Draw Mohammed day is this silly idea someone came up with in an attempt to show unity against extremists who threaten death to those who, well, draw Mohammed.
(for background; Muslims often find it offensive when people draw Mohammed because they do not believe you should depict the prophet. I don’t pretend to understand why they might feel that way – but that is irrelevant).
Many people will suggest it is wrong to do this day because it is also attacking Muslims (I don’t think that’s the case, and is certainly not the spirit of the endeavour). This is a bad argument and wrong.
The problem I do think exists is that this is exactly the response the extremists expected and hoped for.
Consider; they can turn to converts now and say “look how evil America is, they are escalating this, lets go kill them!”.
Even that is not the main problem.
The problem is that this feels very much like someone reacting fearfully. “Oh shit, we need to overtly show unity and strength and we need to show it now“. It’s the typical OTT reaction that you get from people living in fear.
I can’t get behind it mostly for that reason. I feel there are a lot better ways to show unity and strength – the very best is probably just to ignore these idiots who are sending threats (indeed, only react if the threat is credible, which most aren’t).
The final reason this doesn’t sit well with me is that I think it misses the point. Clearly it will only encourage the extremists; they will smell the fear and realise that sending threats is, inexplicably, getting results. But what it risks is alienating a few more Muslims – not through offending them but because they would see this as “a bit silly”.
In a way it is possibly a little intolerant and ignorant. Ok, so you or I cannot understand why a picture might cause offence, it’s fine for us to consider that a bit silly, indeed it’s even fine to draw those pictures (assuming the sole intention is not to cause offence – and if it is then whoever does it is clearly just an intolerant idiot). But what isn’t fine is saying “oh it doesn’t matter, your being silly so stop it now and let us taunt the extremists“. That sounds patronizing and I wouldn’t blame Muslims for considering that a little rude.
I would much prefer a banner that even Muslims would feel comfortable getting behind.
If you still don’t buy my argument then consider this, from the person who originally came up with the idea:
Norris said that if millions of people draw pictures of Muhammad, Islamistterrorists would not be able to murder them all, and threats to do so would become unrealistic.
Is the threat not already unrealistic? This whole new problem originally came from a blogger who made vague threats of death against the South Park guys.
It was very unrealistic threat. Norris actually gives it credbility - that is fear.
You obviously have never been threatened by Muslims. The mere utterance of a threat already engenders fear -no one needs to give it credibility. No person should fear for his life because of opinion.
If you give me a penny for every Muslim who killed, stoned, tortured, burned, or beheaded someone in the past 365 days I will gladly list the events but for the fact that even though I do not know you, I doubt you have the money to cover the wager.
What is very revealing however, is how bigoted you really are. Do you honestly believe that all a Muslim recruiter needs to do is point to an insulting cartoon and turn to Muslim converts and say “look how evil America is, they are escalating this, lets go kill them!”. Is that what a Muslim is to you? A person on the verge of psychopathic murderous rage waiting for a cartoon to trigger his pathology?
Or if you do not believe this, then your argument is hollow and we have nothing to worry about, Muslims are fine individuals indeed who may be insulted but would never turn violent.
Are Muslims are too dangerous because any slight could set them off on a murderous rampage or we can make fun of them all we want because they are harmless? If the latter, then your opposition on the grounds of possible violent revenge is moot; if the former then I can only conclude we should not allow them into our country. Which is it?
Yeh you just sound intolerant… and a little confused.
Don’t make the mistake of equating Muslim with Extremist – the former are the greater majority
> Do you honestly believe that all a Muslim recruiter needs to do is point to an insulting cartoon and turn to Muslim converts and say “look how evil America is, they are escalating this, lets go kill them!”.
It’s not all that is needed, for sure. But it is certainly what gets said!
> Is that what a Muslim is to you? A person on the verge of psychopathic murderous rage waiting for a cartoon to trigger his pathology?
Umm, no. I’ve ever suggested that in the slightest. It’s irrelevant as, for the last time, we are talking about *extremists* not Muslims.
> Or if you do not believe this, then your argument is hollow and we have nothing to worry about, Muslims are fine individuals indeed who may be insulted but would never turn violent.
Is that a reason to deliberately insult them? Sure, it is our right to draw images of Mohammed – I certainly see no harm in it. But that doesn’t mean we should deliberately draw pictures of Mohammed for the purposes of pissing extremists (and Muslims) off – that’s called “rude”
>No person should fear for his life because of opinion.
No, but clearly some people believe there is a reason to have feared for their lives… because they put together this somewhat childish “protest”
The sensible thing is to recognize there was no credible threat in this case and just move on…
You simply sound a little confused… if you are confusing the extremists making these empty threats with Muslims in general I am not sure your going to find a sympathetic ear even with those organising this protest.
I think best-selling author Brad Thor says it best:
“Islam is not above question, criticism, critique, or examination. In fact, Islam is fourteen centuries overdue for some serious questioning, criticism, critiquing, and examination. People the world over need to be reminded that the freedom of speech most certainly includes the freedom to offend.”
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bthor/2010/05/19/why-everyone-in-the-civilized-world-must-support-everybody-draw-muhammad-day/
If you have to tip-toe around a group of people so as not to offend them because they might become violent, then you are just cowering before a bully who will continue to win because he knows his bullying works.
“I think best-selling author Brad Thor says it best”
He does indeed. Unfortunately Muslim !== Extremist, and it is Extremism that is at issue here, not Islam. Different matters.
“If you have to tip-toe around a group of people so as not to offend them because they might become violent, then you are just cowering before a bully who will continue to win because he knows his bullying works.”
So why are we doing what the bully wants? That’s the core of the matter; they are loving this
Can’t we just ignore them? Seems more sensible.
We definitely shouldn’t tip toe around Muslims because some elements *threaten* violence. Drawing Mohammed is a non-issue; of course when you do someone may be offended. That is how the world works. But that doesn’t mean being deliberately offensive is particularly nice or something we should encourage.
Would you swear in the face of your granny? Probably not. You might be swear as part of a current conversation as your granny walks into the room. Same effect; but at least the intent is socially acceptable!