Many Cartoons Address Muslim Protests, But Few Depict Muhammad

By: Dave Astor While many editorial cartoonists are taking up the Danish cartoon controversy, most are finding ways to avoid direct depictions of the Prophet Muhammad.

Why this reluctance? Is it a fear for personal safety? An effort not to give more offense to Muslims?

Daryl Cagle has another explanation. The MSNBC.com editorial cartoonist, who runs a huge editorial cartoon site at Cagle.MSNBC.com, told E&P Friday that many of the cartoons commenting on the controversy make the point that "the violent response to the cartoons in the Muslim world is wrong and out of proportion to the provocation. If a cartoonist draws Muhammad, then his or her cartoon is about a cartoonist daring to draw Muhammad and any other message is overshadowed. Cartoonists are professionals who want to put their point across rather than just say, 'Hey look at me, I can offend you, too.'"

Cagle does know of at least two cartoons that picture Muhammad. One, by "Mr. Fish," says under a sketch of Muhammad: "Draw the Prophet Muhammad and incur the wrath of Islamic fundamentalists around the world while simultaneously feeding the Judeo-Christian prejudices responsible for vilifying any society unwilling to lay butt-prone to Washington, D.C., Jesus Christ, or Halliburton!"

The other cartoon, by Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, shows a man pointing to a stereotypical drawing of a black person. "This is racism," he says with a frown. Then the man points to a drawing equating the Nazi swastika with the Jewish star. "This is anti-Semitic," he says with another frown. Then the man points to five of the Danish cartoons about Muhammad. "This is freedom of expression," he says with a smile.

On Cagle's Web site, a couple of the 100 or so cartoons about the Danish cartoon controversy picture Muhammad in an indirect or symbolic way. One, by Bruce Beattie of the Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal and Copley News Service, shows an outline of a face and upper body, but no actual features of a person. The caption: "Is this depiction of the Prophet Muhammad offensive?"

Another cartoon, by Brian Fairrington of the Cagle Cartoons syndicate, shows a skull labeled "The Face of Muhammad." On the skull is written "Oppression," "Kill," "Hate," "Intolerance," "Terror," "Anti-Semitism," "Death," and "Suicide Bombers."

When there's a particularly big topic in the news, Cagle assembles cartoons about that topic into an area of his site that can be linked to from the home page. How does the figure of 100 or so cartoons about the Danish-cartoon controversy (spread across 20 Web pages) compare to the number of cartoons posted about other past and present hot issues?

"It's more than usual," replied Cagle. "It's a big story and the cartoonists are motivated to draw on that topic." Some of the cartoons, he added, have been "great."

(Many cartoons about the Danish-cartoon controversy also appear at EditorialCartoonists.com, the Web site of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.)

Other cartoon groupings currently on Cagle's site include "Enron Trial Begins" (10 Web pages of drawings) and "Mine Safety" (seven Web pages).

But the number of cartoons about the Muhammad controversy is still much smaller than the number of cartoons about the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, which generated about 1,000 Web pages of cartoons on Cagle's site over several years.

Cagle, on his site, also links to the original Danish cartoons. How did people respond to that?

"The reaction has been 95% positive," said Cagle. "We've gotten some threats, but nothing serious. We get threats all the time from readers who strongly object to cartoons for one reason or another. I'd say our threat level is just a little higher than normal. We're not at the center of this storm."

Cagle has been covering "this storm" with frequent updates on his editorial-cartoon blog. How is he managing to do this, while also running a cartoon site, operating a syndicate, and drawing his own cartoons?

"The house is a mess," said Cagle. " I haven't drawn enough cartoons this week. I need a nap!"

But Cagle -- whose popular site has been getting even more traffic than usual these days -- is awake enough to know that there's more to this controversy than cartoons. "I don't think this clash of civilizations is really about cartoons," he said. "The cartoons are just a tiny spark that set off a big bomb that has been waiting for the right, tiny spark."