Islamic cartoon protest

Recently a Danish newspaper printed some political cartoons depicting Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. Immediately there were complaints from the international Islamic community, since any depiction of Mohammed is considered blasphemous in the first place, not to mention the obvious symbolism of violence. After the complaints, several other western European countries re-printed these cartoons, claiming "Freedom of Speech". The situation is spinning out of control, dominating world news for the better part of 2 weeks, at least.

Two weeks ago I had an argument, well, debate, about this with a friend of mine, someone with similar views on world politics and frame of mind, showing me how contentious a subject this really is.

I have some thoughts on the issue, co-inciding with my particular convictions and world-view. The way I see it, there are three ways this cartoon can be viewed:

1. To show the western world the truth about Islamic fundamentalism and its roots in violence and hatred.

2. To make fun of Islam (maybe even lightly)

3. To convict Muslims and show them that violence is not the answer,

Let it first be said that I think printing the cartoons was a stupid idea, and even stupider to re-print them after many complaints. What were they thinking? Trying to prove a point?
Lets say that the cartoon was meant to show a more accurate picture of Islam, which is true if you read the Quran. You read frequently of "Driving the infidels into the sea", annihilating Israel, and so forth. Even if that’s what the point was (which I don’t believe was), they picked the wrong format to do it anyways.

CNN headlines this morning report 11 dead in cartoon protest in Libya. Many people are dying in what seems to be a pig-headed publicity stunt by different newspapers for what? Ratings. That’s what media is all about, to sometimes be as controversial as possible to get noticed.

In my way of thinking, mocking an issue (or mocking the leader of a false religion), is counter-productive to the only valid point the papers could have had (but that wasn’t their point anyways), which is to accurately portray islam for the purpose of reaching out to them, to show them the futility of such a way of living. How many muslims woke up, poured their cup of coffee, grabbed the paper, and said "You know, they're right! I should convert to Judaism". I don’t think so.

In short, its not about proving a point, its not about "awakening the people", or some other moral stand, but its as cheap as getting more people to read their papers. Despicable.