ‘Freedom of the Press’.

I just cannot believe how newspapers can go as far as not respecting others’ sensitivity in the name of freedom of speech. I have no objection to freedom of the press because it is a good thing, so go ahead use that rights. But there have to be some boundaries somewhere right? Perhaps things like racial and religion sensitivity.

I don’t want to say anymore about this because no matter what I say, people are going to say that I reacted like this because I am a Muslim. So, I just want to say if this is where our world is going - becoming more civilised and at the same time losing our sensitivity towards others – I just regret to learn that our progressive physical development has an inverse relationship with our moral and ethics. The more developed we became, the less courteous we become. And that is just so sad. Ciao ciao.