Censorship

Surprisingly, CNN is covering international news lately - the riots over cartoons of Mohammed. This issue pits the cultural sensitivities of Islam and their definition of capital crime (blasphemy), against the Western ideal of free speech. Most intersting I think are the non-violent reactions.

For example, "CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons out of respect for Islam." Are they being respectful, or self-censoring? Are they just doing it so their reporters in the Middle East don't get killed? And

A prominent Iranian newspaper says it is going to hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust to test whether the West will apply the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide against Jews as it did to the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
...
Hamshahri invited foreign cartoonists to enter the competition and said it wanted to see how open the West was to caricatures of the Holocaust.

"Does the West extend freedom of expression to the crimes committed by the United States and Israel, or an event such as the Holocaust? Or is its freedom only for insulting religious sanctities?" Hamshahri wrote, referring to the Prophet Mohammed cartoons, in a short article on its back page.

I'm really curious to see our reactions to this. I expect we'll (US people who care) be incensed and pissed off, but not to the point of violence. Non-violent protest and all that (thank you, Dr. King). I wonder how Israel will react though.

ETA: Some of the comments are hiliariously offensive! Don't read at work if you work for the ACLU or Anti-Defamation League. Hopefully this warning here nicely skirts the line of not-censorship, but sensitive-to-people's-feelings. Feel free to discuss why it really is censorship or is not sensitive, too. :-P

About us meme

I invite you to fill this out. Leave anything empty that you want, or use a pseudonym or make something funny up. :) This is NOT screened so anything you write will be immediately viewable to all. Yoinked from freakylynx.

1. name:
2. birthday:
3. place of residence:
4. what makes you happy:
5. what are you listening to now/have listened to last:
6. do you read my lj:
7. if you do, what is particularly good/bad about it:
8. an interesting fact about you:
9. are you in love/have a crush at the moment:
10. favourite place to be:
11. favourite lyric:
12. best time of the year:
13. weirdest food you like:
14. do farts make you laugh:

RECOMMEND
1. a film:
2. a book:
3. a band, a song and an album:

PLUS
1. one thing you like about me:
2. two things you like about yourself:
3. put this in your lj so i can tell you what i think of you.
4. POST A PICTURE OF you

Bad jokes - Bring it!

Due to popular demand...

Give me your worst!