Cartoon Poll: Publish w/restraint

The last Ambivalent Poll asked: “What do you think about the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed?” (Related post.) The final results were:

• 28.6% of respondents said “The media have the right to publish, but they probably should not do so.”
• 28.6% said “Impeach Bush.”
• 25.7% said “A cartoon, no matter what it depicts, can never justify violence.”
• 17.1% said “Western media should publish such things; it's a matter of free speech.”
• 0.0% said “Western media should *not* publish such things; doing so is insensitve to Muslims and Islam.”

I was in the majority on this one; it's probably best to exercise restraint in publication of these cartoons and yes, we should definitely impeach Bush. As L. pointed out, the original motivation for the cartoons could very well have had a large racist component, so while reprinting them might seem like an expression of support for free speech, it also ends up reinforcing whatever racism might have motivated the cartoons in the first place.

These are hard questions. I'm tempted to agree that cartoons alone should never justify violence, but it's hard to say that the violence we've seen is really a result of these cartoons. The cartoons may have been the touchstone, but it's clear the anger and resentment were there already. What to do about that is the gazillion-dollar question.

Thanks to all who voted. A new Ambivalent Question will be up soon.

Posted February 12, 2006 10:22 AM | ambivalent questions