Your rhetoric aside: Queer isn't a choice, like vegetarian or Muslim. Queer isn't an on-its-face ridiculous restriction on behavior. Drawing a picture of Mohammed doesn't actually cause anyone any harm, which is very different than assaulting a homosexual.
I live on this side of the cultural divide. Were I to live on the other side, I could see myself being motivated to, say, burn an American flag on the 4th of July. But I'm not. I'm on this side, and so instead I stick up for people scribbling stick figures (though on a personal note I don't really have a problem with flag burning either).
People are frustrated and scared, and while certainly I think the "Muslim threat" has been far overblown, it doesn't mean that people don't have some right to be frustrated and afraid, regardless of how real the threat is, regardless of who threw the first punch. They're going to lash out, and I think that drawing stick figures is a pretty benign way to do it.
Am I defending US policy in the Middle East? Certainly not. I'm not supporting violence or direct action against any Muslim. Am I supporting disrespecting a (especially ridiculous) religious tenet? With a work of defiance through art? As a response to violent assault both real and percieved? Hell yes. I supported Piss Christ*, and so I'll sure as hell support this.
*Personally I think I have more to fear from fundamentalist Christians than Muslims, but that's beside the point.
no subject
I live on this side of the cultural divide. Were I to live on the other side, I could see myself being motivated to, say, burn an American flag on the 4th of July. But I'm not. I'm on this side, and so instead I stick up for people scribbling stick figures (though on a personal note I don't really have a problem with flag burning either).
People are frustrated and scared, and while certainly I think the "Muslim threat" has been far overblown, it doesn't mean that people don't have some right to be frustrated and afraid, regardless of how real the threat is, regardless of who threw the first punch. They're going to lash out, and I think that drawing stick figures is a pretty benign way to do it.
Am I defending US policy in the Middle East? Certainly not. I'm not supporting violence or direct action against any Muslim. Am I supporting disrespecting a (especially ridiculous) religious tenet? With a work of defiance through art? As a response to violent assault both real and percieved? Hell yes. I supported Piss Christ*, and so I'll sure as hell support this.
*Personally I think I have more to fear from fundamentalist Christians than Muslims, but that's beside the point.