I used to get in trouble for drawing cartoons all the time. In middle school, that is. And the only time I come close to being burned in effigy is when I attempt to draw portraits of women. The recent inflammations caused by caricatures of the prophet Muhammad are most disturbing. Of course the irony is that the cartoons were considered offensive in "characterizing Muslims as violent extremists", which incited Muslims in Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and other countries to protests and acts of extreme violence directed towards Danish people, businesses and embassies.
To see a timeline of the events leading up to the current protests, click here. Technorati ranks the jyllands-posten+mohammed tags as number one today.
Visit Wikipedia to see what the hubbub is all about and to see the cartoons themselves.
From Wikipedia:
The drawings, which include a depiction of Muhammad with a bomb on his head, were meant as satirical illustrations accompanying an article on self-censorship and freedom of speech. Jyllands-Posten commissioned twelve cartoonists to draw them and published the cartoons in response to the difficulty that Danish writer Kåre Bluitgen had finding artists to illustrate his children's book about Muhammad, because the artists feared violent attacks by extremistidolatry, a form of aniconism. In the past there have been non-satirical depictions of Muhammad by Muslims; however, a significant number of Muslims have publicly indicated their perception that the Jyllands-Posten cartoons imply that all Muslims are terrorists, by depicting Muhammad carrying a bomb in his turban and collaborating with terrorists (by receiving them in heaven). This generalisation comes in the context of perceived Islamophobia, and has led to the recent escalation of the controversy. Muslims. Islamic teachings forbid the depiction of Muhammad as a measure against
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