In the past days much ink--and ones and zeroes--have been expended in reaction to the "cartoon controversy," without, in my opinion, shedding much light.
So I was pleasantly surprised to come across an article on Salon.com by a Danish ex-pat, Jytte Klausen, at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/02/08/denmark/
For those of you without a subscription, a brief overview and two choice quotes--on the flip. It is worth waiting through the ad, however--
Klausen provides context by describing the origins of the newspaper that solicited the cartoons, and notes that three years ago, the paper decided not to publish cartoons of Jesus, fearing that Christians would be offended. Having done research by interviewing 300 Muslim leaders in Western Europe, Klausen offers an alternate explanation than the one that's dominated the reporting and commentary on this issue:
"The problem with the cartoons isn't that they violate Islam's rules about depiction of the Prophet, according to Fatih Alev, a young Danish imam and a prominent advocate for integration with whom I've spoken many times on the issue of integration. Rather, it is their political content, he told the Danish press this week. He objects that the cartoons stereotype who Muslims are, and misrepresent the religion entirely as the propaganda program of militant Islamists."
<snip>
"neither Europe's growing domestic problems with religious pluralism nor a Danish newspaper's clumsy provocation of local Muslims explain the unwanted international crisis we are suddenly faced with. Rather, the cartoons apparently provided a grand opportunity to extremists: for radical elements in Islamic countries rife with internal dissent, and for right-wing extremists in Denmark and Europe, to mobilize supporters from the disaffected. Among the victims are the moderate Muslims in Europe and worldwide, who now find themselves increasingly wounded in the crossfire between xenophobes and Islamists."