Monday, February 06, 2006
Dear Muslims: Get over yourselves.
Memo to Muslims: I realize you think that cartoon representations of your prophet (and not particularly well-drawn or funny ones at that) are an indefensible and unforgivable crime against your religion. They're not.
Invading a Middle East country on false pretenses, destroying its infrastructure and assuming control of all of its natural resources while killing tens of thousands of its citizens -- that's a crime. Some stupid cartoons? Not so much.
As Bill Maher would say, get over yourselves.
FOLLOWUP: I've heard that the Quran doesn't technically forbid graven images or pictorial representations of the prophet. Can anyone verify this?
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6 comments:
My first response was to say "right on!", but upon further reflection I think you're wrong on this one.
As I understand it it's written in the Koran that images of god or the prophets are blasphemy, never mind ones that are insulting the religion as a whole, so I can almost understand the upset (and violence as well, given how religious fanatics are often inclined to use force to solve their more delicate issues (pro-life assassins anyone?)).
As far as the invasion of Iraq and muslims, Iraq was a secular country, so the religous leaders in the neighbouring countries (read Iran) are happy that Bush has removed the biggest barrier to turning Iraq into another country ruled by Islamic law.
So, is it ignorant and backwards? Absolutely. But hey, who ever claimed that religions were logical?
Dear anonymous:
The same logic can be used in relation to Christianity, which allegedly forbids, say, taking the Lord's name in vain. Does that mean that a gang of Christians can go berserk and attack someone who says something like, "God damn it!"?
Would it mean that Muslims have the right to attack, on the streets of a foreign country, a woman they accused of dressing like a harlot according to their strict dress codes?
In my opinion, Muslims (just like every other religion on the planet, including Christianity) have the right to believe the stupidest things imaginable.
However, they don't have the right to expect others to hold to those same moral standards of utter stupidity.
Hey, don't get me wrong here, I'm not supporting what they've done or defending it in any way, shape or form. From my perspective, if a cartoon can shake your belief, you have bigger problems than cartoons.
All that I'm commenting on was the difference in the Muslim reaction to the cartoon and the invasion of Iraq.
As with most religious texts, the invisible person in the sky lacked the basic literary skills to present a clear set of laws...
See Here
Sam Harris had an intersting comment on the subject (among other good points about rationalism).
See Here
I had to shoehorn my feelings about this into a primitive pictogram drawn with a golf card pencil.
The original drawing will soon be going on eBay with a starting bid of $30,000.
From the Globe and mail:
The cartoons "...have touched a raw nerve partly because Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Mohammed for fear they could lead to idolatry."
Idolatry:(noun) religious zeal; willingness to serve God.
I don't think a few drawings of their "ghost in the clouds" are going to lead these nutjobs to excessive religious zeal, it would appear the cat is out of the bag on that. They are setting fire to embassies and shooting small arms fire while chanting for the death of those responsible...and by the thousands all over the middle east. Religious zeal they've got in spades and it ain't from a few cartoons. How is the rest of the world supposed to deal with these lunitics?
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