faith, and it definitely incited anger in people. But I believe the intent of the cartoonist and the publisher was to show that nobody, nor any religion, is above being criticized or made light of.
Whether it was begun by some fringe fanatics in Islam or whether it's more mainstream, there is a definite impression of "you'd better not say anything bad about Islam or I'll kill you" that surrounds Islam and its followers.
And to most westerners that is simply absurd, that someone should be killed over a picture they drew or over some words they said. We've grown up learning "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" -- so when we hear about fatwas being issued against Salman Rushdie, or people being given the death penalty if hey convert from Islam to another religion, it just makes the whole of Islam seem like the cast of "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest".
You saw them as promoting hate, but to most of us, we saw them as levelling the playing field. Why should people not get to make fun of Prophet Mohammed but they can crack jokes about Jesus or the Buddha? Fair is fair - everybody gets to be offended!
faith, and it definitely incited anger in people. But I believe the intent of the cartoonist and the publisher was to show that nobody, nor any religion, is above being criticized or made light of.
Whether it was begun by some fringe fanatics in Islam or whether it's more mainstream, there is a definite impression of "you'd better not say anything bad about Islam or I'll kill you" that surrounds Islam and its followers.
And to most westerners that is simply absurd, that someone should be killed over a picture they drew or over some words they said. We've grown up learning "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" -- so when we hear about fatwas being issued against Salman Rushdie, or people being given the death penalty if hey convert from Islam to another religion, it just makes the whole of Islam seem like the cast of "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest".
You saw them as promoting hate, but to most of us, we saw them as levelling the playing field. Why should people not get to make fun of Prophet Mohammed but they can crack jokes about Jesus or the Buddha? Fair is fair - everybody gets to be offended!