Friday, May 21, 2010

Daniel Greenfield article:
Everybody Draw Mohammed

Posted: 20 May 2010 10:20 PM PDT

What is freedom, if it is not the freedom to criticize, to ask
questions and demand answers-- or to simply ridicule the high and
mighty.

In the Dar Al Islam, for over a thousand years, that
freedom has not existed. You could not question. Even today to question is
to court a jail sentence, in even the "moderate" Muslim
nations.

When Mohammed ordered the murders of poets and satirist
who criticized him, he set the tone for over a millennium of bloodshed.
The Muslim today who calls for the murder of cartoonists is not an
extremists or a misrepresenter of Islam, he is following the conventional
Islamic approach all the way back to the dawn of that faith under the
guidance of its prophet.

And the media and Western defenders of
Islam know it for the truth. If they truly believed that this was only the
work of a tiny minority of extremists who could not tolerate free speech,
why would they so aggressively censor it?

If it is only a tiny
minority of extremists that are at fault, why did CNN and every major news
organize refuse to show Mohammed cartoons, garbling them as if they were
as offensive and unacceptable to them... as they are to Muslim
believers?

When one examines actions and words, it is always the
actions that tell the truth, not the words. When Comedy Central, which
boasts of offending every religious group on earth, censors even the
tamest and most disguised depictions of Mohammed, its actions speak or a
deeper and more disturbing truth, than its words will reveal.
One does
not fear this much or compromise this much in the face of a tiny minority
of extremists. Not even if they are susceptible to bouts of hysterical
violence. Violence after all comes with the territory.

How many
media organizations are terrified of the tiny minorities of extremists
that exist in most religions? The answer is very few. What is it that
makes Islam special? Any honest foreign correspondent can answer that
question easily enough.

Because it is not a tiny minority that they
are dealing with. But a solid majority that is the product of a culture of
religious indoctrination which is intolerant of free speech. And rather
than confront this reality, they have chosen to run away and hide. Because
confronting it would require addressing their own politics, which
scapegoat national defense, while admiring Islamic radicalism. It is
easier for them to silence themselves, than make the ideological
sacrifices needed to deal with the threat to the underlying freedoms of
the free world.

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day
crowdsources free speech by confronting the challenge that the mass media
runs away from. It defends a heritage of free speech by vigorously
confronting those who would deny it.

Artist's Statement:
I thought a good way to do my part for Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was to
bring the original Kurt Westergaard, Mohammed cartoon to life.

My first depiction envisions the
confrontation between modern cultural norms and those of Mohammed by
showing Mohammed facing a Western style justice system for the rampage
that he spawned.

My second depiction
shows Mohammed pitching a Bacon Burger. This image merges Mohammed's dyed
red hair with that of Ronald McDonald, to combine an icon of Western
consumerism, with what has become an icon of free speech. Envisioning
Mohammed playing pitchman in a global marketplace confronts Muslims with
the reality that free speech, like fast food is also a global product that
they cannot hope to escape.

My third depiction satirizes
Mohammed's Night Journey, a later addition to the Islamic mythology which
was used to provide a narrative basis for stealing my land, and that today
is used to promote calls of genocide against Jews worldwide. Challenging
such a poisonous mythology is not only important for free speech, but for
any hope of co-existence.