Of Prophets and Parody
It would be remiss of my blog not to comment on the current furore caused by the little Danish newspaper and 20 cartoons depicting the Prophet as a “terrorist”.
This has caused boycotts against the Danes and their wonderful foodstuff, the odd burnt down embassy, a few deaths and a whole lot of Danish flags in flames.
Now I look at this and wonder what the hell is happening in our little world and the concept of religious tolerance.
Two cartoons I have heard of sounded like a pretty interesting commentary of what is happening in the Islamic world. And that dear reader has always been what political cartoons are all about. Commentary on world matters.
Let’s take a scenario. Abdul – a young chap from western Iraq. Devout, attends mosque every day and is rather cheesed off about all these shaved people wandering around his piece of desert, nicking the oil. Some equally devout older chaps come along and say to young Abdul – “you can become a martyr. We will look after your family and in the afterlife you will go to a better place and be presented with 100 virgins”.
Now considering all the woman in your village walk around covered from head to toe and the only exposure to nookie has been the unshaven ones Hustler that was left in the garbage, this sounds like a wonderful thing. You never think to wonder why the exact same people who are telling you how cool it is to become a martyr do not think of been martyrs themselves.
So young Abdi straps on 10kg of stuff that goes bang! And shouts the usual chant before he sets off the 10kg in a crowded market place and passes on to the next world.
Walking up the path, following the sign that says “Martyrs” he notes the long queue and a turbaned lad running down shouting “STOP STOP!! We have run out of virgins!!!”
Personally, I find this a rather interesting commentary of exactly what is going on in the world, and as Zapiro (a well known South African political cartoonist) said “Damn, Why did I not think of this!”
Now this cartoon – and 19 others, were published in August last year. In February 2006 – a full six months later, the entire Muslim world erupts and starts burning stuff. Why the delay I ask myself……
Could it be that their methods of communication are a tad slow. Could it be that they ran out of stuff to do on a Friday. Could it be that it takes a while for their level of intolerance to run out. I have no idea – but what I do have as an idea is that their reaction was waaaaaaayyyyyy over the top.
I also think that once they decided to start the riot thing, they displayed a level of intolerance which can only make people who believe in free speech and the art of parody shake their heads in amazement.
From what I know of the Prophet, he was a peace loving individual who preached what a lot of Muslims follow today. Peace, love and respect for your fellow man. He would have looked at the parody, shook his head and maybe, just maybe, looked behind the cartoon and realized that there was some thought required to why people seem hell bent on becoming martyrs.
By making it an issue they ensured that the small newspaper and the cartoons got all the publicity that they required. They also took on an entire government – that is well known for monitory aid to poor countries – and every believer of free speech in the free world.
Good going lads!!!
There has been over the decades a large amount of religious parody. This is the first time I can recall that innocent people have been killed over it. People complain bitterly, and have done – but do not go out and kill other people!!
I am a believer in free speech. I am also a great proponent of tolerance to my fellow man. Accept people for what they are and laugh at their foibles.
In South Africa, we have a Sunday Paper – The Sunday Times - that would have had some commentary on the issue. They were approached by the local Muslim leadership to give a guarantee that they would not publish the cartoons. The Editor – I am assuming a Christian fellow – refused to give such an undertaking. Said Leadership took the matter to the high court and banned any publication of the cartoons under “Hate Speech”. The interesting part of the high court decision was that the judge was…. A Muslim. I do scratch my head on how a learned official like a high court judge cannot recognize his conflict of interest here. There is a word – recusal!
The net effect of this decision is that we, in South Africa, can now go to court and ban things we do not agree with before it even gets published. I want to see this in action.
In my personal belief the Sunday Times should NOT have published the cartoons as they were obviously inflammatory and could cause more protests and burnings. But the choice should be theirs, not some Judge who had to face his Imam on Friday. And therein lies the definition of Free Speech and the responsibility thereto.
Oh yes. The court application was on the Friday, after the Mail & Guardian had already published a cartoon that day.
The Muslim community made the cartoons newsworthy. If they did not burn and kill it would have died a natural death.
But hey – give me one Muslim country that believes in Free Speech and the rights of an individual. *sigh* - please!!
And therein lies my commentary:
Religion has been hijacked to meet individual needs. No wonder I am agnostic!
And to any Muslim that reads my Blog and gets incensed. Before you flame me please answer the following questions:
Does your religion support the killing of innocent people for the “cause”?
Do you think it is right for people who do not believe in something, to use other people to carry out the killing of innocents?
Do you believe that Parody highlights issues that need to be looked at closer?
Do you believe that Free Speech is a right, which should be exercised with caution?
Do you believe that in a Democracy, the government is responsible for every citizen’s action?
Do you think killing people over a cartoon is justified?
Now if you answered yes to all these questions: Flame away
If you answered No to even one… think why: and the Flame away
(at least I got you thinking – and that is important in my life)
This has caused boycotts against the Danes and their wonderful foodstuff, the odd burnt down embassy, a few deaths and a whole lot of Danish flags in flames.
Now I look at this and wonder what the hell is happening in our little world and the concept of religious tolerance.
Two cartoons I have heard of sounded like a pretty interesting commentary of what is happening in the Islamic world. And that dear reader has always been what political cartoons are all about. Commentary on world matters.
Let’s take a scenario. Abdul – a young chap from western Iraq. Devout, attends mosque every day and is rather cheesed off about all these shaved people wandering around his piece of desert, nicking the oil. Some equally devout older chaps come along and say to young Abdul – “you can become a martyr. We will look after your family and in the afterlife you will go to a better place and be presented with 100 virgins”.
Now considering all the woman in your village walk around covered from head to toe and the only exposure to nookie has been the unshaven ones Hustler that was left in the garbage, this sounds like a wonderful thing. You never think to wonder why the exact same people who are telling you how cool it is to become a martyr do not think of been martyrs themselves.
So young Abdi straps on 10kg of stuff that goes bang! And shouts the usual chant before he sets off the 10kg in a crowded market place and passes on to the next world.
Walking up the path, following the sign that says “Martyrs” he notes the long queue and a turbaned lad running down shouting “STOP STOP!! We have run out of virgins!!!”
Personally, I find this a rather interesting commentary of exactly what is going on in the world, and as Zapiro (a well known South African political cartoonist) said “Damn, Why did I not think of this!”
Now this cartoon – and 19 others, were published in August last year. In February 2006 – a full six months later, the entire Muslim world erupts and starts burning stuff. Why the delay I ask myself……
Could it be that their methods of communication are a tad slow. Could it be that they ran out of stuff to do on a Friday. Could it be that it takes a while for their level of intolerance to run out. I have no idea – but what I do have as an idea is that their reaction was waaaaaaayyyyyy over the top.
I also think that once they decided to start the riot thing, they displayed a level of intolerance which can only make people who believe in free speech and the art of parody shake their heads in amazement.
From what I know of the Prophet, he was a peace loving individual who preached what a lot of Muslims follow today. Peace, love and respect for your fellow man. He would have looked at the parody, shook his head and maybe, just maybe, looked behind the cartoon and realized that there was some thought required to why people seem hell bent on becoming martyrs.
By making it an issue they ensured that the small newspaper and the cartoons got all the publicity that they required. They also took on an entire government – that is well known for monitory aid to poor countries – and every believer of free speech in the free world.
Good going lads!!!
There has been over the decades a large amount of religious parody. This is the first time I can recall that innocent people have been killed over it. People complain bitterly, and have done – but do not go out and kill other people!!
I am a believer in free speech. I am also a great proponent of tolerance to my fellow man. Accept people for what they are and laugh at their foibles.
In South Africa, we have a Sunday Paper – The Sunday Times - that would have had some commentary on the issue. They were approached by the local Muslim leadership to give a guarantee that they would not publish the cartoons. The Editor – I am assuming a Christian fellow – refused to give such an undertaking. Said Leadership took the matter to the high court and banned any publication of the cartoons under “Hate Speech”. The interesting part of the high court decision was that the judge was…. A Muslim. I do scratch my head on how a learned official like a high court judge cannot recognize his conflict of interest here. There is a word – recusal!
The net effect of this decision is that we, in South Africa, can now go to court and ban things we do not agree with before it even gets published. I want to see this in action.
In my personal belief the Sunday Times should NOT have published the cartoons as they were obviously inflammatory and could cause more protests and burnings. But the choice should be theirs, not some Judge who had to face his Imam on Friday. And therein lies the definition of Free Speech and the responsibility thereto.
Oh yes. The court application was on the Friday, after the Mail & Guardian had already published a cartoon that day.
The Muslim community made the cartoons newsworthy. If they did not burn and kill it would have died a natural death.
But hey – give me one Muslim country that believes in Free Speech and the rights of an individual. *sigh* - please!!
And therein lies my commentary:
Religion has been hijacked to meet individual needs. No wonder I am agnostic!
And to any Muslim that reads my Blog and gets incensed. Before you flame me please answer the following questions:
Does your religion support the killing of innocent people for the “cause”?
Do you think it is right for people who do not believe in something, to use other people to carry out the killing of innocents?
Do you believe that Parody highlights issues that need to be looked at closer?
Do you believe that Free Speech is a right, which should be exercised with caution?
Do you believe that in a Democracy, the government is responsible for every citizen’s action?
Do you think killing people over a cartoon is justified?
Now if you answered yes to all these questions: Flame away
If you answered No to even one… think why: and the Flame away
(at least I got you thinking – and that is important in my life)
1 Comments:
During my travels to the extremely moderate muslims countries, iow, where woman are actually allowed to work, drive and show their faces, I've found that most devout muslims are seriously lacking in a sense of humour. Either that, or that's just the face they put forward.
Listening to the talk shows about this whole debacle I'm a bit confused though. Every muslim they've had on this show says how the reaction to the cartoons is over the top and not condoned by Islam, but where are they while the fires are burning?
Your list of questions at the end makes me think of the Crusades and some other interesting times in our history when the religious leaders went over the edge.
This also remind me of a conversation I had with a young muslim guy and a comment he made about how he prefers living in a world with modern thinking. The old way of doing things would have prevented me and him from having any type of conversation.
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