Go Ahead, Turn The Other Cheek!
I’ve been quite cranky this week. It’s not typical of my persona, but my goodness, so many bits and bobs have rubbed me the wrong way.
The fruitcake brigade is at it again. I’ve had an overflowing cuspidor of vitriol from my ‘apolo
gy’ for the actions concerning the offensive Danish cartoons. I’m still so saddened by all of this. I love the Danish people and it gripes me to no end that so many of them are in peril because of the actions of one of their citizens.
Yesterday the Iranian embassy in Frankfurt demanded an apology from a Berlin newspaper after it printed a cartoon of Iranian footballers dressed as suicide bombers. How considerate.
The cartoon was publish on Friday by Der Tagesspiegel and showed four moustachioed men with explosives strapped to their chests, wearing the shirt of the Iranian national team, which is playing in the World Cup in Germany. (remember the purpose and ethos of the World Cup?) And of course, the newspaper says it has no plans to apologise. They’ve called upon their freedom of press and civil rights as the reason.
My oh my, what a double standard. Had the newspaper created a cartoon of moustachioed men, wearing swastikas, with SS markings on their collars, the newspaper would be in deep doodles!
If you have difficulty in understanding my frustration over this, just try imagining a newspaper in the states creating a cartoon of Martin Luther King and depicting him as Uncle Remus, or Step ‘N Fetch It.
Freedom of speech? Freedom of expression? You bet! But when this ‘freedom’ serves no other purpose but to malign, denigrate, infuriate, and hurt, then society has little right to complain about the reactions of those who have been hurt or aggrieved.
The fruitcake brigade is at it again. I’ve had an overflowing cuspidor of vitriol from my ‘apolo
gy’ for the actions concerning the offensive Danish cartoons. I’m still so saddened by all of this. I love the Danish people and it gripes me to no end that so many of them are in peril because of the actions of one of their citizens.Yesterday the Iranian embassy in Frankfurt demanded an apology from a Berlin newspaper after it printed a cartoon of Iranian footballers dressed as suicide bombers. How considerate.
The cartoon was publish on Friday by Der Tagesspiegel and showed four moustachioed men with explosives strapped to their chests, wearing the shirt of the Iranian national team, which is playing in the World Cup in Germany. (remember the purpose and ethos of the World Cup?) And of course, the newspaper says it has no plans to apologise. They’ve called upon their freedom of press and civil rights as the reason.
My oh my, what a double standard. Had the newspaper created a cartoon of moustachioed men, wearing swastikas, with SS markings on their collars, the newspaper would be in deep doodles!
If you have difficulty in understanding my frustration over this, just try imagining a newspaper in the states creating a cartoon of Martin Luther King and depicting him as Uncle Remus, or Step ‘N Fetch It.
Freedom of speech? Freedom of expression? You bet! But when this ‘freedom’ serves no other purpose but to malign, denigrate, infuriate, and hurt, then society has little right to complain about the reactions of those who have been hurt or aggrieved.
We can’t hide behind our civilities and then judge others when we show no civility ourselves.
posted by Father Bill Haymaker | 12:25:00
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