EU windbags considering ‘media code’ after cartoon controversy

Posted by: Sister Toldjah on February 9, 2006 at 2:31 pm

Unreal:

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union may try to draw up a media code of conduct to avoid a repeat of the furor caused by the publication across Europe of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, an EU commissioner said on Thursday.

In an interview with Britain’s Daily Telegraph, EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini said the charter would encourage the media to show “prudence” when covering religion.

“The press will give the Muslim world the message: We are aware of the consequences of exercising the right of free expression,” he told the newspaper. “We can and we are ready to self-regulate that right.”

The cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper last September before being reprinted across Europe, sparked a wave of protests around the world.

Newspapers which have published them say they are exercising their right to freedom of speech, while critics say the cartoons are deliberately offensive. Depicting the Prophet Mohammad is prohibited by Islam.

Frattini, a former Italian foreign minister, said millions of Muslims in Europe felt “humiliated” by the cartoons.

His proposed voluntary code would urge the media to respect all religious sensibilities but would not offer privileged status to any one faith.

The code would be drawn up by the European Commission, the EU executive body, and European media outlets, he said. It would not have legal status.

I certainly hope not.

Eye-opening what a group can get in response to storming and burning embassies, killing while protesting, burning flags and effigies, and shouting “death to the West” eh? Looks like Mark Steyn was right.

(Hat tip: LGF)

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  • 25 Responses to “EU windbags considering ‘media code’ after cartoon controversy”

    Comments

    1. andrew says:

      Lots of EU countries ban denying the holocaust. Which is why I think its interesting that Iran printed cartoons doing that.

    2. blogagog says:

      This is unbelievable! Frattini should amend his statement to:

      The press will give the Muslim world the message: We are aware of the consequences of exercising the right of free expression. We can and we are ready to give up that right and submit to sharia law. Salami lickem.

      I hope the brave people of Britain, Poland and Denmark don’t submit to this.

    3. Sloan says:

      The word “Islam” means “submission.” This, my friends, is submission.

    4. PCD says:

      And CAIR is SOOOOO upset that a Jewish/Brazilian Los Angeles radio talk show host made a little fun with a parody of a Helicopter traffic report of the Hajj.

      How juvenile and self centered the Arab Street is.

    5. Baklava says:

      Here we go down the slippery slope….

      Soon there will be riots if someone mentions that the 9/11 hijackers were radical muslims…

      We’ll have to apologize and never mention it again.

    6. blogagog says:

      The EU had better outlaw pork before a muslim finds out that some people eat pigs over there!

    7. steve says:

      So yelling “fire” in a crowded theater is acceptable? There is not now, nor has there ever been an absolute freedom of speech. With all freedoms come responsibility. Perhaps the demonstrations would have been smaller if the US wasn’t, on a daily basis, threatening Syria and Iran. You cannot have Peace(Christ) by making war(anti-Christ). Peace

    8. Steve Skubinna says:

      You know, I keep swearing off responding to steve because afterwards I always feel bad, as if I had kicked a puppy.

      Well, I dunno, I have never kicked a puppy. Maybe I’d enjoy it. But this time, I am NOT going to to respond to steve’s pathetic attempts to simulate depth by hanging a “kick me, I’m stupid” sign on his back.

    9. Baklava says:

      Nobody yelled fire in a crowded theater (prompted everyone to get up and try to exit quickly thus causing harm).

      There is a reason riots took 5 months long after the initial tolerance contest for Muslim artists cartoons took place. Because an imam made additional cartoons and presented them to the the muslim world as Danish cartoons. The only one who can be equated to yelling fire in a crowded theater is the Imam who basically slandered the tolerant cartoon contest creator.

      You cannot have peace if you don’t defend yourself from people. Even more peace through clarity.

    10. Baklava says:

      I swore it off. And look what happened. I must be bored. I got too productive and finished all my tasks already today. :(

      Now I have too much time on my hands. PLUS I just found out that where I work they are putting in a content filter Feb 17th and so I may not be able to get my ST fix so I have to get it now. Or maybe I should start weening myself off of ST so as it isn’t cold turkey. :-b

    11. Baklava says:

      Isn’t that ironic though?

      A tolerant peace loving Danish cartoonist holding a contest is now in fear of his life and his families life and is paying for protection because of people who have basically slandered him and have created additional drawings and attributed them to him.

      Now irresponsible people go to blogs and act like we need to be tolerant and peaceful. HA! Tell that to the tolerant peaceful good hearted Danish person who is MYSTIFIED (I think that’s the term he used – mystified).

      Some people’s children.

    12. blogagog says:

      I know what you mean Mr. Skubina! I keep trying to avoid responding to Steve’s delusional statements, but it’s like an addiction!

      I’m going to pass this time though since you guys covered it so well. You can’t have freedom (freedom) without standing up for protecting your freedoms (freedom). Freedom

    13. CT says:

      You know this whole thing is supposed to be “voluntary.” Heh. Anyone familiar with unchecked political correctness knows what “voluntary” means: Do it anyway.

    14. Ryan says:

      Baklava,

      I can’t even view this during work hours unless I call in sick (like today). :)

      So much to discuss with steve’s latest statement.. there’s almost no point in doing it anymore. It’s like a broken record.

      Basically do the opposite of what steve says and you’ll be right.

    15. Baklava says:

      Oh man. How do you deal?

      I’ll have to setup RDP on my home computer so that I can login to that from work and get my ST fix….

      TCP port 3389! And a few security vulnerabilities that you just path here and there when they are found….

    16. benning says:

      Sloan: You are soooo correct!

      Euroweenies are about to submit to Islamoterror. What a surprise. *yawn*

      Will the US?

      Steve, ignore steve. he’s just a one trick pony.

    17. blogagog says:

      The key is to set up your computer at home as a proxy server, Ryan. Assuming you can link up with your home while you are at work, you can connect anywhere. It’s not too difficult to do with Apache web server, but I would not call it easy either.

      I have the same problem at work, and Apache solved it. That it’s free is just a bonus :) Don’t make it anonymous though, or you will get hammered with traffic!

    18. Baklava says:

      Welp. I chose the RDP route. I have a Novell 6.x server with Apache Web server running also but what also made my decision is that I have other software on my home computer that I want access to from anywhere…

      I already enabled TCP 3389 through my firewall and port forwarded it to my laptop running Windows XP and it’s working. Of course the RDP is being run with 128 bit encryption and the laptop has a firewall on it so I’m not too worried.

    19. Baklava says:

      Just saw the Malkin site. At the Jyllands-Posten [newspaper], Flemming Rose, the culture editor [who did nothing wrong] who commissioned the Muhammad cartoons, has been put on indefinite leave

      Malkins is so on top of the 3 extra cartoons drawn by Muslim Imam’s to stoke anger in the Islamic anger. She’s been taking CNN and Fox News to task. I saw Malkin on Fox News last night and HAD NO IDEA that she had the cartoons put on a cardboard and FOX NEWS CUT AWAY TO THE RIOTS when she tried to show them.

      Crazy. The 12 cartoons published by the Danish newspaper were done as part of a contest for Islamic artists.

      Check out these words from Malkin’s site where she quotes Paul Belien:
      When the Danish press discovered the three false so-called Danish cartoons, the imams refused to say where they had got them. They claimed, however, that the false cartoons were genuinely Danish and had been added to “give an insight in how hateful the atmosphere in Denmark is towards Muslims.”

      The Brussels Journal has always doubted whether the cartoons added by the imams were genuine. Whenever we mentioned them we explicitly wondered whether they were not “of the imam’s own making.” Certain Western mainstream media, however, such as the Australian network SBS and the British BBC authoritatively declared that the pigsnout was one of Jyllands-Posten’s cartoons.

      Yesterday an American blogger discovered where the “pigsnout Muhammad” comes from. It has no relation to Muhammad whatsoever, it is not even a cartoon, but a fax image of a photo of a French clown performing at a pig festival.

      Denmark is being punished at the instigation of radical imams because twelve cartoonists have depicted Muhammad. However, these imams created their own three Muhammad images. They have even presented a French clown as being Muhammad. Because the twelve JP cartoonists are not Muslims, the Muslim blasphemy laws do not apply to them. But these laws do apply to the imams. Consequently, these imams deserve death. They – and no-one else – depicted the prophet as a pig – the highest imaginable insult in Islam.

      …Western papers and blogs that published the twelve cartoons were right to do so. If they had not published, no-one would have been able to ascertain that the pigsnout was not among them. If they had not published, the cheating, blasphemous imams would have got away with their lies. The public is served by information, never harmed by it. Let this be a lesson to the cowards of The Guardian, SBS, the BBC and the British and American mainstream media, who “out of respect” for Islam would have allowed blasphemous imams to get away with their gross insult of the prophet, with slander and libel, and with the violent acts which they instigated.

    20. sanity says:

      Nods.

      I thought about this on the way home from work today.

      If ANY human form depiction, especially the Prophet Muhammad is prohibited, isn’t against the Islam religon and blasphemous to even display copies and recreations of it to other Muslims?

      I understand they were “trying” to show the outrage of what was done, but in showing these pictures themselevs, are they not just as guilty as those who created and published them according to thier own religous doctrine?

      And Baklava, that was an excellent point, since the “added” fake cartoons, especially the pig snout one from France Pig Contest was included by the Imams and was not a cartoon or even published by the paper they were threatening, they are guilty of lying to thier Muslim Brothers, Hearasy, and Blasphemy in trying to show the Prophet Muhammad as a pig.

      But, how much will you see this in the news?

      New name for the MSM is the Muslim Submissive Media

    21. blogagog says:

      Your solution is certainly better Bak, especially since it’s encrypted, and gives you access to your programs. My solution only resolves domain banning. I am just uncomfortable with remote desktop’s security, for no reason at all. I’ve never had a problem on the rare occasion that I’ve used it, I’ve never heard of anyone having security trouble with it, but turning it on seriously freaks me out!

      Oh well :)

      Interesting twist about the imam really being the only blaphemer here! Unfortunately, I doubt it will catch on in the muslim world.

    22. David Foster says:

      We have a discussion of “The End of Free Speech?” at ChicagoBoyz.

    23. sanity says:

      Very interesting.

      We need to learn a new word: dhimmitude. I’ve written about dhimmitude periodically, lo, these many years since September 11, but it takes time to sink in. Dhimmitude is the coinage of a brilliant historian, Bat Ye’or, whose pioneering studies of the dhimmi, populations of Jews and Christians vanquished by Islamic jihad, have led her to conclude that a common culture has existed through the centuries among the varied dhimmi populations. From Egypt and Palestine to Iraq and Syria, from Morocco and Algeria to Spain, Sicily and Greece, from Armenia and the Balkans to the Caucasus: Wherever Islam conquered, surrendering dhimmi, known to Muslims as “people of the book [the Bible],” were tolerated, allowed to practice their religion, but at a dehumanizing cost.

      There were literal taxes (jizya) to be paid; these bought the dhimmi the right to remain non-Muslim, the price not of religious freedom, but of religious identity. Freedom was lost, sorely circumscribed by a body of Islamic law (sharia) designed to subjugate, denigrate and humiliate the dhimmi. The resulting culture of self-abnegation, self-censorship and fear shared by far-flung dhimmi is the basis of dhimmitude. The extremely distressing but highly significant fact is, dhimmitude doesn’t only exist in lands where Islamic law rules.

      This is the lesson of Cartoon Rage 2006, a cultural nuke set off by an Islamic chain reaction to those 12 cartoons of Muhammad appearing in a Danish newspaper. We have watched the Muslim meltdown with shocked attention, but there is little recognition that its poisonous fallout is fear. Fear in the State Department, which, like Islam, called the cartoons unacceptable. Fear in Whitehall, which did the same. Fear in the Vatican, which did the same. And fear in the media, which have failed, with few, few exceptions, to reprint or show the images. With only a small roll of brave journals, mainly in Europe, to salute, we have seen the proud Western tradition of a free press bow its head and submit to an Islamic law against depictions of Muhammad. That’s dhimmitude.

      Not that we admit it: We dress up our capitulation in fancy talk of “tolerance,” “responsibility” and “sensitivity.” We even congratulate ourselves for having the “editorial judgment” to make “pluralism” possible. “Readers were well served… without publishing the cartoons,” said a Wall Street Journal spokesman. “CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons in respect for Islam,” reported the cable network. On behalf of the BBC, which did show some of the cartoons on the air, a news editor subsequently apologized, adding: “We’ve taken a decision not to go further… in order not to gratuitously offend the significant number” of Muslim viewers worldwide. Left unmentioned is the understanding (editorial judgement?) that “gratuitous offense” leads to gratuitous violence. Hence, fear — not the inspiration of tolerance but of capitulation — and a condition of dhimmitude.

      How far does it go? Worth noting, for example, is that on the BBC Web site, a religion page about Islam presents the angels and revelations of Islamic belief as historical fact, rather than spiritual conjecture (as is the case with its Christianity Web page); plus, it follows every mention of Mohammed with “(pbuh),” which means “peace be upon him”—”as if,” writes Will Wyatt, former BBC chief executive, in a letter to the Times of London, “the corporation itself were Muslim.”

      Is it? Are we? These questions may not seem so outlandish if we assess the extent to which encroaching sharia has already changed the Western way. Calling these cartoons “unacceptable,” and censoring ourselves “in respect” to Islam brings the West into compliance with a central statute of sharia. As Jyllands-Posten’s Flemming Rose has noted, that’s not respect, that’s submission. And if that’s not dhimmitude, what is?

      The publication of the Muhammad cartoons solicited by Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten was an act of anti-dhimmitude. Since no Danish artist would dare illustrate a PC children’s book about Muhammad for fear of Islamic law (and Islamic violence), the newspaper boldly set out to reassert the rule of (non-Islamic) Danish law. It’s as simple as that. And as vital. The cartoons ran to establish — or re-establish — Denmark as bastion of Western-style liberty. But in trying to set up a force field against encroaching sharia, Jyllands-Posten and the Danes have showed us that no single bastion of Western liberty can stand alone.

      So, how do you say solidarity in Danish? If we don’t find out now, our future is more dhimmitude.

      By Diana West
      Diana seems to have a very interesting take on this. It is something to think about.