Yet another cartoon story - the interesting one

While European TV-studios still are packed with people commenting on the freedom of expression and the relationships between West and Islam, not too many have asked - how was this actually happening. How could this anger, that it appears in media, spread like a wildfire across continents, in only a couple of weeks (Or, more correct, four months and a couple of weeks)?

The fact that this question so little has been discussed is perhaps as scary as the development in it self.

Media people, like people in general, normally think media has the power to influence people directly and that people are forming their opinions momentaniously. Nothing could be more wrong, especially in this case.  In this Washington Post story we learn that the development has been seeded, and fueled, by individuals in Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Indonesia. It's when the anger is strong enough in the minds of connected people the wildfire starts. People actually have to be told what to think by people they trust before they form their opinion. The fact that several Arabic media published not only the story about the Mohamed pictures in Jyllands-Posten, but also the pictures themselves, without nothing happened, shows the reactions among muslims perhaps aren't that digital that media has made us believe. 

Just like the Los Angeles riot in 1992 not only were a reaction of a single verdict but the tipping point of a longtime frustration among the Afro-American community in the US, the protests among muslims is just the tip of an iceberg. If it's pictures of Mohamed or harassed prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison is of less importance, there are a lot of muslim people that need such an event to have an excuse for serious protesting. On the other hand, there are so many more muslims that haven't participated. But those are hard to show on TV.

Comments

[Henrik]

You are making a very good point with the speading of the pictures in Jyllands Posten. Did not know that the Arab-media also had published the pictures.

But if I recall this correctly the "boom" started when a member of one of the Muslim-organisations i Denmark made trips to these countries and spread it to the "muslim communities". So here is a case of the oldest marketing tool known to man "word of mouth" or in this case u maybe can call it "bad word of wouth". Anyway this shows how powerful this tool really is and no mater how hard u try to promote an idea or product this tool always going to be the most credable one.

[Hans Eric Melin]

It sure is a word-of-mouth case. It fits very well in the old earthfire metaphor: When the heat rises above ground suddenly flames appear in million places, because the glow have migrated in the roots underground without anybody noticing. What we see is several conversations that suddenly have been connected an appears as one single wildfire.