I guess that is a difference between me and Mr. Proyect -- I highly
value living in a culture where I can mock the ideas of others without
fear of being killed, and Mr. Proyect has other priorities.
I should also add this is another reason why I am a big Leo Strauss fan
-- he wrote "Persecution and the Art of Writing." The man thought
things through.
I have mixed feelings about the cartoon wars too.
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,400161,00.html
---- QUOTE
In the end, it was the image of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped
turban with a lit fuse that proved perhaps most offensive. After all, as
the Web site of the Arab-European League -- a group supporting the rights
of Arab and Muslim communities in Europe -- pointed out: "The issue for us
is not about depicting the prophet or any other theological consideration.
It's about stigmatizing a whole population of more than 1 billion Muslims
through portraying their symbol as being a terrorist, megalomaniac,
misogynic (sic) and a psychopath. This is racist, xenophobic and calling
for hatred against Muslims."
That's a valid point. But it would have been a lot more forceful had the
Web site not published a political cartoon a few days earlier depicting
Anne Frank in bed with Adolf Hitler, who is looking amorously appeased. As
if that wasn't offensive enough, the illustrator throws in one of the
worst crimes in recent European history by name dropping Marc Dutroux, the
convicted Belgian killer infamous for kidnapping young girls, raping them
and then starving them to death. Hitler is saying, "Write this one in your
diary Anne!"
---- QUOTE
--raghu.
