This past week, violence continued to erupt over cartoons depicting Muhammad, the main prophet of Islam, that were published in a Danish newspaper, from Pakistan to Turkey to Nigeria. The scope of this controversy has reached new heights, and it remains to be seen how many more countries it will affect and how much longer it will go on. But all I can think as I read story after story, each detailing how a new riot broke out ostensibly over the 12 or so drawings, is that this has to be about more than cartoons. In fact, I would even say that this whole controversy doesn’t have anything to do with freedom of the press at all, but instead presents a warning for how international relations might function in the 21st century.
The initial reason for these riots was that Islamic law prohibits any and all depictions of Muhammad, but as the story has gone on, many have recognized that there have been many depictions of Muhammad before that haven’t incited nearly this large of a protest. The protests more likely have to do with the context and message of the cartoons, many of which suggest a connection between Islam and violence, such as the cartoon depicting Muhammad wearing a lit bomb, instead of a turban, on his head. What’s ironic is that by rioting, many Muslims are confirming the stereotypes put forth in the cartoons. The fact that people have died because of these riots can only perpetuate the uneducated stereotypes that Muslims are inherently violent and illogical.
The truth is, this does stand out relative to how another group might react when an offensive cartoon is published. For example, a few years ago, the Chicago Tribune (my hometown paper) prominently featured a cartoon depicting a caricature of Ariel Sharon, complete with an overly hooked nose, salivating over a pile of money offered to him by President Bush, clearly drawing on past stereotypes of Jews. But after this offensive cartoon was published, there were no riots or deaths; protests were filed, an apology was printed and that was the end of it. I’m not trying to say that the Jews handled it well, while the Muslims are handling it badly; these recent cartoons were published with the intention of being provocative, and Muhammad is clearly more central to Islam than Sharon is to Judaism. But with the freedom of the press, controversial items are published all the time, and the majority of these incidents are handled easily, without international rioting or deaths.
Ever since it began, this whole controversy has seemed a little off to me. First of all, the offending cartoons were initially published in September; I could maybe understand if a week or two passed before the controversy broke out, but five months seems like a pretty long time for people to think about protesting.
Furthermore, many images of Muhammad have been published before and not set off nearly as big a reaction. Even with the disrespectful context of these drawings, the fury with which the riots have occurred has to be about more than just the cartoons. Then again, the fury in the Islamic world is not too difficult to understand; I would imagine that it must be infuriating to consistently feel subjugated and mocked by the countries who seem to be making all the decisions in the world, and these feelings of helplessness and frustration probably have more to do with the violence than the alleged actual cause. The snowball effect is doubtlessly important as well, where 10 people start rioting, then another 10 join them and so on, until the riot has moved from peaceful to out of control.
But there also continues to be a lack of leadership in the Muslim world, at least on a moderate, international level. Just as no well-known and respected Muslim leader spoke out against the attacks of 9/11 or took a stance against the suicide bombings in Israel carried out in Islam’s name, the rioting over cartoons continues without any calls for moderation.
The only real solution is some sort of international, cross-cultural dialogue, in which both sides will need to open their minds to understanding the other’s perspective. The fact that people have died because of cartoons published in a newspaper is absurd, and as the riots continue, others will only continue to get hurt. Until some sort of larger talks occur, however, current stereotypes will only continue and sadly, the stereotypes of the violent, irrational Muslim and the ignorant, arrogant Westerner are quickly becoming entrenched in minds across the world. This should serve as a cautionary tale for the 21st century; as things are now, we are setting ourselves up for a clash of civilizations between the Western world and the Muslim world, when what we should be doing is working together to bridge the growing gap between us.
Matt is a senior in Arts & Sciences and a Forum editor.