Muhammad
2.8.6
It's not often I pay any attention to the news. I don't have anything in particular against it (I'm not one of those who complains that the media is too liberal or too conservative). It's not that it depresses me. I've none of the usual complaints, really. It simply doesn't interest me all that often.
Recently, however, I've found myself quite interested in one of the current top stories...
It started a few months ago when a Danish newspaper requested that artists send in their cartoon representations of the prophet Muhammad. The paper called this request an "experiment in free speech." They were supposedly curious about whether or not any kind of self-censorship would occur amongst the artists. Out of the submissions they received, twelve were eventually printed in the paper.
If you leave it at that then the experiment would seem to have been a rousing success. There were humble portraits, and there were artistic representations. There were some that poked fun at the newspaper itself, and there were some that did so at Muhammad's expense. One even seemed to offer a bit of insight for events yet to come. It seemed that a great variety of opinions had been voiced. One of the pictures in particular, though, had ended up catching the attention of the Muslim community. This picture depicted the prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb with a lit fuse (in lieu of a more traditional turban).
At first the public reaction to these cartoons was actually pretty mild. There were a few protests and some boycotts on Danish products, but for the most part this story kind of fizzled out quietly. Strangely enough, I think one of the first things I noticed about all of this was the fact that so many of the protest signs contained bits and pieces of what seemed like internet chatroom shorthand. It was as if a group of American teenaged girls had helped the protesters with their slogans...
But I suppose I should get back to the point...
It wasn't until newspapers in several other countries reprinted the cartoon series that things started to get out of hand. Honestly, I can understand the Muslim community's outrage at some of these cartoons. It's fairly natural to take offense to an apparent attack on your culture or religion...and while I think that even protests and boycotts still go a bit too far for being about a mere cartoon...at least these are still rational and possibly productive reactions. (I would also like to add that these acts showcase true strength in the Muslim community, as Danish yogurt is very hard to resist because it's fucking delicious.)
What I absolutely cannot understand is the idea that this situation could ever escalate to violence...but that's exactly what happened when some people saw the aforementioned reprinting of the cartoons as having an underlying political agenda. All of a sudden, groups of protesters were turning into violent marauders. They were burning down consulates. They were beating people in the streets. Their picket signs were suddenly a bit less cute, and a bit more filled with words like "behead" and "annihilate." In fact, as of right now, several people have already died in what has become more of a riot than anything else. This leads me to ask these specific murderous individuals a very simple question:
Are you fucking serious?
Some Dane draws a picture implying that your religion is a violent one, and your reaction to this is violence? Do you have any idea how fucking stupid that is? Let's follow the logic train for just a moment here. If the insinuation that you are violent is offensive, then it should follow that you would be against violence. On the other hand, if you actually do enjoy committing violent acts, then it probably shouldn't bother you if someone refers to you as being violent. Any other combination of those phrases just doesn't make any damn sense.
Like I said: I understand that the cartoon has struck some Muslim nerves, and I'm fine with a public outcry against it. To go out and do the exact same thing the cartoon vilifies you for, though, is just plain asinine.
In any case...I assume that if a cartoon can drive these idiots to violence, one can perhaps inspire other things as well. Therefore, as an experiment, I've created my very own political cartoon designed with these specific killers in mind. So, without further ado, I present the following in the hopes that they will once again follow a cartoon's lead:
You may now proceed to go fuck yourselves.
In these overly sensitive times, I feel I might as well add the following quick disclaimer (even though it really should be unnecessary):
All of the negative speech in this entry was directed only at violent protesters, and not at any culture or religion in general. I also apologize if anyone who does not fall into the "violent" category was offended by the above picture...in this case the original Muhammad cartoon was used to represent those that do.
