The muslim world has erupted in a paroxism of anger, because a Danish cartoonist drew Mohammed with a turban shaped like a bomb. On this Friday prayer day, thousands of muslims are protesting. To those muslims I say, fuck you.
Granted, graven images are forbidden in Islam. And granted, Pat Robinson would be upset if a cartoonist drew Jesus having his sordid way with George W. Happily however, Pat Robertson does not have his pulse on the nerve center of the Western world. He'd use the 700 Club to call for the cartoonist's death, mainstream media would run stories about Robertson's latest outrageous statement, we'd all cluck our tongues and that'd be the end of it.
But that's not the case with the Mohammed cartoons. Death threats have been issued, aid agency offices are under seige, and hotels in Palestine are being searched for foreigners. Somebody, somewhere, will use these cartoons as a pretext for violence.
If they want to react to a depiction of their prophet as a man of violence with threats of violence, I guess there's nothing I can do about it. But don't expect me to have any sympathy or understanding for their cause. All they're doing is proving the cartoonist's point.
What's more, the Arab press abounds with some pretty horrible cartoons. I've checked the lunatic right wing fringe blogs, and they're chockablock with Arab cartoons showing Ariel Sharon bathing in blood, and Israeli soldiers chopping up Palestinian children with swatiska shaped axes. If that's okay, then why not a cartoon showing Mohammed with a turban bomb? Why is one thing okay, and not the other?
So to all the protesting muslims I say fuck you. I have the right to outrage you just as much as you have the right to outrage me. Put down the Kalishnikov, grow up, and join the Goddamn world community. If you can't do that, or if you won't do that, then we truly are fucked. Our future will be written in blood.
