The one all (two) of you have been waiting for!
The one about the Danish Cartoon row. This one's a follow on from the blog before- don't want to lose your attention with too much all at once do we ;)
QOTD towards the end this time- just to keep you on your toes.
Note: These were not the only provocative to religion comics, over the years there has certainly been a rise in cheeky to mocking to offensive comics regarding various religions in Newspapers.
Below though, is a rather a crude video from Youtube which contains the actual comics in question and the response of some Muslims in (conveniently) comic form:
The first thing that comes to mind (and did at the time) was 'they're just cartoons though?' but the huge riots and protests that occurred shows just how much emphasis can be put on 'just' a cartoon, and the significance it can have. I think part of this is within the fact that a cartoon has to be 'made' specifically, so if it's a cartoon that is offensive and hateful; it was purposeful rather than a more subtle approach. Most sane people (incl Muslims) believe the response above was OTT and counter-productive, however....
QOTD: Do you think though that a cartoon portrayal of a view should be given as much significance? Or any at all?
Does it being a cartoon make it any less offensive just because its in the name of humour?
A different perspective to think about...
....which to me kind of shows how comics can be/are used as a form of universal back and forth dialogue. In this way it kind of unites as well as divides in a strange sense. That must sound weird considering the above but the way I see it, something like poetry is a universal form of expression- sure in poetry someone can be racist and hurtful and there can be similar stuff back at them, but there is still a unity of expression there. Maybe it's the same for all creative forms of expression? Or maybe I'm just being weird. But clearly if both (or all) sides are using it, there is at least significance placed on them as ways of getting an opinion across. What say you?QOTD: Do you think though that a cartoon portrayal of a view should be given as much significance? Or any at all?
Does it being a cartoon make it any less offensive just because its in the name of humour?
A different perspective to think about...
Oh and I gotta put this in there because I've been thinking of it since I first Googled 'Danish....'
Mmmm. They may not always get it right with their cartoons, but they don't play when it comes to Danish swirls. Now those I'd riot for.
Hm. Interesting things to think about.. Personally i don’t think the fact that they are cartoons makes them any less offensive. Perhaps people associate cartoons with childhood and innocence and think they can be used to get away with blatant disrespect but the message the cartoons were putting across was just as inflammatory had they been through any other form of expression. And yeah, there’s humour and joking, but there’s always a line, that line was crossed, and the cartoon-ness of whole thing wasn’t enough to justify anything.. In my opinion anyway. And I think I’ll be joining you on that swirl riot.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. I think you're right in a way, anything intended to be disrespectful (for whatever reason) will be, I think it's just to do with the extent to which it should be taken as offensive or personally insulting.
DeleteMm, every time I come on this blog it reminds me of it... drool
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI do think that the death threats and violence that erupted from these cartoons was over the top-and I think this is EXACTLY what the Danish media wanted. This exact type of extreme and violent response from the lay Muslim. And unfortunately it seems we always give them this type of reaction. I'm not saying that we should just not talk or give any reaction back-because any person with half a brain will know that it IS in fact Muslimophobia under the guise of 'free speech'. Such cartoons are deeply offensive and ultimately quite dumb because the cartoonist would have to be racist (though this term is contentious seeing as Muslims are a varied people)Islamophobic, Muslimophobic and very reductionist in their thinking. Muslims should respond in a calm manner and present their arguments and make people see this isn't free speech but in fact hate speech.