Sunday, February 05, 2006
Recently, the whole Muslim world is ablaze with anger at a series of political cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that was published in a Danish newspaper. Muslims claim that these cartoons encourage the conflation of Islam and terrorism (which most Muslims apparently abhor) that has been rife ever since 911.
I can understand that Muslims are angry but I don't think the violent protests are helping matters. So they are protesting against Westerners associating Islam with extremist violence. And right smack on the front page of the newspaper you see men in black ski-masks trying to wreck the Danish embassy in Indonesia.
As a Singaporean, I can understand that it's difficult to draw the lines between freedom of expression and respect for religious sensitivities. But sometimes, people can really be too sensitive. What is offensive to one person may be considered art (and truth) to another. One man's porn is another's man's Michaelangelo.
So I support the idea that if the cultural artefact in question is a carefully considered work of art, then the artist has the right to his own vision and creative expression. In fact, many controversial critiques of religion come from the artists who are believers themselves. I believe that art is important as political/social commentary.
And it really doesn't help the image of Islam as a peaceful religion if artists keep getting issued fatwas and other miscellaneous death threats. If you don't like the work, don't deprive others of the chance to see it and judge it for themselves. You can simply choose not to go watch that "offensive" film or read that "blasphemous" novel. It's a free society.
I haven't seen the cartoons in question yet, and probably will never. So my discussion is curiously detached from the issue that has actually provoked it. Well, these are my own views anyway. I would love to say "Please feel free to comment" but I have realised that I HAVE NO COMMENT TAG-BOX. And my webpage says "Comments are welcome" complete with smiley face. Haha.
My sister will help me put up a tag-box sometime in the near future. So please bear with the blatant contradiction on my blog for the time being.
kaoru said at 6:44 AM
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