Cartoon Contests and Human Dignity

by Jeffrey Imm
http://www.realcourage.org/2010/05/cartoon-contests-and-human-dignity/

When we promote cartoons that mock an individual religion, race,
gender, or ethnicity, are we mocking them - or mocking human dignity?

In April 2010, a controversial U.S. comedy television
cartoon "South Park" censored one of their broadcasts which was to
include a cartoon of Muhammad along with other religious figures in
their cartoon, after receiving threats from the New York blog "Revolution
Muslim." As a response
to the South Park censorship, one cartoonist, Molly Norris, came up with
the satirical suggestion to make May 20 as "Draw Muhammad Day." Molly
Norris was shocked that people took her "joke" seriously, and planned to
indeed hold a "Draw Muhammad Day" on May 20; Ms. Norris has since
called for this to be canceled, but some still plan to do this.

Despite the predictable offense to Muslims, a number of cartoonists
have done cartoons of Muhammad and Muslims. Cartoons of Muhammad have
been done and published by Swedish artist Lars Vilks and by
Danish political cartoonist Kurt
Westergaard. There has been an extreme reaction to these (and
other) cartoons. Lars
Vilks was recently assaulted during a lecture on free speech in
Sweden, and was the target of a transatlantic murder plot that including
two American women promoting violent jihad. In January 2010, Kurt
Westergaard's home was broken into by a man with an axe and a
knife. Both have received numerous death threats. There have been
numerous threats and protests by Muslims offended by cartoon of
Muhammad. Such outrage is not limited only to violent extremists, as
many Muslims view images of Muhammad to be disrespectful to their
religious views.

Nor is such outrage limited to individuals and groups. On April
15, 2008, the Pakistan National Assembly passed a resolution to
urge the United Nations to support an international death penalty for
those responsible for such cartoon "blasphemy." This Pakistan National
Assembly session was attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Gilani, "who
arrived moments after the passage of the resolutions." So while it may
be comforting to only subscribe such concerns to a few "radicals" in
groups like "Revolution Muslim," clearly there is a broader group around
the world who find such cartoons outrageous enough to warrant "capital
punishment."

In the West, there have been a number of articles on this subject by
Muslim authors, explaining why Muslims are offended by such cartoons. On
Muslim author, Shahed Amanulla, decries the idea of "Draw Muhammad
Day" as "Collectively
Punishing Muslim Americans." Another Muslim author, Zahed
Amanullah, states that while he is offended by such cartoons, "For
many Muslims, pointing to a cartoon, a teddy bear, or a voodoo doll and
saying it's the prophet, doesn't make it so. We know better than to
worship them." Mr. Amanullah clearly states
that there is diversity of opinion on this subject among Muslims.

Public comments to such articles by Muslim authors often complain
that they don't sufficiently defend our human rights of freedom of
expression. So I am writing this from the perspective of a non-Muslim
supporter of our universal human rights, with a statement on our
responsibility for human dignity, a message to non-Muslim readers, and a
message to Muslim readers.

Human Rights and Responsibilities include Human Dignity

Does our human rights include the "right" to be offensive? Yes, they do. But along with our rights also come responsibilities that are
inherent in any shared society. That includes the responsibility to
also defend each others' human dignity. Such commitment to human dignity
is a fundamental part of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, signed by the United States of America
and other nations of the world.

Article 1
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reads: "All human
beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are
endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in
a spirit of brotherhood."

Human dignity is also recognized in the preamble of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognizes "the inherent
dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the
human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the
world." The signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on
December 10, 1948 by the nations of the world included a statement that
the United Nations recognized such rights as part of their respect "in
the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men
and women."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was created in the
aftermath of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, a nation that brought crimes
against humanity to a level not previously witnessed by mankind. But one
of the Nazis' first tool to degrade and attack human dignity was Julius
Streicher's Der
Sturmer newspaper created in 1923; Streicher was inspired to join
the Nazi party after hearing an Adolf Hitler speech in 1921.

From 1923 through the end of Nazi Germany, Der Sturmer
("the Attacker") was a publication that attacked the humanity and
dignity of Jews in Germany and around the world, using "cartoons." The
notorious Der Sturmer cartoons were historically significant in
spreading images to degrade Jews and portray them as enemies against
Germans and all of humanity. The Der Sturmer anti-Semitic newspaper and
cartoons were used to spread hate against Jews throughout Germany among
the common man, and were distributed to Germans in countries around the
world. The Calvin
College states that the distribution reached over 2 million readers
at one point. Along with the cartoons degrading and spreading hatred
towards Jews, Der Sturmer's fevered pitch of hate against Jews called
for extermination of the Jewish people, for which Julius Streicher was
tried and convicted of war crimes. The Nuremberg
courts that convicted him warned of "the poison that he has put
into the minds of millions of young boys and girls will continue on for
years to come, since he concentrated so much of his hatred for the
Jews."

Anyone who has seen the Der Sturmer cartoons and articles can readily
see the truth in this. Jews were caricatured in hateful ways that did
not end with Nazi Germany. The hate cartoons by Der Sturmer and others
sought to degrade, dehumanize, and strip the dignity from Jews. Yet the
Der Sturmer hate cartoons remain alive on the Internet, and are part of
the root web site of the "white
nationalist hate group" Stormfront in America. In America, the Der
Sturmer cartoons are viewed as part of our freedom of expression -
despite all the horrors that they contributed to.

How can humanity not have learned its lessons after seeing the
consequences of demonizing and degrading identity groups in Nazi
Germany? But we know it did not and has not. Even as the United States
of America was signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in
1948, offensive cartoons continued to appear and have continued to
appear over the decades -- especially about black Americans.

Nor have such offensive cartoons been limited to only "fringe"
organizations, or relegated only to distant history. Racial caricature
cartoons of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have appeared in
the Washington Post and many other publications. The parade of racial
caricature cartoons of President Barack Obama have been in many places.

Iran has hosted an International Holocaust Cartoon Competition of its
own for those who deny that the Holocaust took place. In many parts of
the Arab press (as well as the Western media), anti-Semitic cartoons
degrading and dehumanizing Jews and Israeli leaders have been commonly
published for many years.

There seems to be no end of ways to create offensive cartoons about
any race, religion, gender, or national origin. Mocking the human
dignity of others in offensive cartoons depicting men, women, children
seems to be the great equalizer of those promoting disrespect and some
cases, outright hatred. Still, offensive cartoons have been defended by
our freedom of expression.

We respect such universal human rights. But we also recognize, as
did the United Nations in their Universal
Declaration of Human Rights that all human beings are also equal in
dignity as well. Such human dignity is not just a right, it
is also a responsibility.

A Message to Non-Muslim Readers

Cartoons about Muhammad has caused an outcry of indignation by
offended Muslims, especially in Muslim majority nations. To non-Muslim
readers, I am aware that one of the main reasons for the continued
popularity of cartoons about Muhammad and Muslims to some non-Muslims is
a defiance to those telling you that you are not allowed to do this.
The perspective is "I'll show them what I can and cannot do. I'll show
them about how they seek to silence my freedom of expression." People
like to win arguments, and they don't like being told what they can and
cannot express. But there is also a point at which your reason must
also win over your emotions of frustration.

There are many things that we are "free" to do, but we do not do out
of respect for others, as part of civil society, and to peacefully
co-exist. We are free to spit on our neighbor's lawn, but if we want to
be good neighbors that live in peace, we do not. Do you feel deprived,
censored, from not offending your neighbor? Of course not. You know
better. You have to live together.

But when it comes to cartoons about Muhammad and Muslims, such reason
seems to disappear. Some seek to demonize Muslims in cartoons to prove
their "freedom of expression." What do you really think you are
accomplishing by offending Muslims? Do you think that demonizing
Muslims will impact religious supremacism or extremism? What minds do
you think contempt will change? What hearts do you think disrespect
will reach?

Some non-Muslims are simply angry, tired of being threatened, and
want to "strike back" at religious supremacists by targeting all
Muslims. Have you considered that by seeking to offend all Muslims to
get back at religious supremacists that you have judged all Muslims as
one, singular monolithic group that must all think and believe the same
way? How different is it for non-Muslims to condemn all Muslims than it
is for Muslim religious supremacists to condemn all non-Muslims
unequivocally?

In your anger and frustration, aren't you becoming exactly what
you seek to condemn?

What really infuriates many of you is the inconsistency on public
condemnations of offensive expressions. This is especially the case
among many Christians, whose images are regularly defiled and disgraced
in art galleries, national television, on the Internet. Some believe
that "well, if our religious views can be mocked, why can't theirs?"
But you also know "two wrongs don't make a right." Christians also are
commanded to love their fellow human beings. Currently a popular
anti-Islam website has an image of the cartoon character "Calvin"
urinating on the Qur'an. It is no small irony that the image is
simply a Photoshop modification of the cartoon character "Calvin"
urinating on the Christian cross, or anything else someone respects.

You can choose to be different from those whose actions outrage you,
or you can choose to be no different. Which choice do you think will
gain you credibility in the world? Have we learned nothing from
humanity's history of living together?

A Message to Muslim Readers

To Muslim readers, it is reasonable to expect respect and human
dignity. It is reasonable to expect that your religious views and
images are not offended. Such human dignity is both a right and a
responsibility. However, we must all recognize that statements and
images that we merely view as offensive are not a crime. We may view
such images and comments as disrespectful, contemptible, but we also
know that "two wrongs don't make a right." While the majority of the
likely Muslim readers are no doubt stating, "of course, I know that,"
the reality is that in many parts of the world (including in the West),
there are those who continue
to seek to punish "blasphemy" with capital punishment - either
legally or by taking the law into their own hands and claiming they are
divinely guided.

To challenge such views, it is essential that more Muslims are
visible to the public in supporting our unqualified, universal human
rights, and are visible to the public taking exception to those who
would defy such freedoms. We need more public demonstrations of our
shared commitment for human rights, pluralism, and dignity - and not
just on the Internet or in conference rooms, but in the public together.

I know that you have other things to do with your life besides
condemning Muslim extremists and other extremists. You have family,
school, job, and other responsibilities that demand your time and
attention. But the hope for peace for the next generation is largely
dependent on the history that we write today. Whether that history is
only written by the angry and the offensive or whether that history is
written by those committed to our universal human rights - is our
decision. We must continue to defend such human rights by defying
religious supremacists who would rationalize violence and hate against
others.

I offer Muslim readers the opportunity on May 20 to publicly express
online their own commitment to our universal human rights and pluralism,
as a counter to "Draw Muhammad Day." Provide your responses on your
commitment to our universal human rights and pluralism via at info@realcourage.org, and
they will be shared with the world on Responsible for Equality And
Liberty (R.E.A.L.)'s web site at RealCourage.org.

I invite you to use May 20 as an opportunity to publicly show that
you are larger than those who would mock you and share your convictions
on our shared human rights and pluralism.

Our Choices, Our Responsibilities

Contempt and hate have the same universal application, regardless of
our religion, race, gender, or ethnicity.

But we can choose a different path. Instead of choosing universal
contempt, we can choose a path of universal human rights and dignity.

We share a common conscience towards how we treat humanity and how
respect each other. We share a common responsibility to our shared
universal human rights. We share a common obligation to upholding each
others human dignity.

I have dusted
off one of my own "cartoon" characters from when I was a small boy,
a stick man figure that I used to call "Mr. Blank." I have added him
here to make a point - anyone can make a cartoon, everyone has free
expression. It is our choice and our responsibility how we use that
free expression.

We are Responsible for Equality And Liberty.

In defending those universal human rights, we are also Responsible
for Human Dignity.

Choose
Love, Not Hate. Love Wins.