Monday, January 30, 2006

I've Been Tagged (Again)

The Pub Philosopher has asked me to continue a chain in support of Denmark. In his own words:

This involves buying Danish goods and e-mailing messages of support to the Arla Foods website and to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen

For those of you wondering why I should be supporting Denmark, it is all to do with the Cartoon Wars. Denmark, and to a lesser extent Norway, have both made themselves targets in the Arab world for having printed cartoons of the prophet Mohammed.

Quite rightly, in my opinion, the Danish government has refused to take any action against the newspapers that have printed the cartoons; whilst they may be offensive to some, they have held to the line that freedom of expression is a right and one that they hold sufficiently dear to defend. Certain Middle Eastern countries, as a result, have launched boycotts against Danish goods, and some countries have recalled their ambassadors.

Thus, buying more Danish goods is a show of solidarity and to show belief in freedom of expression. I'm all for it, and not just because it gives me a good excuse to consume more bacon.

In the tagging tradition, I think I'm supposed to pass this on, but really I just hope more people see this and become aware of the issues involved. I think Ed and Gavin might have a particular interest, though.