Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons

[kraf001]

Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons

Gwladys Fouché
Monday February 6, 2006


Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today.
The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.
In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten.
Zieler received an email back from the paper's Sunday editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: "I don't think Jyllands-Posten's readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them."
The illustrator said: "I see the cartoons as an innocent joke, of the type that my Christian grandfather would enjoy."
"I showed them to a few pastors and they thought they were funny."
But the Jyllands-Posten editor in question, Mr Kaiser, said that the case was "ridiculous to bring forward now. It has nothing to do with the Muhammad cartoons.
"In the Muhammad drawings case, we asked the illustrators to do it. I did not ask for these cartoons. That's the difference," he said.
"The illustrator thought his cartoons were funny. I did not think so. It would offend some readers, not much but some."
The decision smacks of "double-standards", said Ahmed Akkari, spokesman for the Danish-based European Committee for Prophet Honouring, the umbrella group that represents 27 Muslim organisations that are campaigning for a full apology from Jyllands-Posten.
"How can Jyllands-Posten distinguish the two cases? Surely they must understand," Mr Akkari added.
Meanwhile, the editor of a Malaysian newspaper resigned over the weekend after printing one of the Muhammad cartoons that have unleashed a storm of protest across the Islamic world.
Malaysia's Sunday Tribune, based in the remote state of Sarawak, on Borneo island, ran one of the Danish cartoons on Saturday. It is unclear which one of the 12 drawings was reprinted.
Printed on page 12 of the paper, the cartoon illustrated an article about the lack of impact of the controversy in Malaysia, a country with a majority Muslim population.
The newspaper apologised and expressed "profound regret over the unauthorised publication", in a front page statement on Sunday.
"Our internal inquiry revealed that the editor on duty, who was responsible for the same publication, had done it all alone by himself without authority in compliance with the prescribed procedures as required for such news," the statement said. The editor, who has not been named, regretted his mistake, apologised and tendered his resignation, according to the statement.


http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1703500,00.html


So it's ok to provoke Muslims but not Christians? So much for freedom of speech.:cantbeli:

[Jaeger07]

Errr, the problem isn't really the publication itself, but the following reaction.

I don't see christians burning down Matt Stone & Trey Parkers house for drawing "Jesus and pals" on South Park.

I think we can all agree that it was insensitive and rude to publish the toons. That however, does not in any way legitimize the reaction we have seen around the world the last week.

[kraf001]

Errr, the problem isn't really the publication itself, but the following reaction.

I don't see christians burning down Matt Stone & Trey Parkers house for drawing "Jesus and pals" on South Park.

I think we can all agree that it was insensitive and rude to publish the toons. That however, does not in any way legitimize the reaction we have seen around the world the last week.
you see the problem is not the extremist, I mean who are we kidding here they don't really need anyone to draw cartoons to get offended... BUT the problem is that the message from Europe was Muslims should get over themselves and get used to living in Europe... they were told that they are here to be equally treated with any other religion.. now if the newspaper reserves the right to not publish Jesus cartoons, why not treat the Muslims equal to those Christians that would have gotten offended by Jesus cartoons... you see there are more than 1 billion Muslims around the world and all of them are pissed off... if they were all reacting the same way you are suggesting then we were in the middle of WWIII by now... in reality European media sent the message of "how the readers feel about the material is not going to set limit for media" and tried to justify the action by using umbrella of freedom of speech.. but after reading this I say bull****!!

[joka]

I would love to actually see these images, the article states that the images weren't funny. They have a newspaper to run, you can't expect that they publish every single cartoon just for the sake of publishing them.

[joshfox0]

So much for freedom of speech.:cantbeli:

:cantbeli::cantbeli:no this is freedom of speech in action :cantbeli::cantbeli:
You see through Western democracy we have acheeved somthing called personal freedom and personal decisions. It is quite clearly up to the news papers editor (which note may have changed since the jesus thing) and his own personal discression. he has his freedom to choose.

[kraf001]

:cantbeli::cantbeli:no this is freedom of speech in action :cantbeli::cantbeli:
You see through Western democracy we have acheeved somthing called personal freedom and personal decisions. It is quite clearly up to the news papers editor (which note may have changed since the jesus thing) and his own personal discression. he has his freedom to choose.
that is your interspersion of freedom of speech... I can only agree to disagree with you on that matter as the guy is clearly saying he is worried about reaction of others in Jesus case but not the Muhammad case... it can't get any clearer than that...

[joshfox0]

that is your interspersion of freedom of speech... I can only agree to disagree with you on that matter as the guy is clearly saying he is worried about reaction of others in Jesus case but not the Muhammad case... it can't get any clearer than that...

hrmm ok agree to disagree and yes i do agree it is double standards however as another poster said If the pictures just wern't funny or an interesting social comment then they wouldn't have been printed.

[kraf001]

I would love to actually see these images, the article states that the images weren't funny. They have a newspaper to run, you can't expect that they publish every single cartoon just for the sake of publishing them.
actually this is exactly the point here... they can’t/shouldn’t publish anything they want and some of the Muhammad cartoons were part those things!.. it is not about them being funny or not as most of the racist jokes are funny but that doesn't make them less offensive now, does it?

[Jaeger07]

I will clearify (and I think we have pretty much the same view on this matter):

It was immoral and rude to publish the toons by the danish paper. The paper did not let the muslims have anything to say in the "debate". If they wanted to test of freedom of speech, they should have included muslims in a healthy debate on critisism of religion - not insult their religion and wait for reactions.

With that said: The paper did not brake the law, as you know we have freedom of expression and speech in europe. The majority of the muslims in europe are aware of this, and cherish this right, they have mostly demonstrated their frustration in a peacefull way.

Further: There is nothing the government can do to restrict these kinds of expressions (then there would be no freedom of speech) - and muslims have no extraordinary law-protection for islam (other than various very unactive blasphemy-laws - wich also apply for other religions). And this is the core problem of the matter - because the laws in other muslim countries are so different; The laws there explicitly forbids any violation or insult of the Quran and islam.

It may seem unfair but the freedom of speech also is a freedom to insult. This may be hard to tolerate for some.

[GatorRaider]

I really like how people have framed this whole thing as a free speech issue. This isn't about freedom of speech, it's about using common sense and about treating other people's cultures with as much respect as you treat yours. While, like Jaeger said, this doesn't condone or legitimize the violent reaction, it does in a way legitimize the angry sentiment behind it. I mean, it looks pretty obvious to me that the editors of Jyllands-Posten have no respect for the Muslim community or the Muslim faith. While I'm in no way in favor of burning cars and buildings over a couple of cartoons, I've got to say that I think the Danish are in the wrong here.

[Freibier]

So it's ok to provoke Muslims but not Christians? So much for freedom of speech.:cantbeli: As long as it is in europe, yes it is!
You guys really should mind you own businesses and stop lecturing us about freedom of speech - as long as you don't allow freedom of speech in your own countries and as long as you can't accept basic human rights - you better shut up.

[Jaeger07]

... I mean, it looks pretty obvious to me that the editors of Jyllands-Posten have no respect for the Muslim community or the Muslim faith. While I'm in no way in favor of burning cars and buildings over a couple of cartoons, I've got to say that I think the Danish are in the wrong here.


You cannot blame the "Danish" for the expressions of "the editors of Jyllands-Posten"


Once again i'ts important to understand exactly what freedom of speech is.

[shire19]

As long as it is in europe, yes it is!
You guys really should mind you own businesses and stop lecturing us about freedom of speech - as long as you don't allow freedom of speech in your own countries and as long as you can't accept basic human rights - you better shut up.
You talk as if European Muslims dont exist.

[shire19]

I would love to actually see these images, the article states that the images weren't funny. They have a newspaper to run, you can't expect that they publish every single cartoon just for the sake of publishing them.

The Danish newspaper AFAIK published the pictures to "test the boundaries of expression about Islam" apperantly.

[kraf001]

As long as it is in europe, yes it is!
You guys really should mind you own businesses and stop lecturing us about freedom of speech - as long as you don't allow freedom of speech in your own countries and as long as you can't accept basic human rights - you better shut up.

easy there buddy, I never tried to explain what is happening in Denmark in respect to the laws of my country... well unless you think Iran sets the bar for everyone... then there is no point arguing matters anyways...

[annihilation]

I really like how people have framed this whole thing as a free speech issue. This isn't about freedom of speech, it's about using common sense and about treating other people's cultures with as much respect as you treat yours. While, like Jaeger said, this doesn't condone or legitimize the violent reaction, it does in a way legitimize the angry sentiment behind it. I mean, it looks pretty obvious to me that the editors of Jyllands-Posten have no respect for the Muslim community or the Muslim faith. While I'm in no way in favor of burning cars and buildings over a couple of cartoons, I've got to say that I think the Danish are in the wrong here.

Well at its basic core its about freedom of speech, all the good about it and all thats bad about it. Granted you are right that some common sense should have been used with the cartoons. Sure they have a right to be angry about it. But what makes them so special that we can't draw a cartoon? Sure the magazine decline cartoons of Jesus. But how many other magazines out there in europe or in the usa didn't?

Also it doesn't seem they have no problem to offend us at any given chance. The cartoons about jews are down right racist. The burning of flags is just insulting to anyone of that nation.

[GatorRaider]

You cannot blame the "Danish" for the expressions of "the editors of Jyllands-Posten"


Once again i'ts important to understand exactly what freedom of speech is. OK, that's fair, but my point still stands. This isn't about "can" or "can't." This is about should or shouldn't. I'm 100% in favor of free speech. I don't dispute that Jyllands-Posten can print those caricatures. They have every right to do so. But common sense and basic respect for others' culture and beliefs should have told them "we shouldn't print this."


Well at its basic core its about freedom of speech, all the good about it and all thats bad about it. Granted you are right that some common sense should have been used with the cartoons. Sure they have a right to be angry about it. But what makes them so special that we can't draw a cartoon? Sure the magazine decline cartoons of Jesus. But how many other magazines out there in europe or in the usa didn't?

Also it doesn't seem they have no problem to offend us at any given chance. The cartoons about jews are down right racist. The burning of flags is just insulting to anyone of that nation.
I still don't think it's about freedom of speech. Like I said, it's not about can, but about should. And yeah, you've got a point about their cartoons, but are we really going to defend our actions like that? That seems like a pretty weak defense to me, no offense.

[annihilation]

I still don't think it's about freedom of speech. Like I said, it's not about can, but about should. And yeah, you've got a point about their cartoons, but are we really going to defend our actions like that? That seems like a pretty weak defense to me, no offense.

I think its a lame excuse more than a weak excuse but never the less a valid excuse. Why should we have to play the moral high ground or be better? The rest of the world gets away with murder and yet we have to play by a whole new set of rules. Rules that are so rigid that when someone makes a mistake, people scream and bitch. Thats how they are beating us with this unfair double standard. I'm tired of this bull**** and there short fuse. 9/11 comes around and they scream for understanding, compassion and that not everyone is like that. Where is the understanding and compassion now. If we have to be held by a higher standard then so should everyone else. If not then its not worth playing the higher standard. You don't get a gold star for effort and fairness in real life.

[Avary]

In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten.
Been there, done that. This is a non-issue.

[Red]

The Danish newspaper AFAIK published the pictures to "test the boundaries of expression about Islam" apperantly.
Yup,they wanted to see if cartonist would self-sensor themselves becuase due to fear of reprisals from the Islamist types in Denmark.(Theo Van Gough ring a bell).