Canadians on the Danish Muhammad Cartoons issue

Here is an example of a forum that I posted to today. It is about one of the issues in which I am most interested and involved: the 2006 crisis and controversy about Danish Muhammad cartoons. Specifically, this is about a Canadian editor who published the cartoons and has been called to testify about it in front of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. He then gave an indignant opening comment about his 'freedom' and questioning the commission's legitimacy. He has been called hero by some bloggers. The whole thing has caused a flurry of blogging. My comment is near the bottom at the moment, but here is what I wrote:

This is one of the best forums I've seen about this issue (the cartoons issue, that is)! About 99% of what you see online is people raging about 'Eurabia', Sharia, 'freedom' and all kinds of other bigoted xenophobic nonsense. About 99% of the remaining 1% seems to be written by Muslims. I am glad to see some varying viewpoints from the West. Well done Canadians! :)

1. Media has real power. What is printed reflects, represents and influences public opinion in no small way. The reprinting of the the cartoons itself was the issue at hand. The media itself was a central actor in events, so printing the cartoons was not simply about reporting the news. I could care less about people's actual beliefs, but it is a different thing for me to say that people who believe something are idiots and for a mainstream newspaper - many mainstream newspapers, not to mention politicians and seemingly society as a whole - to attack an already marginalized group.

2. Muslims are a group. The nature of the cartoons was a religious reference, but, as a group, Muslims felt assaulted. And they had good reason to. Muslims may not be a minority in terms of global numbers, but in Europe, they most certainly are. In the world as well, they are overwhelmingly poor and, at least in the way that many see themselves, living in the shadow of Western dominance.

A professor of Islamic studies who I saw speak on this topic said that when he saw the cartoons, his first reaction was fear for the safety of his Muslim wife and children. I think that says a lot.