In writing about the muted local response to the fatwa against Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris, Crosscut writer Pete Jackson asks “Who will speak up for Seattle cartoonist under fatwa threat?”
Um… I did, Pete. What, don’t you read HA? I even posted my own Mohammed cartoon in a show of support:
And just to prove I’m an equal opportunity blasphemer, I also drew a cartoon of Jesus. And myself. And if Jackson really wants to speak up for Norris, he can post his own cartoon too. (As you can see, cartooning doesn’t really require any, you know, talent.)
Instead Jackson embarks on a deep exploration of our “muzzled political climate” by quoting fellow Crosscutter Knute Berger:
The low-grade indifference to Norris could be a pained expression of Northwest culture, the dark side of Seattle Nice (and just look at how the debate over the Ground Zero Mosque dissolved into ad hominems).
“ ’If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,’ has long been the city’s unofficial motto,” writes Knute Berger in his book Pugetopolis. “It is not a plea for civil discussion, but rather a recipe for no discussion at all.”
In other words, it’s a recipe for the Seattle Times. And sometimes, it seems, Crosscut. Meanwhile, HA’s unofficial motto is: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, welcome to our comment threads!” And while that can sometimes make for awfully nasty discourse, at least folks here are willing to stand up for what they believe, and stand by their convictions.
Now thers you go talkin’ about my convictions again! Man, I did my time! I paid my debt to society!
(H/T to Cheech and Chong)
How the hell I know she was 13 – she looked 15 anyway…..
Dude, you arent on anyone’s radar.
Narcissisim…its whats for lunch….
Perfect!
@4: Yep. I love this blog. It’s always edifyin’ and often funny. I even love Goldy’s cartoons. But the comment threads are some of the best reads ever…
I don’t see why these Muslims get their underwear in a knot over a sketch of Muhammad. After all, he ain’t a “god,” so why not draw a picture of him? It can’t hurt anything. If Muslims are that insecure in their religious credibility vis-a-vis Judaism and Christianity, then Islam is a religion for losers!
You know, Goldy, Thurber’s illustrations are not much “better” than yours.
You’re in pretty good company there.
As you would say: I’m just sayin’!
@6: Basically, the big Mo says no depictions of him in the Koran for fear of idolatry.
It’s kind of in the same vein as the prohibition on idol worship in the old testament that Christians and Jews don’t bother to follow.
It is sad that medieval motherfuckers are allowed to set the terms of what we can express as non-believers — and I include all of Abe’s religious progeny. But that’s just our “free” media. More concerning is that there are few politicians who don’t prostrate themselves to the religiously deluded.
6 PI
Well, in Islam as far as I know portraiture in general is discouraged, which led in part to the beautifully elaborate application of repeating geometric forms that often echo the forms of plants, shapes and sometimes animals (specifically birds) in Muslim architecture and design over the last millennium or so. Check the mesquita in Cordoba, Spain.
It is a way of decorating using beautiful, embellishing and repetitive Islamic art instead of using pictures of humans and animals (which is forbidden [Haraam, as opposed to Halal] in Islam). But the Muhammed thing is, I think, just a variant of this sort of iconoclasm.
Although as I understand it the prohibitions of Muslim iconoclasm spring not from the pages of the Qur’an but rather from the Hadith, narrations concerning the words and deeds of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
I think Islam has an inferiority complex when it compares itself to the other two major monotheist regimes. Islam needs to get a grip and just worry about the Golden Rule – that pretty much covers what all religion is about, in a nutshell.
Yeah, I enjoy the geometric patterns, too, but I ain’t gonna shit-a-brick if someone draws a picture of “God”, Jesus, or any other figure from myth/history. Muslims take the shit too seriously.
I think an arrest warrant should be taken out against anyone who issues a ‘fatwa’.
I ran across this the other day on how the inability to normally interact with women based on the strictures of Islam has resulted in widespread pedophilia in Afghan culture.
Afgan men are child fuckers.
That’s right, our young people are dying in Afghanistan to protect child fuckers, including Karzai, it appears.
If you weren’t already aware (I wasn’t), this recent Joel Brinkley piece is worth a glance:
http://www.startribune.com/opi.....aec8O7EyUr
13
Ugh.
I bet the Bush administration knew all about it and didn’t care except to keep it hidden.
@13
yet another reason to either:
A. Just the nuke the whole fucking place
or
B. Build a wall around the shithole and treat them as a zoo exhibit so we can all see how people lived in the bronze age.
fuck that place, they contribute anything to the world anyway.
16 con
Because as we all know there are no child fuckers in the US, right?
As I understand it there were children being fucked by Americans in Iraqi prisons run by Americans.
Fucked? That implies more intimate contact than I understand occurred between Americans and Iraqis under their control.
“Sodomized” (insertion of objects) in front of their adult male family members to “motivate” them during “interrogations” is probably more correct.
Fucked? It was coldly executed torture.
“the contractor is always right and the engineer is always wrong spews”
Ouch! Touche’, Max. That’s your best screen name yet by far! Of course, that’s my opinion, not fact, which is something that always seems to confuse my friend Lost.
Goldy will assist with an email exchange if you’re still up for some golf. Go ahead and send him a note and reference this comment.
“the inability to normally interact with women”
http://www.republicanoffenders.com/Pedophiles.html
heh-
@20
just pullin’ your chain steve…figured you would get a kick out of that.
@17
well you live in the US, so you just answered your own question.
@20
I will send goldy an email tonight…
Option C for Afhganistan:
Pave it all, and turn it into giant skate park.
…trying to think out the box….
Steve,
If you do play golf with Maxie, make sure you undergo thorough sanitization afterward. Being within the same square mile of him is likely to cause some sort of infection.
@26: Hey, PL, pick a day next weekend. The rest of us are good. I’d like to do it later in the day (4:00ish) and go see Roger earlier.
@26: Sanitation is is usually not a weakness for the anal retentive since they’re normally quite fastidious — usually to a fault.
Seems that someone torched some heavy equipment at a site where they are building what might be the only mosque in Tennessee.
AOL: Fire at Tennessee Mosque Site: Part of a ‘Perfect Storm’?
This was the site of recent protests where people carried signs saying “No Sharia Law for the USA!”.
Members of the congregation who were inspecting damage from the fire reported hearing gunshots from two directions, although nobody was hit.
Local police and the ATF are unwilling to categorize this as a hate crime or even arson, as their investigations are continuing.
Local note: This occured in Murfreesboro, which is on I-24 south-east of Nashville. It is the site of a major Civil War battle between Union general Rosecrans and Confederate general Braxton Bragg. The battle also goes by the name of Stones River.
Better watch out Goldy or you may end up on some Fasco-Christianist’s hit list.
Goldy needs to get laid! When we’re done raising $25K to keep HA’s doors open let’s take up a collection to send Goldy to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada! He deserves it. They don’t stone women for prostitution or adultery in Nevada.
I read in a book about Afghanistan that a young couple was caught trying to elope. The village elders met in a jirga (or whatever they call those things) and came up with the following punishment: The father of the girl had to shoot the boy, and the father of the boy had to shoot the girl. This happened in 1984, not in 1284. I doubt they have a Bunny Ranch in Afghanistan, so we don’t want to send Goldy there. Plane tickets to Nevada are cheaper anyway.
Hey Goldy! Remember that rightwing slimeball who falsely reported you to the police for child molesting? Did the authorities ever track that scumbag down and prosecute him for filing a false report?
I watched an episode of “Cops” several years ago in which Florida police pulled over a young man and searched his car for drugs. He was in the process of moving his possessions to a new apartment because he had just broken up with his girlfriend. The cops made him take everything out of his car and trailer, but even with a sniffer dog couldn’t find any drugs. When the guy asked the police why they thought he had drugs, they told him they had received a tip. Then the light bulb went on. So the police took him to a phone booth, set up a wire to record the conversation, and told him to call his girlfriend. When she came on the line (unaware she was being taped by the police), and he told her what happened, she laughed at him and said “how do you like those apples, big boy?” Then the cops went over to her place and ARRESTED her for filing a false police report.
Well, Goldy, it seems to me the police should have done the same thing to the lying rightwing prick who thought it was funny to report you as a child molester. This sort of stuff wastes taxpayers’ money (but wingers don’t care about that) and takes scarce police resources away from combatting real crime. In addition, you easily could have filed a defamation lawsuit against the perp and with the help of a good tort lawyer relieved him of whatever earthly wealth (if any) he possessed. That might have paid for several years of HA’s operating expenses.
Roger @ 32: Actually, I saw a news report about a similar situation occuring in Afganistan not too long ago. A couple eloped and fled, I think to Iran. The family was pressured to lure them back with promises that all was forgiven. Then they were buried (both of them) in sand up to their heads, and stoned them to death.
I’m not sure, but apparantly marrying without permission from the head of the family is a capital offense in Afganistan.
You’d think the bride’s father would have been happy not to have to give away the family goat as dowry (or pay the cost of the wedding)!
zotz @ 27
Hopefully, I will find out tonight when I’m free next weekend. I’m awaiting word from wife’s niece about her visit–not much control, therefore.
@35: Understand, no problem. I have a wife too. The secret to a long and happy marriage? Talk about stuff, then do what your wife wants!
zotz
Is Monday fine at 4?
Is Mohammed holding a Bud Light??
@36: for me the secret is separate sinks in the bathroom, separate checking accounts, and peeing sitting down.
@37: I’ll call you to discuss. Roger is coming as well.
39
I’ll never understand the toilet seat hang-up.
40
Excellent