Sacrelicious

[skyring]

BookCrossing.com Chit-Chat, as ever, provides thoughtful entertainment. There are a few precious characters there - I'm one of them, I guess - but when you get a group of quirky, clever, well-read folk together the result is always a spicey mix.

Apparently the United Nations (or someone) has declared the 20th of May to be International Draw Mohammed Day.

Some discussion ensued, with some thinking it was a good idea to twist the tail of fundamentalists and others not wanting to needlessly insult others.

Freedom of speech easily over-rides blasphemy, but just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.

For some people, there is some core idea, belief, cause, group, or concept that over-rides everything. In some cases life itself. Some people are willing to die for a cause, and if they take a few non-believers with them, so much the better.

Religion, politics, sports. I call it the "football team" mentality. Maybe the believers draw the line at dying for the cause, but they will certainly go to extreme lengths to get tickets for the big events, whether it's dinner with Jesus or a front row seat with the champion driver. Money is no object. A bigger house to hold the shrine - or a garage for the venerated Ferrari - or a baseball diamond carved out of the cornfield.

A common theme is that the fundamentalists are so blinded by the glory that they can't see how ridiculous they are. My god rides a flying horse. Mine whips around Monaco at a bazillion kilometres an hour. My god uses (hush) The Force!

It's not the day to day adherents that bother me. It's the ones who care too much. The ones who want everyone to be tolerant of their one true devotion, whilst at the same time they cannot abide unbelievers. You've got to draw the line somewhere.

For me, well, I won't be drawing no pictures of Mohammed. I support the rights of others to do so, and I deplore those who care too much. Including those who see it as their holy cause to annoy others. If you get a bomb coming back at you in return for your cartoon, don't say you didn't see it coming!

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oh for heaven's sake - why? Of all the things to do someone had to choose that! Can someone stop poking the Muslims with a sharp stick for just a bit and think of something else to keep themselves amused?

"Freedom of speech" blah blah. Just because you believe you can/think you should does not necessarily mean that you should. These are the very same people likely to turn around when the American flag is burnt and go "see, they're nuts, and all over a stupid cartoon!". No, it's not over a stupid cartoon, it's over your blatant disrespect for their religion and the fact you cant keep your mouth shut/hands still.

What if a core belief in the West was attacked in the same way? e.g. someone puts forward that paedophilia was ok really, because Jesus did it ("Gather the little children....").

Actually, that's a better idea. To ensure "Freedom of speech" and "pushing the [comedic] envelope" etc......pick on the Christians for a bit. They haven't been made a laughing stock for ages (unless you count George W, cos the man himself was a joke). The reaction to Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" in the country that produces the world's largest amount of porn has to be useful somehow. And considering "Jerry Springer: the opera" fiasco didn't get anyone killed (as far as I know) I think we can go pretty far in insulting the Christians before someone really gets hurt.

[islandmomma.livejournal.com]

Not depicting Mohammed in any way is not just a fundamentalist thing, it's basic to Islam, so it's a huge insult. Whatever non-Muslims' opinion it is as basic as saying Mary is the Mother of Jesus to a Christian. So I presume that when you say UN, it was tongue-in-cheek?

Back in the 60s in the UK we had a variety of TV shows which, in fact, did satirize Christianity, amongst other, "taboo" subjects. Didn't Rowan and Martin do that in the US?