'Toon town

Far from the fray, I can call "fascinating" the kerfuffle over the Danish publishing and European-wide republishing of a bunch of cartoons portraying the Prophet Muhammed. Even if some of the images are positive (which some are). It's sort-of forbidden in the Quran to depict the prophet (in the same way that some Christians repudiate idols and graven images).

Frank mag has supposedly posted some of the 'toons (I couldn't find 'em) -- they can be found here, however. Shamefully, the Associated Press decided not to distribute them to member newspapers.

The progressive Canuck group Muslim Canadian Congress has spoken out, I'm pleased to see, providing some balance to the more conservative Canadian Islamic Congress.

More locally, imam Salaam Elmanyawi, president of the Muslim Council of Montreal, was quoted in this morning's paper saying: "This kind of action should not be protected by freedom of expression." (Here's where right-wing Christians, right-wing Muslims, and gays who demand that hate laws be used against those who express dislike for homosexuality all meet on the political continuum.)

The Gazette story continues: "In Canada, it would be considered 'over the line,' Elmanyawi said, noting that in Denmark it is a crime to insult the king. 'For us, the prophet Muhammed is more than their king, and any king.'"

Danish hypocrisy? Quite right. In response, I look forward to the West repealing a bunch of its stupidest laws. Like "scandalizing the court," which makes illegal the criticism of judges. It's been used against scrappy lawyers, student journalists, and politicians who dare trash what they consider to be stupid court judgements and moronic judges.

And treason. Some sections could be interpreted as banning dissidents from arguing against a war, or presenting the viewpoint of "the enemy" during a war.

And goodness know what this could be: it's illegal to peform "an act with intent to alarm Her Majesty or to break the public peace." What, yelling "Down with the queen?" Spelling queen in lower case?

Many Muslims hope the complaining will ensure that everything gets banned. The opposite must come about: my icons aren't better, and must not be better protected, than your icons.


ADDENDUM Feb. 5: Let's see. "The Book of Daniel." "Dieu Recoit" (yep, a Quebec show -- don't get all uppity about how much better we are). And of course, the endless pressure tactics of the American Family Association.

And here's a look at what U.S. papers are doing -- or not doing -- with those damned comix.