Does God have a sense of humour ? The answer to that question depends on who you ask ! France is still undergoing street executions that were sparked when a satirical magazine ran pictures of the prophet Muhammad in a manner that upset followers of Islam.
Many people defend the cartoonist's right to desecrate religion on the basis of the "freedom of speech " tenet, but this magazine illustration occurred over a year ago and these killings have continued and may go on long into the future.
The illustration is blamed for inciting a young migrant from an Islamic country to carry out an attack in France's Notre Dame church in the coastal city of Nice. It seems he entered the church carrying a knife and attacked three Christian worshippers, decapitating one elderly woman and stabbing to death two other people.
The police shot and captured him and French goods are being taken off the shelves in Islamic countries in protest. When the murderer recovers he will face trial in France and that article will get another round of publicity. Whatever sentence he serves in a French prison will exacerbate religious tensions between Islam and western countries.
Here in the west, we regularly see God appearing in cartoons. He is usually depicted at the Pearly Gates, making wise comment to counter someone's ruse to gain entry. In comparison, a cartoonist with an obvious slant against Islam can depict the prophet in sexual or other unflattering terms which would be viewed very unfavourably by most followers of that religion.
Unfortunately, any law that restricts the scope of religious cartoons would be seen as an attack on freedom of speech by many purists. It would drive the cartoonists underground but it would remove offensive material from display on public news stands.
The obvious limitation would be to determine what is - and what 'isnt - crossing the border between " fair comment " and " offensive ". Here we would find the broadest possible gap between the views of those who follow different religions. There is simply no safe ground that bridges this divide.
It would be nice if the publishing world could agree on a modicum of " good taste " which would screen offensive work and resolve this issue, but it would have to fit into a legal framework to be binding and that requires legal definition.
Sadly, we seem to be stuck in that time frame between " art " and " humour " which is impossible to bridge. It delivers an incentive for the emerging cartoonists to dabble in the " black arts " to create the " shock " which delivers both fame and fortune.
And for that, innocent people have to die !
No comments:
Post a Comment