Explosive media

In the current controversy over the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, no newspaper, whether online or print media, dares to reprint any of the twelve caricatures of the prophet Mohammad published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September. This is sensible self-censorship.

But the story is quite different on the rest of the internet. There, it has been shown that you cannot censor anything. Just as sex, violence, hate, etc., you cannot take away views against a religion nor the cartoons depicting that religion in a way that is considered offensive to adherents of that religion. Ironically, it is the traditional mass media that cannot be free (lest they want their offices to be bombed or burnt).

Some of the digitized images of these 'Prophet cartoons' in question have made their way into personal blogs all over the blog community on the internet. Being digital, they can be copied and tranmitted without any restriction whatsoever, spreading the very cartoons that the Muslim community views as sacrilegious.

This demonstrates the unstoppable power of the internet media, and some would say, free speech. The more one does not want something to be shown or said, the more it will be shown and said. Suppose one had ignored those 12 cartoons in the first place, it wouldn't now be spreading throughout the internet for many more people to see. Unfortunately, the irony is lost on the people demonstrating, rampaging and destroying property in the name of Islam and their Prophet.

I hope that, at the end of the day, goodwill and good sense prevails. Otherwise, this might turn into a religous war - and I mean, a real war.