Muslim Cartoon

In his piece, “At the Crossroad of Islam, the West,” Tariq Ramadan portrays how freedom of speech and a difference in cultural views can easily cause uncomfortable feelings between two races. This was shown in the example of the cartoon. On one hand, you have a race that developed a cartoon with what they say as trivial humor. They did not see this as “crossing the line” on the views or beliefs of the Muslims. However, on the other hand, the Muslim race felt that the cartoon was making fun of them and saw the cartoon as offensive and “out of line.” Ramadan writes, “Freedom of expression is not absolute” (156). I have to agree with him. Freedom of speech and expression should not be free from restrictions. People should not be allowed to just go around saying hateful things about another race just because they can. We need to learn to respect the different beliefs and opinions of different races, cultures, and religions, even if they are not what we agree with. We as Americans would not like it if another culture bashed our culture; just as others cultures do not like it when we make fun of theirs. A simple resolution to this is the Golden Rule – treat others the way you want to be treated and respect the ideas of different cultures.