Since it's April Fools Day one might mistake this story for a joke, but here it is from AAP, with thanks to Andy Bostom.
Australia's embassy in Jakarta has been alerted to prepare for a possible backlash following the publication in an Australian newspaper of a cartoon depicting the Indonesian president as a dog copulating with a Papuan.Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Saturday condemned the cartoon in The Weekend Australian as tasteless and offensive, declaring the government did not condone it in any way.
The cartoon is an apparent tit-for-tat response to a cartoon published this week in an Indonesian newspaper depicting Mr Downer and Prime Minister John Howard as copulating dingoes.
"The government is aware that this cartoon is likely to cause significant offence to people in Indonesia and we would wish to disassociate the government completely from this tasteless cartoon," Mr Downer told reporters in Adelaide.
"We have been in communication with our embassy. They have concerns that there will be a negative reaction by the Indonesians to material like this which is extremely offensive."...
"The cartoon is an apparent tit-for-tat response to a cartoon published this week in an Indonesian newspaper depicting Mr Downer and Prime Minister John Howard as copulating dingoes".
Of course the western world is held to a much higher standard than those of "the religion of peace and tolerance". Though we may not like it, we are not about to riot and kill people over it.
Only the "religion of peace" performs to that standard as demonstrated on many occasions lately.
Here are the 2 cartoons, see what you think,
I already left my comment on this at this addy.
http://rwdb.blogspot.com/2006/04/cartoon-war.html
sorry here is the link
Wow. I think it is amazing with all the West has been through to secure its freedom, that it will let a bunch of unorganized rioters that protest in thier OWN countries scare us out of those freedoms that thier fathers fought and died for. Amazing what liberalism and political correctness can do.
This is actually great news. The more uninhibited irreverence the better.
Channeling Alarmed_Pig_Farmer:
More lampooning, more cartoons, more iconoclasm, more laughter, more derision, more subversion, more images of sexual perversion, more outrage
This should have been a "dhimmi" thread. The Australian foreign minister shouldn't have even commented on it.
Kabbes,
I'm pretty shocked at it, they, Indo, haven't even protested yet(not that I have seen anyway) and Howard is usually so tough.
We're in a spot of bother with Indo atm over some refugees we took in from Papua.
John Howard just laughed at the cartoon about him and Downer, he even cracked a joke "we don't riot over cartoons here" or something to that effect.
Yojimbo,
Agreed. I wish we'd just assumed a smiley face and said to Indo, we're adults here arn't we?
Indo pulled its Ambassador home recently over the asylum seekers from Papua
Yohannbimu sorry not Yojimbo.
Okay, that's it. I'm going to stop getting my news from TheOnion.com. This stuff is much funnier than what TheOnion has.
Two males copulating on the front page of a newspaper? You wouldn't see that even in San Francisco. Those Indonesians are taking the game to a whole new level...how low can we go?
To channel ovidius_naso, "More! More! More!"
heeh, yeh but which cartoon was the funniest, say the Auusie one please:P
Cartoons of copulations always cause riots. I'm not sure what a 'Papuan' is, but if it's good enough for the Indonesian President, disgised as a dog, it's good enough for a cartoon...or even a feature length film. Maybe someone could rent Papuans and dog disguises, to copulating world leaders. I wonder if Bush has any Papuans on his ranch at Crawford? No, probably not, but there are a few dogs...does that make you suspicious?
Well, there's nothing quite like a copulating cartoon to cause a riot, especially if it depicts Mohammad in a compromising position.
Keep those cartoons comming...
Funny, but in poor taste.
All of the cartoons and the Towers crashing on 9/11 should be on the front page of all papers every day and as the leadin to all TV shows.
Fair is fair.
I truely doubt they will rape burn and pillage, thats the muslim way.
meredeth wrote"
"heeh, yeh but which cartoon was the funniest, say the Auusie one please:P"
Oh definitely! It was certainly better-drawn and had a spirit of humor. The Indonesian one was hideous.
I don't think people from muslim societies know what humor really is. There needs to be a sense of irony with something like this. The Aussie cartoon with the "Don't take this the wrong way," and "no offense intended" is very funny. The Indo one is pathetic, and it displays the crass sensibilities of these people to print it on THEIR FRONT PAGE.
For crying out LOUD! mr. downer, grow some.......brains!
Mackie,
Yes, tit-for-tat cartoons. We, non-Muslims, could play that game, but as you say, it is Islam that compels Muslims to take the non-violent "offence" and translate that into violence, threats, etc.
Somehow, the implication being that the government does however condone the Indonesian cartoon depicting Howard and Downer.
Meredith, I did like the Aussie one better, although I thought it a tad unfair to the Papuan infidel
No. The lefty twit Kevin Rudd was most (fakely) 'offended' from what I've seen.
The Mohammedans in Jakarta (as elsewhere & everywhere) know how to dish it out but they can't take it when the boomerang comes back.
Howard had a big grin on his face this morning on TV, saying
'... I'm used to worse, much worse..."
And I salute him for that.
Sheik - Kevin Rudd is a dud! Believe me or not when I say this but I have been at a Christian conference in Oz where he got up and stated how he was a Bible believer. Someone then got up and asked what he was doing in the Labor Party supporting Latham - a pro Gay Rights leader.
He ummed and arrd...... Like most policticians he will do anything for a vote.
I agree with you re Howard - he handled it like a real statesman.