The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #88465   Message #1703951
Posted By: CarolC
27-Mar-06 - 01:22 PM
Thread Name: BS: The right to insult and cause offence
Subject: RE: BS: The right to insult and cause offence
I've read the timeline you posted, bfdk, and it's not at all comprehensive. In fact, it's a perfect example of what I have been talking about with regard to the bias that the Western press has blatantly exhibited in its reportage of this situation.

The timeline you posted only addresses violence committed by extremist Muslims in response to the cartoons and a couple of other incidents. It doesn't mention anything whatever about the efforts of more moderate Muslims to get the issue of the practice of discrimination against Muslims by the Western media and Western governments addressed.

It doesn't say anything at all about anger on the part of non-extremist Muslims when they couldn't get their letters to the editor published. Or the many peaceful protests by non-extremist Muslims that preceded the violent protests. It doesn't say anything at all about the issues that are causing the non-extremist Muslims (the ones you say you don't have anything against) to feel that they are being ignored and discriminated against by your government and the governments of other Western countries. And also their anger over the fact that forces from your country, along with other Western countries are, as we speak, in Iraq killing Muslims.

The Western press (including the press in your own country) are trying to separate all of these factors from the issue of anger over the depiction of the Prophet in the cartoons, because it serves a particular set of agendas to separate these issues. But many moderate Muslims are saying that it's not the depictions of the Prophet that are at the core of the controversy. They are saying that for them, it is about blatant racism and descrimination against Muslims generally by Western governments and by Western media. The fact that you don't seem to know about these larger issues and the feelings of non-extremist Muslims about them, and the peaceful efforts of moderate Muslims to get their grievances addressed through non-violent means, shows that the media in your country is not reporting these things.