Editorial: The boomerang effect of the Danish cartoons

The experienced but callow editor of a Danish newspaper was admonished by a senior BBC journalist, “Didn’t you know the implications of your act?” In response, the editor said, “The press is free in Denmark. People can write or draw anything they want.” The BBC journalist retorted that hurting the feelings of more than a billion Muslims around the world is an abuse of press freedom. The editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has stirred up a hornet’s nest in Islamic countries. If he had lived in one of those countries, he would have been stoned to death without a trial. Muslims around the globe revere the Prophet Mohammad and are prepared to sacrifice their lives for him. In staging demonstrations, they were showing their indignation and outrage at the cartoons. Demonstrations in countries such as Afghanistan have resulted in the deaths of a few protestors and clashes with the police. Western intellectuals did not anticipate such an antagonistic reaction, as their own permissive society did not react in this way to a film about Jesus Christ in which he was depicted as a homosexual. In the West, religion is on the wane and few people attend church. But Islam, on the contrary, is gaining strength. After the collapse of former Soviet Union, millions of Muslims joined the ranks of their fellow-believers.