By Geoffrey Sorensen

The cartoons that sparked controversy around the world were not shown at a panel discussion Tuesday night.

Three of the four panelists at “Caricature and Controversy: The Journalism, Religion and Politics Behind the Muslim Cartoon Story” agreed with the decision that the cartoons not be publicly displayed that evening. This event was one of several on the cartoon sponsored by different University departments.

Professor E.R. Shipp, who moderated the event, explained that the cartoons would not be shown but that they are widely available on the Internet.

Cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad disparagingly ran in a Danish newspaper in September but it took a couple of months before protests, some of which were violent, erupted in many countries throughout the Middle East. It is considered sacrilegious by Muslims for Muhammad to be illustrated.

The one panelist who argued for showing the cartoons came from a journalist who recently quit his job because his paper would not print the cartoons.

Azi Paybarah said he quit New York Press after its owner, expressing concern over his safety and that of his staff, nixed plans to run the cartoons that were to accompany a series of stories. Paybarah, who was not actually involved in those stories, reached his decision because he felt his credibility would take a hit if he continued to work for a paper that “didn’t have the guts” to run the cartoons.

When asked by a student whether he thought the owner was more worried about losing advertiser revenue than safety, Paybarah said that he believed his boss was being honest about his reasoning, to which Shipp replied, “I don’t buy that.”

Dr. Faroque Khan, founder of the Islamic Center on Long Island, wanted those in attendance to understand that only a small fraction of the world’s Muslim population was involved in the protests that were covered by the news media. The overwhelming majority of Muslims, he said, were offended, but did not do more than write letters to newspaper editors and make phone calls.

Khan said he has not seen the cartoons.

“I don’t need to see a rape to know that it’s bad,” he said.

Daniel Varisco, an anthropology professor, said he would not have participated in the panel had the cartoons been shown and asked, “Why would you offend Muslims?”

Professor Markus Dressler, also on the panel, decided not to show the cartoons in his Islamic introduction class, but did offer students a link on his Blackboard page.

“I did not see any reason to show them again in the classroom,” he said. “It would not have contributed to the discussion.”

Paybarah asked, “By not showing the cartoons, aren’t you making this a bigger issue?” He added that the actual images help tell this story better than words can.

Panelists discuss why cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad caused such controversy.