Everyone Draw Mohammed (may Allah honor him and grant him peace) day

[yagathai]

So recently it was apparently Everyone Draw Mohammed Day, wherein people were encouraged to draw the Prophet of Islam. This was in direct reaction to some high-profile and recent terroristic threats made by certain Muslim extremists towards (primarily Western) artists, threatening violence in reaction to depictions of Mohammed which are forbidden according to strict religious codes.

tithenai and I had some words over the 'holiday', because she believes that it's wrong to offend an oppressed minority for the sake of satisfying some jingoistic urge to "put Muslims in their place".

This strikes me as a terribly defensive and reactionary view, and that is certainly not my motivation. However, honestly, even if it does offend the world's Muslim population, on a personal level I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, mockery is always a valid response to threats of unreasonable violence -- it may even be the best response. If people that hew to a frankly absurd tenet are offended because of a reaction to violence perpetrated other people that hew to that same tenet, I have not one iota of pity for them. Underclass or overclass, victims or perpetrators, violent desert barbarians or ancient and maligned culture -- I don't care.

To put it another way, is it OK to blame vegetarians if, say, a militant ecoterrorist group kills a security guard in an attempt to liberate a factory farm? Absolutely not. But you'd better believe that I'll be participating in "Eat A Rare, Juicy Steak Day" that week to show the murdering assholes that their abhorrent tactics haven't cowed me, but rather energized their oppositions. If that offends all the non-violent vegetarians, tough titty.

In other words, it's OK if it offends the emperor's tailors to point out that the Emperor has no clothes. Pointing out the Emperor's nudity is a good in and of itself, but if one of the tailors has been threatening to hurt me if I pointed out his flimflammery, so much the better. A statement of defiance and scorn towards that violent tailor is an additional good, and if the rest of the tailors get hurt feelings that's too bad. No matter what the tailors' circumstances, the Emperor is still completely goddamn naked.

Comments

Surprisingly, I do somewhat agree with you, Mike.

[glamour-junkie.livejournal.com]

I'm betting you're right in that a lot of the people in the Draw-Mohammed crowd (I hadn't even heard of this thing, honestly, until this post... but I was disgusted when I heard about the South Park threats) aren't anti-Muslim, being as a lot of Atheists or Agnostics aren't particularly hateful toward any one religion, they're against the harmful tenets of all religions. What I DO think the Draw-Mohammed people all share is the anger toward intimidation.

What we're talking about here, really, isn't "white America" shitting on the Muslim community for shitting's sake. It's not "cram pork down someone's throat laughing all the way". It's not anti-Muslims vs. Muslims.

What it is, at least mostly, is a small group of people fighting back against threats of violence and intimidation from another small group of people.

Intolerance is bad, sure enough. But NO - absolutely NO fucking religion - has the right to invoke threats (or acts) of violence and retribution against others just because they don't share and honor their beliefs and reverences.

Have I been on the receiving end of any form of discrimination or threats for what I have done or what I have believed (or not believed) in my life? Bet your ass I have. I have had death threats scrawled on walls for me to see, calling me out by name.
(Whether or not a prev. poster above knows what I've been through or not, I don't fucking care. I respectfully disagree with a lot of what they've said, and their tone of superiority here. Speaking for everyone and what they do or do not know about is just as ignorant.)

I, as an individual and a human, have learned to respond civilly and, at the end of the day, to respond in a non-violent way and/or move on. I'm not about to bash in the noses (or brains) of those who believe I'm in the wrong. Because THAT'S what not OK, no matter what. I'm going to use my voice and my vote to try to make positive change, not my fists.

The people who decided to participate in Draw-Mohammed day used their voices, too. They used a non-violent protest (religiously abrasive and misguided, sure, but non-violent) to respond to those few using violent fear tactics. The drawings are for those few, not the rest of the Muslim community. The "holocaust jokes over a loudspeaker" analogy is just absurd - are we really going to compare genocide and an offensive image of someone's deity?

I myself don't feel the need to draw a picture either, but I have a human fucking right to do so. If someone threatens me with violence and retribution for it, I'm going to respond the only way I, as a non-violent person, know how - use my voice. I agree it might be misguided and counter-productive, but it's the only way some people feel like they can respond legally to people that have gone beyond "asshole" and right into "villains" by threatening their legal and moral freedoms. They might be becoming assholes themselves by taking it in this direction, but it's a direct and proportional response to those fearmongers. Draw-Mohammed day is a RESPONSE to threats, not anti-Muslim behavior inherently. My hope is that most people can rise above BOTH sides of this bullshit.


(And I was so calm when I started off this response. Sheesh.)

EDIT: After reading a little more about it, I feel like the anger about this is largely due to misunderstanding. The two sides are fighting from viewpoints WORLDS apart, and aren't even really fighting the same battle.
It's crazy. The DM people are fighting against censorship and a culture of fear, which is valid, and the anti DM people are fighting this because of the racism they believe is there. How frustrating.

Re: Surprisingly, I do somewhat agree with you, Mike.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

Wait, why do you agree with me "surprisingly"?

Re: Surprisingly, I do somewhat agree with you, Mike.

[glamour-junkie.livejournal.com]

Oh, not so much because it's you.
It's because I feel like my general stance is "try not to offend people", especially when it comes to my, or their, beliefs. I usually just respectfully "agree to disagree", and go on my merry way. I wouldn't normally empathize with a group of people putting offensive shit out into the world. I do this time, because I believe the deeper need people fulfill in participating in this is the fight to protect their own freedoms and not fall down the slippery slope into censorship because of intimidation from a small group of bullies.

Re: Surprisingly, I do somewhat agree with you, Mike.

[dynix.livejournal.com]

"EDIT: After reading a little more about it, I feel like the anger about this is largely due to misunderstanding. The two sides are fighting from viewpoints WORLDS apart, and aren't even really fighting the same battle.
It's crazy. The DM people are fighting against censorship and a culture of fear, which is valid, and the anti DM people are fighting this because of the racism they believe is there. How frustrating."

That bit was genuinely useful. Ta.