I am getting angry now.
I’ve haven’t posted anything about the Danish cartoon controversy (well, okay, I haven’t posted anything for a while, but hey), partially because the absurdity of the whole situation makes me want to block it out of my everyday consciousness. People dying for freedom of speech is nothing new, of course, and I’m willing to concede that there are ideas one might give one’s life for (I, too, am meme-infected), but dying for cartoons is just a little too much. Nevertheless, having viewed the cartoons and concluded that at least from my point of view the most offensive thing about them is that they are not funny, I’ve mostly actively ignored the issue. But as memes go, the terror and panic associated to the cartoons has suddenly entered the pandemic stage and has reached Finland. And that’s hitting too close to home.
A periodical called Kaltio focusing on the arts published in my former University town, Oulu, just sacked its editor-in-chief because of the response generated by a comic by Ville Ranta, a sublimely talented young Finnish comic artist. Earlier, Kaltio took down the comic from its website due to demands made by some of its biggest advertisers (insurance companies Sampo and Tapiola, whose services I will henceforth avoid).
I’m appalled and saddened by this decision and the associated response in the press. I’ve met Ville personally a few times and have tremendous admiration for his work —- his graphic novel Sade is one of the most ambitious Finnish graphic novels in recent years, and it looks like he is on his way towards well-deserved success abroad as well.
The alleged source of controversy can stil be found on the web, even though Kaltio’s site is still down —- see the English version for yourselves. The comic speaks for itself. There is no reason to run away from it screaming: it is an intelligent, thinking person’s response to the Danish cartoon debate. It does feature a self-conscious incarnation of Prophet Mohammed, wearing a carneval mask, who engages in a verbal and a physical duel with Ville’s alter ego, but in the end the only people who should find it offensive are Finnish politicians.
The Danish cartoons themselves were a (admittedly somewhat misguided) commentary on freedom of speech, and I cannot help but thinking that this hysterical response to the commentary of a commentary is getting ridiculously recursive. Are graphical representations of Mohammed such a potent chemical —- an ideological equivalent of botulin toxin —- that they cannot be diluted by any remixing whatsoever? Even when treated with honesty and respect, as Ville does?
I don’t think so.
Although peaceful protest is a fundamental right in any free society but violent protest on this issue must be condemned. Having said that, I can understand Muslim anger and the cartoons are indeed extremely insulting. How would we feel if papers in the Middle East publish similar cartoons depicting Jesus or Moses as terrorist? After all Israel’s occupation is justified by Jewish version of World’s history. Also, President Bush is busy in his crusades in the Muslim world. I guess freedom of speech has become a selective phenomenon in Western cultures. For example, you cannot question the Holocaust, otherwise you go to jail, but you can insult a religion. I thing we need to admit this hypocrisy and self-righteous attitude in Western societies.