Draw Muhammad Day is approaching and if you haven't heard of this yet you may very well be hearing a lot about this soon. This is a response to Comedy Central editing a South Park episode "depicting" the Prophet Muhammad after death threats were posted online by a bunch of nutters known as Revolution Muslim. The episode in question dealt with the Islamic ban on depicting Mohammad visually in any medium. They also never show Muhammad in the episode having him hidden an a giant cuddly bear suit. South Park is a comedic show and pokes fun at everything, and while they did take jab at this ban they also technically didn't break it. However Comedy central did edit the episode when it aired in a move which I think was pretty wussy, but I understand it because they were legitimately worried about the well-being of two of their own.
The great thing about free speech is that it lets us know who the nutters all. Revolution Muslim spoke up and now we all know that these guys are douchebags and potentially violent ones. However, Revolution Muslim does not include nor represent the views of all Muslims. That's important because now we have a whole new problem.
Someone had the brilliant idea to have so many people draw Muhammad that it would "destroy" the ban. The reason the ban is there is because Islam does not approve of idolatry, which is something it shares with Christianity. They don't want there to be images of Muhammad because that may encourage people to worship him when they should be worshiping Allah. So obviously issuing death threats and killing a Dutch cartoonist is the work of extremists, but the principle against idolatry is held by most in that faith.
So where did this idea to draw Muhammad come from?
Yes, Atheist Barbie there looks quite smart with her glasses, take-me-seriously hairstyle, and general demeanor; but it doesn't change the fact that she's advocating douchbagery. This is the equivalent of taking a knock at Jesus just for the sake of getting a jab in at Fred Phelps. Groups like Revolution Muslim and the Westboro Baptist Church are indeed a blight and I've got no qualms about taking shots at them, however there's no regard here for the collateral damage. This concept is going to appeal to those looking to count coup and safe money says that most of the images will be derogatory.
Face it, when I'M getting concerned about cultural sensitivity something is definitely wrong.
So obviously I won't be participating and I encourage my friends in the artistic community not to either. Freedom of Expression is wonderful thing but this is an abuse of it. Its also ridiculously juvenile. Jon Stewart telling Revolution Muslim to "go fuck yourself" backed by a gospel choir is pure genius compared to this. Note that Stewart specifically targeted the offending group with no undue venomous overflow.
Grow up. Revolution Muslim got its ass handed to them by the public at large and their website is pretty much shut down. They've lost. They lost because they are losers. Don't go doing something intentionally being an asshole and claim you're being morally right because of Freedom of Speech. And you know what? I fully defend anyone's right to take part in this. I also defend people's right to burn the American Flag in protest, although I do feel I should have the right to punch them straight in the mouth for it.
Having the right to do something does not mean that you should do it.
3 comments:
I wholly agree with you on this one. Sure, we have the right to draw Mohammad to give Revolution Muslim a huge middle finger. However, is it right to belittle and offend the entire religion because of one fanatic faction? If you want your own religion (or even the lack thereof) and the right to worship it as you see fit to be respected then you need to respect others beliefs as well.
Revolution Muslim is pretty much done so doing this to stick it to them is beating a dead horse.
Exactly, and this is the reason society is in the state it's in. No common respect or courtesy for its fellow man.
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