I don’t usually post about political topics, but I guess this can be an exception. If you haven’t heard about the blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, you’ve been living under a rock. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve read a fair amount of news stories and blogs regarding the cartoons. Many of them give a simple overview of the situation, and pose a seemingly mocking question: Why all this over a few cartoons?

The two sides of this story are extremely complex. I for one, do not side with violence. I do not agree with the 15 deaths that occurred recently, and I don’t believe that violence solves anything. To react in the manner that many people did is simply wrong. I definitely believe that the protesters are easily playing into the hands of those who side with the cartoons by promoting violence. They should instead demonstrate peacefully, and show the world that free speech includes respect and maturity. On the other hand, I don’t particularly side with Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that published the cartoons. Let’s kinda simplify the situation a little.

1. Jyllands-Posten publishes 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. One of them depicts him with a bomb in his turban, obviously attempting to draw a scornful link with terrorism and the Muslim world.

2. Initial reactions are muted, but two weeks later, 3,500 people peacefully demonstrate in Copenhagen.

3. Jyllands-Posten republishes the cartoons, and three other cartoons emerge. One, in mind-numbing disrespect, shows the Prophet Muhammad with a pig’s nose.

4. You can read about what happens next in your newspaper.

The fact that a respected media source publishes something so blasphemous and disrespectful in the name of “free speech” is completely ridiculous. Imagine how you would feel if a respected newspaper publishes cartoons of your God or Gods seducing prostitutes, or fostering terrorism in the name of free speech (by the way, these are what the actual cartoons implied), and then RE-PUBLISHES them. Sure, you can say that these are just cartoons. So take a look at them before you pass judgment…

The Daily Tarheel recently printed their own cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, in pure tasteless fashion.
If you are a respected media source that serves the world, there are certain responsibilities you have to uphold. To tout free speech by insulting another religion is just simply wrong. Free speech is not just “free speech”, the phrase. It is a concept, an ideal extracted from the larger ideal of collaboration and unity — concepts that are quickly becoming increasingly important in the context of globalization. We are not simple machines that take in the phrase “free speech” and output everything and anything we want. We are humans who understand that free speech was created for the good of humanity — not just some tool that we can throw around.