In the harsh and irrational world we live in today, there is a fine line between exercising one's right to free speech and being reckless. Denmark's leading newspapers tested such a barrier on Wednesday when they re-printed comics of the prophet Muhammad on their pages. When they were first published in 2005 by the the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, the comics caused mass riots in many Islamic countries and resulted in the burning of Danish embassies in Syria, Lebanon and Iran.
On Feb. 12, three men were arrested and accused of plotting to kill Kurt Westergaard, the original artist of the comics. In an act of solidarity, the Danish newspapers reprinted the comics the very next day to display their firm belief in the value of free speech despite threats of violence.
In defense of their actions, a representative of Berlingske Tidende, one of the several daily Denmark-based newspapers that reprinted the comics, stated, "We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper will always defend."
In a column he wrote for The Washington Post in February 2006, Flemming Rose, editor of the Jyllands-Posten wrote, "We cannot apologize for our right to publish material, even offensive material. You cannot edit a newspaper if you are paralyzed by worries about every possible insult."
He also mentioned in the column that the same cartoonist who drew the image of Muhammad has also drawn comics that included a picture of Jesus on the cross with dollar signs in his eyes as well as a Star of David attached to a bomb fuse. He also noted that neither of those comics resulted in the burning of embassies or death threats following their being printed.
The comics were deemed blasphemous in some sects of Islam because numerous passages in the Quran prohibit idolatry, as well as the worshipping of statues or pictures. While the Quran itself does not explicitly forbid pictures and drawings of Muhammad, doing so is still discouraged by some hadiths, or supplementary Islamic traditions.
The Dutch newspapers sent a clear message by republishing the comics: They are not scared. While some may assume Islam would be considered too taboo a subject after the uproar in 2005, the reprinting of the comics was an attempt to clearly affirm that no subject is off-limits to publication or criticism.
While reprinting the comics may be seen as an act of provocation rather than a message advocating free speech, the newspapers are still well within their rights to print them. If every other religion is fair game for criticism, there's no reason the Islamic faith should be excluded. While the comics themselves, one of which depicted Muhammad with a fuse coming out of his turban, were most definitely in poor taste, the violent response they received was by no means justified. After all, murdering Westergaard surely wouldn't have debunked the content of the comics that depicted Muslims as radicals. No matter how firm radical Islamists hold their beliefs in relation to their faith, they must know that the majority of the free world is just as firm in its beliefs in relation to their rights. No threat of violence will change this.
Thomas Jefferson once stated, "Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." If we are to live in a civil society, we must be able to have freedom of press with no subject proscribed. While the means of achieving such a society may not be civil, the ultimate end is certainly worth the hardship.
Treadway is a radio-television-film sophomore.
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