The Tyranny of Silence

Rose (editor, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten) may be best remembered as the instigator (or mastermind, depending on one's point of view) of the cartoon crisis of 2005. The author ignited a firestorm when he sanctioned the printing of 12 cartoons representing various artists' views of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. It's not reproduced in this book, but the most memorable, and vilified, sketch depicted the prophet with a bomb wrapped in his turban. Muslims were outraged; they believed the depictions to be an insult to Muhammad and to their religion. Rose and the cartoon's artist, Kurt Westergaard, received numerous death threats and people, including non-Muslims, attacked Jyllands-Posten for its portrayal of Islam and its followers. The UN proclaimed the cartoons to be a human-rights violation. In support of his decision to publish the images, Rose raises here provocative questions: Can speech be truly free if people self-censor? Why is it permissible to poke fun at Christians but not Muslims?