Iranian Editor Enraged by Danish Newspaper Ad

[Winston]

Iranian editor enraged by Danish newspaper ad

21 December 2006, 09:03

By Line Prasz


The Danish group af artists who yesterday placed an advertisement ridiculing the Iranian President will cause Muslims to hate Danes more, says the editor of Tehran Times.

"Unfortunately, this situation will produce more hatred toward Danes; even those Danes who respect other cultures."

This reaction is from the editor of the Iranian paper Tehran Times, which yesterday published a half page-sized ad that ridicules Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The President is a swine

The advertisement was placed by the Danish group of artists, Surrend, and was accepted by the conservative and state-run newspaper, because it superficially supports Iran and ridicules U.S. President George W. Bush. In actual fact, the ad calls the Iranian President a swine.

The verbatim text was,

Support his fight against Bush

We are also tired of Bush

Iran has the right to produce nuclear energy

No USA aggression against any country

Evil US military stay home

If one reads the first letter of each line vertically, they form the word S W I N E.

"This group has betrayed the Tehran Times", says editor Parviz Esmaili according to Reuters. He explains that the Danish group, which signs off as "Danes for World Peace", presented the ad as an act of solidarity with Iran and appeared to be remorseful over last year's publishing of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed in Jyllands-Posten. More than 50 people were killed during the resulting protests in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Surrend: We want to ridicule the President

According to spokesman Jan Egesborg of Surrend, it was a time-consuming process to get the ad published in Tehran Times. "We got the ad through the censorship by pretending that it was a critique of President Bush - which it is, too - but the point is to ridicule the Iranian President, who represents an extremist Islamic ideology, denies the Holocaust, and suppresses freedom movements in Iran", says Jan Egesborg.

The Danish ambassador to Iran, Søren Haslund, has seen the ad, but offered no comments on the matter for this story.

Link to story in Danish daily Politiken (in Danish), from which the above quote was translated by me.



Rather a brilliant idea,

[SlowwHand]

You can't keep from pissing them off to save your life, can you?

[Winston]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
You can't keep from pissing them off to save your life, can you?

If they were just a little bit smarter, they wouldn't have let themselves get fooled so easily and, I presume, would've been significantly less enraged.

[germanos]

to jokes that need an explanation.

[KrazyHorse]

More than 50 people were killed during the resulting protests in Asia, Africa and the Middle East

I just don't get it. You're pissed at a Danish newspaper so you riot and kill dozens (causing millions in property damage) in your own country?

WTF

[SlowwHand]

Look at riots most places. Vandalizing and looting their own neighborhood.

[Monk]

Too bad for the new ambassador though. After what, two and half day on the job, he's got the first incident to deal with already.

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by germanos
to jokes that need an explanation.

Had I read that ad originally, I would have just thought it was the dictated musings of a functional illiterate with some money to throw around.

[Pekka]

Of course the question isn't why Iran can't take a joke, that is essential to western culture. The question is, why can't we tolerate these pansies who get offended if we even so much as fart?

Who is the tolerant one again? He is again showing that he is not tolerant, he does not wish peace, the only thing he wants is getting his ass kicked.

It's like the whole cartoon thing, of course it was the cartoonist and everyone else who were intolerant. I mean, God forbid it wasn't those who read obscure newspapers from the other side of globe, get all fired up and start burning embassies. All they were asking was tolerance, all they said that there are other holy things than freedom of speech.. freedom, overrated! BAH! Why shoudl your freedom be able to .. ridicule me.. *cry*.

I'm glad we have bigger guns though. If it was one of these loonies, we'd be gone. Because they do not tolerate us who kind of like the idea of deciding for ourselves about stuff.

Here's a comparison of tolerance:

You burn our embassies, more than one, threaten to kill like everyone, shout insults, burn flags, get countries mixed up and basically show some kind of primitive urge to go wild. We apologize for our rude behaviour.

We put up a cartoon that some people find offensive. Even though it would offend some people, it would still be there.

OK. Action number 1 and action number 2, measure the tolerance levels there.

[Tattila the Hun]

Well, atleast it's a good picture. The guy looks very likeable.

[Winston]

Yes, not too bad for such a swine.

[C0ckney]

denmark

[Gatekeeper]

Stupid editor.

[Winston]

The Editor Strikes Back,

Date: Saturday, December 23, 2006

Response of Tehran Times about an advertisement

TEHRAN - In regard to an advertisement in the December 20 edition of the Tehran Times purchased by a group that falsely identified itself as “Danes for World Peace”, it should be stated that the advertisement department is an independent and economic section which is totally separate from the news departments of the daily.

The directors of the advertisement department never thought that the danish group, which had paid from a personal bank account, would advertise something with a hidden political or cultural message.

The advertisement may have had other meanings, but any other interpretation than the sentences of the ad by no means is approved by the Tehran Times editor.

In light of freedom of the press in Iran, this explanation is aimed at informing public opinion, especially in Demark.

The manipulation of media outlets for political purposes shows lack of sense.

Those who carry out such disrespectful acts and seek a clash of civilizations and cultures can never claim that they advocate world peace and support all nations.

Although the Tehran Times took the ad at face value, it has protested the unprofessional and immoral act, and, if necessary, will take appropriate measures through legal channels.

Link to Tehran Times announcement.

[Monk]

I they need some better English speakers on that newspaper. They could be located in Demark or elsewhere.

Okay, I'm no expert myself, but then again, I don't publish a newspaper in English either...