Some days it’s hard to support free speech. Yesterday was one of those days. People died yesterday, partly because of the exercise of free speech.
Last September, a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons featuring the prophet Muhammad, a key figure in the Muslim faith. A controversy arose not because these cartoons depicted violent and offensive stereotypes (though they did), but because they depicted the prophet, period.
Muslims consider it idolatrous to fashion portrayals of any prophet. This deeply held tenet is the reason why Muslims across the world are so upset, not just at what the cartoons imply about their prophet, but that they were even drawn at all. It is also why the Quran has never been adapted into an epic three-part miniseries.
It’s difficult for us non-Muslims to understand just how serious an offense this is to the worldwide Muslim community. For instance, many Christians were upset recently when Grammy-nominated rapper Kanye West posed for the cover of Rolling Stone dressed as a crucified Christ. Many felt these photos showed disrespect to the “author and perfecter” of their faith. So just about everybody gets upset when their religious icons are defaced. Muslims, however, are offended when the great figures of their religion are turned into icons at all. There is no such thing as a respectful portrayal of the prophet Muhammad.
In a country where “The Passion of the Christ” is one of the highest grossing films of all time (not to mention highly gross), we will never fully grasp just how big a smack in the face anti-Muslim cartoons are. However, the fact that there is a death toll associated with these cartoons begins to tell the story.
While a relatively small conflict over the cartoons was brewing in Denmark, media outlets across Europe reprinted the cartoons last week, setting off worldwide outcry from the Muslim community that has been tragically punctuated by violence.
The big discussion has been about free speech. Many Western nations, including the United States, believe that the press has the right and responsibility to bring weighty and controversial issues to light. To that end, the press retains the right to print what it wants, free from outside censorship.
I’m a big free speech supporter. I believe 100 percent that more people have died because of a lack of free speech than because of an overabundance of free speech. But this isn’t just about free speech; this is about worldwide culture wars. This is about global stability.
Throughout the Muslim world there is a not-so-civil war being waged between the relatively small band of lunatics and thieves who are using one of the world’s great religions as a weapon of corruption and the even smaller group of mainstream Muslims with the strength and vision to stand up to these oppressors.
Islamic extremists demonize the West in much the same way Hitler demonized the Jews as a method of diversion and control over the people they seek to yoke with tyranny. This country’s war on terror is merely a reaction to the points at which this civil war has spilled over into our lives. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of innocent Muslims are caught in the middle.
We shouldn’t see many, or even most, mainstream Muslim leaders denounce the tactics of terrorism. We should see every mainstream Muslim leader denounce these disgraceful acts of cowardice and sacrilege. And yet we don’t.
The problem is not that there is a handful of Muslims throughout the world who hate the West. The problem is that there are many millions of Muslims throughout the world who are ambivalent to the West. The shrill scream of the radical is not the real danger. The deafening silence of the mainstream is the danger. If mainstream Islam were to rise up and reclaim the purity of its religion by shouting down the extremists and resisting their ethos of destruction, we in the West wouldn’t have to worry about stockpiling duct tape – the problem would be solved.
I’m not averse to the idea of playing hardball with mainstream Muslim leaders in order to get them to stand up to terrorists. However, being out-and-out offensive to the entire Muslim world is no step forward and 10 steps back.
When some western jackass goes and draws an inflammatory cartoon just because he can, it gives extremist leaders a lifetime supply of ammunition with which to incite anti-Western sentiment throughout the rest of the world. It’s a dangerous and irresponsible choice.
I offend people every week. I go out of my way to do it. But no one has ever died because of something I’ve said. The news outlets that published the cartoons had every right to do so. But they should have exercised better judgment and decided not to.
Muslims make up 20 percent of the world’s population. With the global political climate being what it is today, we can’t afford to piss off that many people.
 

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