Originally Posted By Mr X Wow, this story is getting intense, anyone follow it? So there was this "draw Muhammad day", which was basically a first amendment protest against the extremists who threatened the South Park guys. The FB page (which is now apparently GONE, either removed or hacked, I dunno) had literally THOUSANDS of depictions of Muhammad (some quite vulgar, others rather nice). So Pakistan chose the "bury heads in sand" option and started banning sites. They made the red pen brigade of LP here look like rank amateurs! Over 450 sites BANNED (please review Pakistani community standards before existing), and this is shaping up to be a culture war of epic proportions. I agree with it in principle (NOONE has the right to threaten to kill you just because they don't like what you're saying, ESPECIALLY in America), but I fear this might spiral out of control at this point until someone gets hurt. Thoughts? (I'll include links to news reports later as I find them, though for LP safety I won't link to any of the pages depicting images...easy enough to find if they still exist, there are tons of YouTube videos on the subject too, both pro and con)
Originally Posted By Mr X Here's a cool side note. A large group of Muslims online (over 70,000 subscribers) have organized an angry but PEACEFUL counter-protest of their own. THAT'S the way to do it! And another influential guy on YouTube (Dawahfilms) has actually encouraged participation in the form of depicting Muhammad in calligraphy (apparently an acceptable method), though I'm not sure how many have signed on for that.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt All I can think about is how ridiculous the whole idea is that one shouldn't draw images of Muhammad. Moreover, that punishment is required for anyone who does - even if they aren't Muslim. On that note I should probably point out that I don't support any religious insults or bashing that may have intentionally or unintentionally resulted from the Everybody Draw Muhammad Day exercise.
Originally Posted By Mr X Well, what do you mean by "don't support" though? For example, I certainly don't approve of the Westboro Church and their "God hates Fags" campaign...but I DO support their free speech rights to do it. Same here (and in particular I see this as a protest against those who would death threaten folks for expressing their free speech rights however they see fit). Beyond whether or not we "approve" of it or not, I also think that if enough people do this, it literally defuses the issue...since Muslim extremists certainly can't manage to kill EVERYONE (though they certainly might threaten to do so).
Originally Posted By DAR It's funny a month ago, South Park did an episode or two about Mohammed. It made the news. Muslim groups protested it. After some death threats, Comedy Central bleeped every single utterance of his name which was a lot. But the next day they approved a sitcom about the life a Jesus and apart from your fundamentalists, nary a peep was heard.
Originally Posted By Mr X That's because Christians (even hardcore fundies, for the most part) don't carry out death threats over free speech issues. They most certainly DID, centuries ago, but not any more. You can't live in civilized, modern society while behaving like barbarians...and hopefully they're beginning to realize that.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt "Well, what do you mean by "don't support" though?" It's one thing rightfully protest a ridiculous religious edict by using you're right to freedom of speech, it's another thing to use that platform of protest as an excuse to bash the religion, which is what some of the posters on FB were doing with their vulgar (your word not mine) drawings.
Originally Posted By Mr X Sure, and I don't approve of that. Actually though, for purposes of respecting Muslim religious wishes, I would suggest that it makes no difference (since they don't like if it ANY depiction is made). Still, I certainly support their free speech rights to do it.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt That all depends. I would assume that there may have been a few Muslims that may have submitted drawings in protest as well. People's beliefs are never as absolute as they may appear. Obviously there are differing views even within the Muslim religion.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Since no one should draw Muhammad, no one really knows what he's supposed to look like, right? Which makes me wonder if, purely by random chance, I have drawn him by accident at some point. Who would know? How could I prove I didn't mean it? I wouldn't know how to go about drawing Muhammed -- are there some defining characteristics or props (I mean, Jesus has a well-known look, even if it may not reflect how he really looked, and the Hindu deities are very distinctive and specific, and everyone knows what Buddha looks like), or is he totally open to artistic interpretation? It's very confusing.
