Your Danish Cartoons Hangover Update

* today is Everybody Draw Muhammad Day, a free-expression stunt and collective statement of support for beleaguered cartoon artists who have pissed off a subset of stridently political activists with their own portraits of the Prophet. It's a tricky thing from my vantage point. People have the right to draw whatever they want, and that's indeed something to celebrate, but one of the more noxious things about the original Danish Cartoons Controversy is that it was an unnecessary stunt by a business that enjoyed, like it or not, a role as a civic institution. That role might not supersede the requirements of journalism when it comes to informing one's readership -- a test nearly every journalistic entity in the world got an F-minus on in early 2006 -- but it can be argued that it trumps the paucity of wisdom required to engage in touchy political points outside of that journalistic role. I would argue that, anyway. So I think there's some nuance there.

* so in case there was any question, I won't be drawing Muhammad today, mostly because I suck balls at portraiture but also because I feel that CR's support for the free speech issues involved has been best displayed through our constant and consistent hosting and publication of the Danish images since Fall 2005, the contextual republication of one or more of those images every time our journalistic mission has called for it, and our constant attention to the issues swirling around this matter. So this site will pass. Still, I recognize everyone else's right to draw whatever the heck they want. I hope some of them are funny, and I hope any attempt to use them to rile people up into some paranoid, unfortunate political reaction dies in the early stages. While folks have a right to be pissed at this happening, they don't have a right to to cross the line into intimidation and violence.

* Michael Cavna explores the event from the perspective of working political cartoonists.

* at the time I'm writing this, there hasn't been a severe reaction to the event anywhere in the world. I hope that holds, but if you want an update before tomorrow the wire reports found through Google News or any similar service will be sensitive to these stories today. Many believe the event was a factor, if not the factor, in driving Pakistan to ban YouTube for sacrilegious content.
 
posted 9:00 am PST | Permalink
 

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