Sunday, February 05, 2006

Cartoon controversy - Few questions

The cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) were first published by Danish newspaper. Several European newspapers have caused outrage in the Muslim world by republishing them in support of the vague concept, freedom of press. Two issues involved here are depiction itself and its offensive content. Let us just ask few questions first - only questions.
  1. How do you draw a line between "freedom of press" and "civic responsibility"?
  2. Do we understand the difference between "freedom of power" and "freedom of expression"?
  3. Can racially, or otherwise, offending abuses be justified in the name of freedom of expression?
  4. Is creating fear is the only way through which abuses can be stopped?
  5. Why do people, who say they are deeply hurt seeing their national flags burnt, are not able to see the hurt caused to the people by their "freedom of expression"?
  6. In our society where symbols have an extraordinary sense of importance and meaning, do media have enough maturity to glorify and/or demean those symbols?
  7. Why do we accept a societal model where innocents suffer?
  8. Does scientific outlook, whatever that means, have anything to contribute constructively in the above issues?

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