Cartoons and Caricatures

John Simpson has an excellent point. He says the fracas over the Danish cartoons and "the Muslim world's" response is over-hyped and damaging. He asks, "How did a series of not particularly well-drawn or funny cartoons, published on 30 September in a Danish newspaper, produce such anger in Europe and the Middle East four months later?" He answers by saying that it is a small but vocal minority of Muslims taking part, their responses mostly fueled by local tensions and political necessities.

It is not the entire Muslim world rising up to demand censorship and revenge. If anything, the West's envisioning of that scenario only makes it more difficult for moderates in Muslim societies to present their rather reasonable case that they would prefer it if their religious figures had not been caricatured. Christians and Jews often demand the same.

By seeing this as a grand struggle between cultures, we make it impossible to see the large area of common understanding and the space for moderate debate that exists. This, in turn, frustrates the moderates in Muslim societies, further convincing them that the West will never see anything but fanaticism when it looks in their direction. This is not the interaction we need, especially at a time when the West has completely internalized the Neoconservative premise that we will conquer Muslim hearts and minds, winning over the Middle-East to the side of democracy and liberty. If moderates in the Muslim world are further convinced we see all 1.2 billion Muslims as "radical islamofascists" just waiting for any provocation to start burning down embassies, what hope can they have that we will make good faith efforts to fulfill our promises, rebuild where we invade, respect their cultures, and not simply go for regime change everywhere there's an anti-American or anti-European demonstration?

It is not the fact of the silly cartoons being published that should be condemned. I have a rather extreme prejudice in favor of the freedom of expression, even offensive and stupid expression. No, the fault lies in the more subtle caricature of a Muslim World in generalized rebellion. The press must be careful not to take every chance to proclaim that another battle in the grand Clash of Civilizations has begun. It is the surest way to prolong the catastrophic lack of trust and understanding that fuels the real guerilla war.

As Simpson rightly says, "the [protesting] groups with their ill-spelt placards are just an unrepresentative, repudiated fringe. In much the same way, we should not think the entire Muslim world is in flames about it. But we must understand that many Muslims around the world feel increasingly beleaguered. Increasing that sense will do nothing to help anyone."