INSIGHT - The Metroplitan

Danish cartoons belong in dumpster
ANDREW FLOHR-SPENCE
spencand@mscd.edu

     Being the incurable news junkie that I am, the reports of rioting in the Middle East required my immediate attention. I would have to call a taxi to make it to work on time tonight, but I didn’t care. The breaking news of Muslim outrage over Danish cartoons made my delay simply unavoidable. I had to get my fix.
     Even as I climbed into the cab with only 10 minutes to get to work, all I could think about was the cartoon riots. Was the West being culturally insensitive, or were those crazy Muslims just freedom-hating again?
     Only when the driver asked me where I wanted to go, did I snap out of my crazed political stupor. His English had an exotic accent, and as the man with wild hair and coffee skin sped us off, he was already well into telling me all about the crazy drivers on the street today. I was quickly becoming well versed in the efficiency of Ethiopian driving techniques, as compared with the inferior local style.
     At first, the stories were interesting. Unfortunately, I was already showing signs of politics withdrawal. All I wanted to know was what he thought about the freedoms of Danish cartoonists, the traffic talk was not doing it for me. I could no longer fight the pressing urge. I interrupted and asked what he thought about today’s riots in reaction to Muhammad’s satirical depiction and where freedom of speech had its boundaries.
     “ You know,” he answered, “it all comes down to the mind of winners and losers, oppressor and oppressed. In the West, God is a luxury. For Muslims, God is the symbol of resistance. He is the symbol of hope and relief from their endless loss. The Muslims were a proud people and now they have nothing. God is the only thing they have left, so he is sacred. The cartoons just came at the wrong time. The Muslims think the West is mocking them when they are already suffering enough humiliation.”
     Interesting, I thought. Perhaps this was not just about the cartoons after all. We do not immediately think of artistic freedoms when we see the savage caricatures of Jews drawn during the Nazi regime in Germany, or when we see the horrendous portrayal in the popular media of      Africans during slavery, yet we expect the Muslims to have a sense of humor as their cities burn. The cartoons were offensive icing on the cake.
     Nearing my workplace, as if to close the case, the cabbie added, “Anyway, I had a brother who lived for a year in Denmark, he said it was a really rough place for foreigners.”
     Now, I was really curious. I had to get more information. Did cozy little well-behaved Denmark have a dark side?
     After slinging spaghetti for eight hours and then taking the necessary measures to ensure that the proper “job-detoxification” was underway, I sat down at the computer with my cocktail and cigarette to do a bit of cyber dumpster diving.
     Typing in “Danish cartoons” I was given 4 million or so stories that supported Danish free speech with pretty much the same opinion. It was when I searched under “Danish racism” that I really found the juicy stuff.
     One of the first hits was the European Commission on Human Rights, a department of the European Council established in 1949 to support the integration of all the different European countries and cultures into the one big happy European Union. According to them, Denmark has had a growing problem with racism that began in about 1980. Their report on human rights in Denmark, made public April 3, 2001, states, “Muslims are particularly vulnerable to racism and discrimination in Denmark. Negative stereotypes and prejudices about Muslims, as well as overgeneralizations and misperceptions about Islam, are promoted by public opinion leaders, including political elites from across the political spectrum, intellectuals and journalists.” And this was only the beginning.
     Another hit was to a magazine called The Torch, published since 1998 by students of the universities of Aarhus and Copenhagen in Denmark. The Web site is dedicated, as they say, “to expose—nationally and internationally—the increasingly racist Denmark,rr as well as the worrying loss of upholding civil rights, that has been taking place over the last decade.” The site includes a long list of links to articles published in the mainstream press reporting the rise of racism in Denmark.
     Hit after hit, the picture was becoming increasingly clear. Rather than simply being random expressions of artistic freedom, the recent drawings were actually the symptoms of a deeper, savage struggle within Danish society against the insanity of intolerance. And while they are allowed the freedom to publish such opinion, we are allowed to make our choice. Racist cartoons are trash and should be filed accordingly.