I have been following closely the hysteria over the Danish cartoons. If you have not heard about it, let me tell you the short version:

In September 2005 the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published a series of twelve cartoons about the prophet Muhammad as a test of whether the threat of Islamic terrorism had limited the freedom of expression in Denmark. The newspaper decided to do this risky campaign when a Danish author complained he could not find anyone willing to illustrate a book about Muhammad's childhood. Carsten Juste, the paper’s editor, said they wondered whether there were more cases of self-censorship and asked twelve cartoonists to draw the prophet Muhammad.

As a result some mullahs in Denmark were outraged and insisted of getting an apology from the Danish government. The government however made it clear that there is "freedom of speech" and the press is free to publish what it wanted.

What happened next is even more interesting...The mullahs took the published cartoons, added three more extremely insulting images never published before and went to several Muslim countries in the Middle East. They showed the cartoons there telling everybody they had all been printed in Denmark. (Actually, it turned out that one of the images is an AP photo of a contestant in a French pig contest. Click here to see it)

The aftermath? Well, a few months after the publishing of the cartoons, the world is divided once again. Embassies are burning and people are being killed. Check out the CNN photo gallery of the protest in the Middle East

All this over several cartoons? Sheesh...No wonder I decided to become a cartoonist:-) See what kind of power those funny pictures have?

All in all, it is obvious that what is happening now has nothing to do with the actual cartoons. However, it has ALL to do with the situation in the Middle East countries and the abyss dividing the west from the east. And it is all about timing... 10 years ago the printing of those cartoons would have never had that kind of reaction...

It is sad to see how people are being manipulated by politics, religion and media... Aren't we all?