Provocative.

In What the Muhammad Cartoons Portray (2006) reported by Martin Asser (BBC News, 9 February 2006), the article summarises the variety of perception that people construct from the 12 caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, originally published my Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten in 2005. The newspaper had asked cartoonists to sketch Prophet Muhammad as how they see him, in coherence with freedom of expression and disregarding that it is a sensitive issue to the Muslims. Some claim that the newspaper’s choice of publishing the caricature is a Public Relations stunt, while some are critical, amused, angry and even confused. Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad that were sketched depicted the Muslim prophet as a terrorist and a sexist.

The 12 caricature images published in Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten in 2005.

Even though to the Danish, it was meant to send the message of ‘freedom of expression’; to the Muslims, the publication of the caricature is merely an insult, as Asser reported that some cartoonists also think that the newspaper’s act is a deliberate provocation. Whether the publication was an act of deliberation, the editorial team of Jyllands-Posten should have considered the frame of reference of their audiences. The frame of reference, according to Shriver (1997), includes aspects like personal knowledge and belief, attitudes and values as well as cultural knowledge. Shriver also added that if document designers or cartoonists in this case, miscomprehend the Muslims’ frame of reference, the documents created can evoke confusion and anger.

Freedom of expression is not equivalent to speaking or doing whatever we want, but as Muslim writer Ziauddin Sardar said in the news article, freedom of expression encourages an open realm for ideas to be debated by everybody.

References

1. Asser, M 2006, What the Muhammad Cartoons Portray, 9 February 2006, BBC News, viewed 13 November 2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4693292.stm.

2. Shriver, KA 1997, Dynamics in document design: creating texts for readers, Wiley Computer Pub., New York.