October 20, 2006
Danish Cartoons Controversy Part II Winds Down; Arla On Boycott Costs
With a week between entries, it's safe to say that the second rush of activity regarding a video of Danish political party youth making Muhammed cartoons and the publication of a Muhammed-as-pedophile cartoon on a web site and in a magazine, all in the shadow of last January's violence and political turmoil following Muhammed cartoons being run in a Denmark newspaper, has run its comparatively limited course. All that remains is the talking and the first glimpses of possible legacy:
* Egypt President Hosni Mubarak
questions how much Muslims have done on their own to damage the perception of Islam worldwide.
*
Final tally of damages for dairy giant and boycott-sufferer Arla Foods: $68 million (USD); 50 workers let go.
*
Here's an editorial explicating the "attack against Islam" theory that many feel will be the cartoons' greatest legacy: contributing to the radicalization of mainstream muslim political thinking.
*
Here's a story on what I think will be an important, underreported legacy: some countries used the heat surrounding the Danish Cartoons violence to implement a way of legally barring the timely publication of controversial material, setting a dangerous precedent for the future.
* Good news and bad news. The bad news is that the decision earlier this year by NBC's news division to not inform its readers as best it could as to the cause of worldwide political turmoil and riots by showing the Danish cartoons has led them in bizarre "fair is fair" fashion
to also not show Madonna's fake crucifixion in a November concert telecast. One supposes this is partly so Christians don't riot in the streets and burn down all 23 of America's remaining music stores. The good news is this will keep the people watching Madonna's show from becoming measurably dumber by being exposed to that moment of bad art.
posted 2:15 am PST |
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