Freedom of Speech?

I read this morning that an Iranian newspaper is organising a competition for controversial cartoons. I was thinking that they’re undoubtedly going to be anti-Danish. I was wrong; the Hamshahri is looking for the best dozen pictures depicting the Holocaust, no doubt in retaliation for the Danish 12.
This eye for an eye business really worries me. I don’t think that anyone will even consider strolling down to their local Iranian Consulate/Embassy to set the place alight.

The very art of cartooning is to emphasise a particular issue while tying it to another, much like writing headlines for newspapers. A headline that sticks from George Galloway’s time on Celebrity Big brother was Give Puss The Boot from The Sun or The Record. It linked Boy George’s silly cat behaviour with a feline character from a movie (Puss in Boots).
Cartooning has the same idea. In yesterday’s Australian, Bill Leak had a cartoon of Tony Abbott looking very distressed as a hand (female obviously) tore away a sheet of paper which had “RU 486 Total Birth Control” written. Abbott is crying, and says “My Baby! They’re Killing My Baby”. The caption underneath read “Tony Abbott shows his feminine side.” This has managed to combine the Health Minister’s staunch pro-life views on abortion, the stripping of his ministerial power and I feel a slight suggestion to his admission he played Vatican Roulette. You can google the Vatican Roulette yourself if you’re that interested.

But back to Iran. Their President (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) has previously suggested that the Holocaust was a “myth” and that Israel needed to be wiped off the map. This goes to the heart of some who originally published the offending cartoons. French secondary school education places the Holocaust at the very center of their history. The big delineations rightly occur during WWI and II, but the Holocaust is seen as an integral part of WW2. I don’t think a subject like the Holocaust would be given such prominence within schools in Iran. The editors published the cartoons without fully foreseeing the backlash that might occur, as in most cases, these are treated as fair comment. It didn’t end up that way, and so we can see the cultural divide enlarging (as many left leaning media have been pushing). I do note that they originally appeared in the Danish papers, but they seemed to have picked up when they were published in France.

 

In my opinion, anyone should be able to publish the dozen without fear of being marauded by their local vigilantes. Right blogger par excellence Tim Blair had no qualms in publishing them all. It all comes down to reasonable behaviour. I don’t get offended when Jesus, or my religion is satirized. Does anyone remember Piss Christ, the photograph where a plastic crucifix could be seen bathing in (was it the author’s?) urine? Sure, it was a little distasteful, but it didn’t ignite a hate so deep as to entail torching an embassy. In fact, it would take a lot for me to be offended. If others had been able to laugh off the jokes made at their expense, we wouldn’t need the diatribe spurting from everyone with an opinion (including myself!)