Mohammad Cartoons: Taboo or Press Freedom?

The cold-blooded murders of Charlie Hébdo staff by Islamists pose a dramatic culture clash: On one side radical jihadists who want to avenge perceived insults against their prophet Mohammad; on the other Europeans who want to exercise their freedom of the press and poke fun at the mighty everywhere (be they Moslem, Jewish or Christian). Nothing can justify killing journalists. But do Moslems have a point? Have the Western media violated a fundamental taboo against depicting the prophet or does Islam need to lighten up and accept the universal human value of free expression?

One Indian-summer September morning the sky was deep blue and I sat on the Brooklyn Promenade – alone except for a few runners and dog walkers – watching a plane hit the World Trade Center at 8:46am. 

Smoke and millions of tiny metallic glitters were in the air; a light wind swept them toward me. The glitters turned out to be countless papers, documents flying across the East River.

One of them was a page from a civil law book, blackened on all four sides (I still have that page today). Another was a FedEx envelope with a contract that someone had just signed a few minutes earlier.

About a half-hour later another plane flew in from Staten Island, right over the Statue of Liberty. It flew low and accelerated head-on toward us. 

It banked like a fighter plane, its dark underbelly visible – a terrifying sight that you usually see only in war zones. 

Suddenly the plane ducked behind a skyscraper, and a moment later disappeared into the South Tower. 

By this time there were about a dozen people watching, speechless and transfixed. I called as many people as I could on my mobile, but got through only to my parents’ answering machine in Sydney. 

Then I saw one tower collapse, then the other. I staggered to a bench, sat down and wept. It was hard to breathe.

I had long believed that Samuel Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" was a myth, that if human beings could find a way to understand each other, the world would be a better place, that all people have essentially a valid point -- at least subjectively -- that they have arrived at with integrity. 

But on that day, my world view changed. I remember thinking, "Some people do not have a valid world view, they cannot be understood, they must be stopped and annihilated."

And now, 14 years later, came the assassinations at Charlie Hebdo (not to speak of the Hyper Cacher supermarket) in the name of defending the honor of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.

In the aftermath of the murders in Paris, many Western news outlets refrained from showing pictures of Mohammad, wary of pouring oil on the fire or breaking the Islamic taboo of depicting the Prophet (and not least putting their journalists and cartoonists at risk).

One major publication that insisted on press freedom and defiantly showed the Charlie Hébdo cartoons was the Wall Street Journal (see video). 



I have long believed  and still believe, that leaders must stand in the shoes of the other side. Already in the Old Testament, King David supposedly said, "From my enemies I became wise." 

My book "Culture Clash: Managing the Global High-Performance Team" asserted that cross-cultural understanding is not about being nice. Rather it is a strategic skill to understand the mindset of global collaborators, competitors and, yes, adversaries. 

The game is to get the job done across borders (and never compromise on your objectives) but to be appropriate to the cultural pathways whenever possible.

Already in the weeks after 9/11, I told officials at the American Military Academy at West Point that if you want to take out terrorists like Osama bin Laden, you must know how Al Qaeda ticks, you must understand their mindset and you must read the Qu'ran. 

Understanding the enemy does not mean condoning the violence. Understanding the enemy allows for defeating him. 

But should Westerners respect the Islamic prohibition against depicting Mohammad, just as the Second Commandment in the Judeo-Christian tradition stipulates?

"You shall not make yourself a carved image nor any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or of that which is on the earth below, or of that which is in the water beneath the earth. You shall not prostrate yourself to them nor shall you worship them."

Or does that mean comparing apples and oranges?

My name is Zweifel ("Doubt" in English), so I doubt there is an easy answer. And if I were a journalist, I would think twice before putting my life at risk and endanger my family. 

But if you ask me to come out on one side, I would unequivocally choose freedom of the press and free expression. Without these freedoms, our way of life is no more and the terrorists have won. 

What do you say? Should Western media depict pictures of Mohammad or should they respect the Isalmic taboo against making images of the Prophet? I look forward to your comments, here or on my blog: http://thomaszweifel.blogspot.com/.

Dr. Thomas D. Zweifel is a strategy & performance expert and coach for leaders of Global 1000 companies. His book Culture Clash 2: Managing the Global High-Performance Team offers tools for cross-cultural management and getting the job done across borders.