Re: <nettime> publication of "Jyllands-Posten" cartoons is not...

["Jody Berland" <jody.berland {AT} sympatico.ca>]

Well yes, I would have to agree with this, I was not asking for total 
relativism in world cultural policy but simply for more cultural reflexivity 
in the context of this discussion.  I don't think one has to be a moral 
relativist (or Stanley Fish) to suggest that more geopolitical reflexivity 
all around would help move things along.  I don't feel justified in making 
decisions about what should or should not offend and horrify other 
cultures -- the nature of taboo is so varied.  You can't burn an American 
flag, for instance, although you can make bikinis out of it.  I have had 
relatives arrested for burning their own draft card.  And I am most 
certainly not saying that feeling offended and horrified justifies violence, 
or I would have murdered my entire university administration by now.
I am saying that we need to try harder to come to terms with the 
underpinnings of these debates,  for instance that one side poses it in 
terms of religion, the other in terms of freedom of speech, and that the 
discussion will offer more enlightenment when we can move beyond these 
binaries. For instance,  it wasn't just the fact that the cartoon "mocked" 
the religion that was the problem; it was that it violated a sacred 
prohibition on showing the face of Mohammed.  It was thus a direct assaults 
on the freedom to practice that religion.  It is too simple just to say they 
can't stand being mocked in cartoons.  It is too simple to say it is all 
about freedom.  It is too simple to say it is all about images, too.
I am a pacifist, more or less, and a life long advocate of the rights of 
women, gays, visible minorities, and homeless cats.  I think we can take our 
discussion farther when the need arises.

Jody

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Lockard" <Joe.Lockard {AT} asu.edu>
To: <nettime-l {AT} bbs.thing.net>
Cc: "Jody Berland" <jody.berland {AT} sympatico.ca>
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:24 AM
Subject: RE: <nettime> publication of "Jyllands-Posten" cartoons is not...

<....>



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