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February 5, 2006
Origins Of The Cartoon Wars
The cartoon wars began with the most unlikely of protagonists. Danish author Kåre Bluitgen is a fairly liberal fellow, a multi-culturist who would seem to be one of Islam's best friends in Denmark. He lives in a very multi-cultural section of Copenhagen, and his children attend school with a rainbow of classmates. He is not an elitist, not a conservative. Some reports have asserted that politically he is a socialist.
A biography that is not tainted by any political influence, left or right, is available on a website that promotes Danish authors. The motivation of this site is to expand Danish cultural awareness. The resume was written long before the present controversy erupted.
The misery of the World becomes children's literature in the hands of Kåre Bluitgen. The writer persistently claims that we are responsible for each other - and must act in consequence. Kåre Bluitgen is a poetical person....It is almost possible to put a date to Kåre Bluitgen's involvement. It was a summer day in the cathedral square in San Salvador in 1980, where members of the military's liquidation squads shot the archbishop in front of a twenty-one year old Danish student and thousands of other people....
You can read the entire author description at The Danish Literature Centre.
Author Bluitgen undertook to write a children's book about the life of Mohammed. When he tried to find an artist to illustrate the book, he discovered that his fellow Danes were frightened of the project. Eventually an artist agreed, on condition of anonymity, and the book was completed. You can see the illustrations here:
After hearing about the fear of Danish illustrators to approach the subject of Mohammed, the editor of Jyllands-Posten offered about forty artists an opportunity to draw editorial cartoons of Mohammed. Only twelve had the courage to accept, and now they are in fear for their lives. Perhaps freedom of expression is already lost in Denmark.
This was not, as many liberals and liberal apologists have suggested, a crass attempt to sell newspapers through controversy. The Danish editor was genuinely concerned about freedom of expression in Denmark, just as earlier Oriana Fallaci was concerned about the loss of freedom of expression in Italy, which also seems to be severely endangered.
However, in the free world, the motivation to profit through offering intellectual property, providing services, or making products IS the basis of the economy. There is nothing wrong with that. And it would not have been wrong for the Danish editor to specifically seek out material that would sell more newspapers. That is what editors do in a free society. That hotbed of American liberalism, Hollywood, thrives on controversial offerings that much of the heartland considers offensive trash. In our secular society, good taste is a matter of choice, not legislation.
Cross-posted at the American Daughter Media Center.
Posted by at February 5, 2006 11:34 PM
