On Friday the first of the New Year, a Danish cartoonist was forced to conceal himself and his granddaughter into a panic room because of a threatening terrorist outside his home. The Danish political cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, is known for his political depictions about the Prophet Muhammad. The attacker was a member of the terrorist group al-Shabaab also a known al Qaeda ally; the spokesman of al-Shabaab, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, tells the news conference:
We are very happy with the Somali national who attacked the house of the Danish cartoonist who previously insulted our prophet Mohammed. This is an honor for the Somali people. We are telling that we are glad that anyone who insults Islam should be attacked wherever they are.
And because of that, I question where the right to freedom of speech comes in.
The ironically interesting part that stands out from this event is that this was a Danish cartoonist al-Shabaab attacked. Cartoonists don't have the strongest influence in the world, so his cartoons involving the Prophet Muhammad have little effect. But the strength of the response to these cartoons was at a lethal level. Here is when the irony sets in, the controversial cartoons have much more publicity now, when an attack on the Cartoonist has happened. If the al-Shabaab would have swallowed their pride and turned their heads, these cartoons would never have been publicized and the value the cartoons carried would have remained small.
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