A good thing today – Lars Vilks won an award.
A Swedish cartoonist who depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog has made his first public appearance since attending a debate that was targeted in a gun attack in Copenhagen last month.
Lars Vilks received a prize for courage from a free press group, at a heavily secured event in the Danish parliament.
His cartoon offended many Muslims and he now lives under guard in Sweden.
Oh damn, Beeb, you were doing so well. Two whole sentences you managed before blaming Lars for being almost murdered for drawing cartoons about religion.
And I doubt that it’s even true that his cartoon “offended many Muslims”; I think it offended a few, and those few are of the type who try to kill people who “offend” against their religion.
Mr Vilks, who has been associated with the Swedish left, received the Sappho award from the right-wing Danish Free Press Society.
Receiving the prize, Mr Vilks said he had not aimed to become a symbol of freedom of speech.
“I am an artist and my artwork is probably difficult to understand. Many have tried to understand what that dog is about. But I don’t even understand it myself.
“Some believe that it is a form of blasphemy, but I say that it is what art is all about. I show my things to the world and then the world must interpret it.”
It’s not an obviously “offensive” cartoon; the dog-human hybrid is rather handsome.
The armed security around the prize-giving – as well as its location in parliament – shows how much Denmark has changed since the February attack, says the BBC’s Malcolm Brabant in Copenhagen.
Our correspondent says the show of force is something of a culture shock for what has been a peaceful and relatively secure country.
Of course; it’s horrible.