Iran's largest selling newspaper announced today it was holding a contest on cartoons of the Holocaust in response to the publishing in European papers of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

"It will be an international cartoon contest about the Holocaust," said Farid Mortazavi, the graphics editor for Hamshahri newspaper - which is published by Teheran's conservative municipality.

He said the plan was to turn the tables on the assertion that newspapers can print offensive material in the name of freedom of expression.

"The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let's see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons," he said.

Haha. Quite funny if they do that.

I couldn't care less, I hope they have some humorous winners.

I think the whole thing is a complete f*ckin mess. Tit for tat with cartoons is all good and well, but when you are poking a stick in the face of potentially the greatest divide between two groups of people the world has ever seen, it starts looking a bit less cartoonish. A Catholic Priest was shot dead by a Muslim a few days ago for no other reason than the fact he was a Catholic. The French are continuing to goad a ridiculously large number of people into further rage with their pathetic inability to respect people’s religious beliefs. It's a complete shambles and all a bit scary to be honest. Oh, and the year is 2006 apparently.

There was this Muslim cleric on Newsnight the other night, who was involved in the protests about the Cartoons. He wouldn't shut up, he goaded the rest of the panel, and was souting dogma and bile all over the place. I think the whole situation is delicate, obviously the vast majority of muslims don't agree with the Cartoon protests that threaten "Death to the west" and the beheading of people, but then they have a right to be upset about Cartoons that are clearly in Bad Taste.

Then you've got the dichotomy of Abu Hamza being sent to prison for spreading hatred and Nick Griffin of the BMP getting off on a technicality. The whole situation is quite tense right now and the right wing media isn't helping.

The point is that the mohammed cartoons weren't printed in order to deliberately provoke a response, where as these holocaust ones clearly have been, which seems a little stupid to me. But I doubt too many people will really care - it seems to mainly annoy fundamentalists or ultra-conservatives, who by their nature are intolerant.

Also, I see that the makers of south park, never ones to shy away from controversy, have made mohammed a character in a new episode:
http://www.scientomogy.com/south_park_scientology.php
don't know what you guys think of south park - personally i think its fucking hilarious.

http://drawn.ca/2006/02/14/israeli-anti-se...artoon-contest/

An interesting method, I think, and probably quite a smart move.

This thing has been blown way out of proportion, and frankly, stupid.
The pictures should never have been published. Not for legal reasons, but for common sense reasons.
The same can be said of the outcry, the protests, the reprints, and now of Parker and stone's new contribution.

What's the point in any of this?

Yes, comedy can be offensive, push new boundaries and break taboos - Jam, for example, was, IMO one of the best comedies of recent years. But some things are, quite literally, sacred.

Besides. The cartoons were crap, unfunny, and politically weak.

Really, what was the point?