CNN update on Mo'toons protests.

From a recent article on CNN.com, with comments from me:

About half a million Muslims turned a Beirut religious ceremony into a peaceful protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed

Ok good. Protest is ok. Peaceful protest is good.

the crowds chanted with fists raised. "Death to America, Death to Israel."

"Death to...."? That doesn't sound terribly peaceful.
And why is anger directed at the US and Israel? I thought it was Denmark that did the big damage here.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah urged the faithful this year to take a stand against the cartoons.

"...let (U.S. President) George Bush and the arrogant world know that if we have to ... we will defend our prophet with our blood, not our voices."

Another threat. I guess "peaceful" is a relative term.

He said there would be no compromise until Denmark apologizes for the cartoons and the European Parliament and national assemblies in Europe ban the media from insulting Mohammed.

Fan-freakin-tastic. A demand for censorship to be put in place under threat of violence.

"Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes, and the world ought to call them on it," [Condoleeza] Rice said..

Seems to be the case, doesn't it? It does seem as if some groups are appropriating this issue and conflating a Danish newspaper with the west, and the issue with general east/west relations. Kind of like how Bush conflated the 9/11 attacks with the Iraq war.

[Syria's ambassador said], "We believe that if somebody would tell Secretary Rice that Syria is not the party that occupies Iraq and is not the party that occupies the West Bank and Gaza, then probably she would know it is not Syria who is actually fueling anti-Western sentiments."

OOOhh got you there Condi. Excellent point. So on the east/west scoreboard we have....

The Malaysian government has suspended the printing license of a newspaper that printed one of the cartoons.

Censorship in action.

Five Muslim groups in Singapore have issued a joint statement saying they objected to "any forms of violence by fellow Muslims who have responded emotionally to the issue." While media outlets that reprinted the cartoons were insensitive to Muslim feelings, the group said, "being overly emotional and responding irrationally and violently will only intensify the negative image that others have toward Islam."

Very true. Good to note, muslim protesters of the world!

A European Union commissioner said European media should consider adopting a voluntary code of conduct to avoid a repeat of the cartoon furor. Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper such a self-regulating charter would encourage the media to show "prudence" when covering religion.

Recommending self-censorship. And what happens if someone doesn't comply? Will it be state, EU, or even UN enforced?

The Danish newspaper at the heart of the controversy said it would not publish Holocaust cartoons being submitted for a contest for an Iranian newspaper. Carsten Juste, the editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten, made the announcement hours after one of the paper's editors told CNN the paper would print the Holocaust cartoons.

See I thought it was just really funny when I heard Iran was doing this. I mean I don't think they realize that that is a surefire way to lose their argument and become total hypocrites. Still, I guess they were able to show the hypocrisy of Jullands-Posten, so it wasn't a total waste.

Three editors and a staff writer at the New York Press, a weekly alternative newspaper, resigned after being ordered not to publish reprints of the Danish cartoons...

Excellent. Censorship on home turf. Woopee! It get's more and more fun.

Meanwhile, CNN.com has changed its statement re: its non-publication of the mo'toons:

CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of the Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself.

A bit of a change from (and a bit more specific than) their previous:

CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam.

I wonder if they read my blog.

Back to the full blog...