The Cartoons - Not Again

Here we go again , at least 17 dannish news papers reprinted the Blasphamous Cartoons ... I would like to clarify that i am not questioning anybody's right of freedom of speech here , though i strongly believe that there must be some limits , so that nobody can use this right to insult someone . I wud like my readers to take into account the difference between insult and disaccord.. I too have a birth right to express my views freely , but i wud happily give up my right if i know my words would hurt someone's feelings ... Definitely there do comes some responsibility when journalists do their job . This blog is divided into three segments ... Empathy - is the key word here . We need to understand each others emotions to make this world a better place . First let's analyze what is common image of Muslims in most of teh western society . One of the most common view about Muslims is that they are a <strong>bunch of savages </strong>and they want to occupy the Free world and take them down to their level . Now this is a terrible misunderstanding and to clear it , a delibrate study of Islam as a religion and the Muslim culture itself wud be needed for which i m not a suitable person . What i am trying to express here demands mere common sense and a neutral approach towards Islam or Muslims . When ever u study about history of Modern science ... u get to know about the Greeks and then there is a Dark age , with little or no scientific developement , spanning for about a 1000 years , and then there's renaissance . But infact there is selective history writing and intentional erasing of the Islamic role in the development of knowledge . "If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilisation owe to the Islamic world. It is a failure, which stems, I think, from the straight-jacket of history, which we have inherited. The medieval Islamic world, from central Asia to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. But because we have tended to see Islam as the enemy of the West, as an alien culture, society, and system of belief, we have tended to ignore or erase its great relevance to our own history." -<strong> Prince Charles, Heir to the British Monarchy in a recent public speech at Oxford University . </strong><strong> </strong>There are many documentaries and might also be books ( do some search) around which can lead u to the missing history . <strong> </strong>Here are some of the documentaries i've seen and wud recommend : <strong> An Islamic history of Europe </strong> by BBC<strong> </strong><strong>When Moores ruled in Europe </strong>by<strong> </strong>BBc<strong> What Ancients did for us - </strong>The Islamic World by Channel 4<strong> </strong> That's it for the introduction part . Of one thing i am certain that u wud never find any Muslim , insulting Jesus . Y ? because its part of our belief , if we donot believe in Jesus as a messenger of God , then we r not Muslims. I forgot the exact wordings of the Quranic verse which asserts on focusing on the similarities and neglecting the differences .... Now , this is the way to go . Respecting/tolerating the dissimilarities and considering upon the similarities . Iranians question the holocaust and the whole western secular / non-secular media starts bashing them . Y this kind of self-righteousness and double standards ???? Yes, i have to admit that way Muslims protested in their country was sometimes violent . But what else can u expect from an angry mob with uneducated people ( as it was in most of the cases ) . Further more ,when these people feel so side-lined and looked down upon by esp. the western media , they become desperately angry .... Chronology of Cartoon row 30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons 20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM 10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons 26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador 30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology 31 Jan: Danish paper apologises 1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons 4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus 5 Feb: Protesters sack Danish embassy in Beirut 6-7 Feb: At least eight killed in Afghanis This shows that muslims very peacefully protested at the cartoons. It was only after the danish PM arrogantly refused to meet and take the protest note of the 11 muslim ambassadors, that noway reprinted the cartoons, that the controversy begain to spill over to protests in the muslim world. And now we have it in action<br />