Message and Messenger

What is the difference between a prophet and a journalist/reporter?
Ontologically speaking, not much. Both are supposed to convey truth messages to the population and masses.

The word journalist is taken from making journal and reporter is surely someone who report. Prophet is simply someone who is chosen to deliver a God’s prophecy. Knowingly spreading an untruth message is making one a false prophet as much as a lousy reporter.

What is Gabriel (in Christian), Jibril (in Islam), Narada (in Hindu) and Hermes (in Greek mythology) if not journalist/reporter par excellence that convey message from God to prophets/heroes.

So what are all the fuss about?

One of the causes is globalization

This image from sixteen century that depict the prophet in Mi’raj never circulate much. Surely not to the point of today’s media where one click in internet could get almost anything. Put it simply, more people could see something mean more people could be offended.

The second one is intentional harm

The wide array if diversity in reader lead to much more difficult environment for the message. It should lead an editor of any news establishment to be more politically correct (long excerpt from Wikipedia) and sensitive. If they can screen the word not to offend the feminist, ethnic minority and disable, surely they can do it for religion.

However, it is one thing to be unaware and make mistake than to conduct intentional harm. I assume the knowledgeable newspaper editor at Europe knows that depicting the Prophet is forbidden in Islam. But even if they not, I doubt whether they think it is not offensive to print an image of Jesus ordering The North Ireland people to bomb the British away or Moses instructing the Jews to kill innocent Palestinian (disclaimer: I don’t want to see them and think of this them as wrong and very offensive). Bad follower is not equal to bad teaching, equating the two is either weak logic, lousy humor, or intentional.

Remember that the freedom of speech on the west is not absolute. It is illegal to deny holocaust in Austria, to promote Nazism in Germany and Fascism in Italy.

The third is past misdeeds

Let say the cartoon was made and first publish in India or China. Will the outcry be at similar level? I think not.

Even if both also a different civilization, but India and China did not attack any Islamic country recently. Nor does it support financially and politically undemocratic countries that repress its majority Islamic population(such as Egypt) or neighbors' population (such as Israel).

Ask any Freudian about the phenomena, they will say it is similar to a repressed anger. The uproar is a form of picking a battle where winning is possible (we know what is the effect to those demonstrations against Iraq invasion… nothing). After the anger ventilated, it is important to deal with the source of anger.

Lets hope the journalist and newspaper will soon make a U-turn to their main task, spreading the message of peace and love.