[aldo_14]

[Egypt have been *****ing about the cartoons since about last October (it's a good way to claim Islamic credentials without pissing off major western allies too much) and the story was on the news days before the sinking, so I doubt.

Yeah what a strange coincidence it gains popular attention five months after, just when the tanker kills all those people.

The. story. broke. several. days. before. the. sinking.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4688602.stm

2 February: The editor of the French newspaper France Soir is sacked for printing the cartoons.

1 February: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint the caricatures, defying Muslim outrage.

31 January: The Danish paper apologises. The Danish prime minister welcomes the apology but defends the freedom of the press.

30 January: Gunmen raid the EU's offices in Gaza, demanding an apology over the cartoons.

26 January: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador to Denmark, while Libya says it is closing its embassy in Copenhagen.

The al-Salam Boccaccio '98 sunk on Friday 3rd February.  And did receive media coverage in Egypt; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4683182.stm

[Bobboau]

irrespective of how representative the protests are of the greater population (BTW a 'small vocal minority' of 1.3 billion still equals a damn ****ing whole ****load of people) the acctions of the governments involved is perhapse the more shocking aspect of this situation, there are ambasidors getting recalled and embasies getting closed (not to mention burned) this escalates things to more than simply 'a few angry people' as these are actual offical governmental responces and positions, you cannot simply ignor this ****.

[IPAndrews]

Careful Bobboau. I can see a fatwa with your name on it. I'm sure I'm already on the prophet's holy hitlist for my comments. Infidels must not be tolerated. Durka, durka. Mohammed jihad!

[karajorma]

you cannot simply ignor this ****.

Who's saying that you should?

[vyper]

I wish more papers would publish the bloody things. Intimidation should not stop free speech.

[Fragrag]

Since I'm Muslim, I think I should be defending my religion, but seeing that I don't know jack **** about my own religion and I might as well be an atheist, I decided I take no part into this discussion. However, in my own personal opinion, both sides are overreacting and are just making a big deal out of this

[IPAndrews]

I decided I take no part into this discussion. In my own personal opinion, both sides are overreacting

 

[Fragrag]

I decided I take no part into this discussion. In my own personal opinion, both sides are overreacting

 

Hooray for my habit of forgetting words 

[Ford Prefect]

Wow, someone ridiculed Islam. I cordially invite the Muslim world to join the ****ing club. They should take a hint from Bill O'Reilly and understand that being a windbag with no sense of humor only makes people want to push your buttons.

[Zuljin]

AFAIK the cartoons were printed in an Egyptian newspaper a couple of months after the original print in Denmark, and no one reacted to it then, so it has to be more to it than just "you insulted our religion etc".

[aldo_14]

AFAIK the cartoons were printed in an Egyptian newspaper a couple of months after the original print in Denmark, and no one reacted to it then, so it has to be more to it than just "you insulted our religion etc".

Said this earlier; fundamentalist clerics have been touring the region with the 12 cartoons plus another 3 far more offensive ones, to stir up a reaction like the one we've seen.  Egypt has also been rather vocal since that original publication, of course, but it's basically down to the more extremist elements trying to get exactly this type of situation.

[Nuclear1]

I'm classing the religion that way, but yes, same difference. On the other hand, what do you care. I'm just some guy .

Islam isn't a violent religion. In fact, Muslims actually tolerate Christians and Jews and other monotheists in the world because of their belief in one god. Muslims and Islam as a whole doesn't hate the West--radical Muslims  do.

Simply accusing the religion simply because radical clerics misuse the term jihad for violent purposes isn't valid. The Ku Klux Klan advocates killing blacks and other minorities and the Westboro Baptist Church claims that 9/11, Columbia, and Katrina were all punishments from God on the US for harboring homosexuals, but that doesn't mean they represent the whole religion.

[TrashMan]

It is a mixed up word we live in...


Now, I'm a catholic, and a devout one at that, and while I can see things that insult my religion in a way practicly daily (from jokes to drawings), I do realise that God allso has a sense of humor and satire, and as long as a certain boundry is not overstepped I can tolerate it nad laugh with others..and mind you, that boundry is pretty high..

So hte Muslims are forbidden to depict mohamed. So? the cartoonist weren't muslims.. Or do they want to fobid other wat to draw?
Allright, the picture was slightly offensive in a way, but as a satire it represented spot on what it was supposed to - that the general view of islam in the West is shifting towards a dangerous thing.

Now, since I belive God = Alah (aka - same God, only it approached people in a differnt way, and over the generations that small differnece in approahc was overblown..the core values are hte same), then I can fully understand if they are insulted...
But any man must learn to roll with the punches some times. It's not worht such a comotion - hell, you can protest, or stop buyng hte paper - but this? Such sensless violence is unaceptable no matter what.
Not to mention that totaly inocent peopel got killed.

However, what shocked me even more is the statements of some muslim imams (religious leaders) that after condoning such violense and claming that Islam is a tolerant and peacefull religion (which it is is according to what I read in the Kuran), they proclamed that they will suggest a fatva against those who started this riots!?!?!?

for those of you who don't know, a fatva is basicly a assasination blessing - it means that it's OK to kill whichever person the fatva was called against and it will not be considered a crime. Does that sound peacefull or non-violent to you? Who the hell put him in the position of Imam in the first place? Sadly, too many like him are imams...waay to many.

I allways considered Islam a bit strange, but brotherly religion - but these recent events are putting my beliefs to the test.

[aldo_14]

@TM

A Fatwah is a religious edict, nothing more or less.  As there is no central body akin to the Vatican that 'rules' Islam, there's a great deal of debate of what qualifies someone to issue a Fatwah; the end result being that it's not a binding decree (where the law is based on the religion, obviously, that differs, and there is usually some debate)  - for example, a Shia muslim would favour the fatwa of a Shia cleric over Sunni.  The assasination/violence Fatwahs are very misrepresentative of the fatwah concept in general.

[Nix]

It's one thing to have someone do something stupid, and get mad at that person for doing it it's irrational when a religious group - wether it be a radical group part of a bigger, general group, or an entire religious body - blames another country totally unrelated to the matter at hand for what happened.

Yes, we have to realize that a lot of the people involved in the protests probably do not represent all Muslims rather, they represent thier interpretation of Islam.  If America starts sinking to that level of ignorance, then we're just as bad as the radicals.

[Mefustae]

IMO, the Newspapers should back the f*** down. Honestly, defending 'free speech' is one thing, but re-printing said cartoons only provides fuel for the already raging fire. Yes, certain individuals are exacerbating the situation for some reason, but that does not alleviate those European Newspapers of blame for the situation. The mobs of rioters will never back down, and so the responsibility of resolving this situation as quickly as possible falls entirely on those printing the articles. Free Speech is not under threat here, innocent lives are.

[BlackDove]

The. story. broke. several. days. before. the. sinking.

To. pre-empt. the. ****. that. was. about. to. happen.

Again, just my paranoid theory.

[aldo_14]

The. story. broke. several. days. before. the. sinking.

To. pre-empt. the. ****. that. was. about. to. happen.

Again, just my paranoid theory.

So, they planned a sinking in order just because a 5 month old story was going to spin up?  That is rather, er, paranoid.

[TrashMan]

I seen a few of those cartoon..

Some of them are really good - like one of two terrorists knocking on the heavens door and getting a reply "sorry, we ran out of virgins, try somewhere else". Now that is funny...and no Mohamed in it eitehr...

Hell, people should learn to relax and undersant comedy and satire.. I too tell jokes that invole Jesus or Peter, despite being a christian. Granted, I don't tell greasy jokes about htem, only more standard ones, but  a arab (doesn't even look like Mohamed- who calimed it was him anyway?) with a turban bomb is satiric and spot on(gets the point over).

Meh...the world is totaly f*** up...

[Bobboau]

"Mohamed! with a bomb on his head! that's offinceive as it implys we are all a bunch of violent thugs! lets kill people and burn there embacies untill they stop doing things in there country that we wouldn't do in ours" - the Muslum world