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2. februar 2006
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And now for some real provocation.
Artists and provocateurs Gilbert and George have created an anti-Christian art show/exhibition.
In statements and interviews about their new series, the Sonofagod Pictures subtitled "Was Jesus Heterosexual?" at White Cube Gilbert and George articulated their rage at the hostility of most major religions towards homosexuality. Their words come at a time when fundamentalism of any kind - Islamic, Christian and Jewish - should make all people of all faiths question the idea that the laws they impose on their followers are the only ones sanctioned by God.
Some Muslims who have responded in the cartoon controversy have actually said words to the effect of, "well, how would you feel if anyone made such pictures of Jesus?" Shows how much attention they pay to the world we live in! In fact, poking fun of Jesus, claiming Jesus was gay or married or a hippie (or whatever) is just so 1960s.
PS: It was more or less a coincidence I first quoted the Telegraph, which is unsurprisingly negative to the show. For a more positive take, check out the Guardian.
11:38:36 PM 
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A commenter left the following message twice on my blog now tonight, one of which timed in at February 2, 2006, 20:25 my time.
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Commenter's name: |
MUHAMMAD AWAIS |
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Email address: |
MOEK007@YAHOO.COM |
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Web site: |
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203.82.61.4 |
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Domain name: |
mbl-82-61-4.dsl.net.pk |
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Commenting on: |
Posting |
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to all the non muslims.... u think by publishing these kind of things u can win or dreaming of conquering islam. let me tell you.. this is an attempt of the satanic followers who have no belif n faith... they are the misguided n rejected people of this world. if u dare to do this again a wor! ld wide holy war will be declared on you bastards. i believe that you the europeans are afraid of losing their ground against islam. and that is evident .. the world is turning to believe in islam... so such miscreants try to diverge their attention... a lost hope. i must say. did you (satans ) ever saw any muslim saying anything about ur religion..never...dont try our nerves .. you will have more to see in future.....if you would have been infront of me... i would have cut your throat right tere n then.... the ill-legitimate sons n daughters of the americans,,,and jews.....clinton himself a gay...who gives a shit to him... a bad character ex-president. you are the biggest hypocrate of the time.. God gives you true direction(hidayat). ask forgiveness from ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY....AND APOLOGISE TO THE MUSLIM UMMAH... OR YOU WILL BE PAST.
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Actually, I think it was a death threat directed at more or less all of us.
The poster, giving his name as Muhammad Awais, posted from Islamabad in Pakistan.
10:13:04 PM
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A must-read by Scott Burgess: An Awakening Europe Reacts - Spineless UK Press Doesn't. He has a list of European newspapers that has printed the cartoons.
It has been stated repeatedly that only the tiny Christian newspaper Magazinet has done so in Norway. Well, that is not strictly true. A lot of Norwegian newspapers has printed facsmiles of the Jyllands-Posten pages, with the cartoons visible. Only for informational purposes, of course.
Somewhat surprisingly, the BBC today entered the ring, and announced it will show its TV audience the cartoons.
The BBC emphasised that the images would be broadcast "responsibly" and "in full context" and "to give audiences an understanding of the strong feelings evoked by the story".
Now that is amusing. I'm sure the gunmen in Gaza will react "responsibly", too.
Michelle Malkin is in search of a brave American newspaper.
I have contacted several newspaper op-ed editors urging them to run the Danish forbidden cartoons along with my column this week.
So far, all have declined.
Now, via a tip from Sissy Willis, I learn that the Los Angeles Times (of all papers!) is planning to run the cartoons this weekend.
I'll believe it when I see them.
And an update:
I've just learned that the NYSun published two of the cartoons in today's print edition...
If the offended Muslims had just learned to take a bit of insults and move on, hardly anybody outside Denmark would have even heard about these cartoons. This leads to one of three conclusions:
- They really like being offended.
- They are even more stupid than those Christians who gave Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ such massive advertising back in the 80s.
- This is just an excuse for flag bbq's and a confrontation with the west.
Take your pick. Maybe it's a mix of all of them.
Daryl Cagle, of the professional cartoonists index, a great site for everybody who likes cartoons of course, has been following this story on his blog, and also prints lots of cartoons arguing for and against these depictions of Mohammad.
9:52:40 PM
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Do I have to write more about those Mohammad cartoons? Apparently so.
In support of the Danish position, newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland reprinted some of the cartoons on Wednesday. A small Norwegian evangelical magazine, Magazinet, also published the cartoons last month.
The dispute has been likened to a string of earlier cultural confrontations between Islam and the West, beginning with the death sentence declared in 1989 on the British author Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in Iran after the publication of "The Satanic Verses."
In 2004, a Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, was murdered after making a film called "Submission," which dealt with violence against women in Islamic societies.
Robert Ménard, the secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based body that monitors media developments, said in a telephone interview: "All countries in Europe should be behind the Danes and Danish authorities to defend the principle that a newspaper can write what it wishes to, even if it offends people.
"I understand that it may shock Muslims, but being shocked is part of the price of being informed."
Exactly so. And an increasing number of newspapers across Europe are printing the cartoons, which will be a relief to the Danes.
In Germany, the conservative Die Welt printed one image on its front page and declared in an editorial: "The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical. When Syrian television showed drama documentaries in prime time depicting rabbis as cannibals, the imams were quiet."
In Italy, the Turin daily La Stampa published the cartoons on Wednesday. Milan's Corriere della Sera printed them on Monday. In Spain, they were printed in El Periódico on Wednesday.
Dominique von Burg, the editor in chief of Switzerland's Tribune de Genève, which planned to publish the cartoons on Thursday, told Agence France-Presse: "You can understand the feelings of Muslims, but we're in a pluralist state. We have a right to do that." The Swiss newspaper Blick published two of the cartoons on Tuesday.
The cartoonists themselves, however, are demanding payment for the cartoons already published, and deny the rights to print the works in newer papers. I can sympathise with the former, since it is what they are living off after all, and I guess it's not difficult to understand the latter.
PS: It is unlikely to be coincidental that Muslims in the Middle East are so outraged. Extremists are using this issue for all it's worth, and then some, including Danish imams.
Meanwhile, the Danish tabloid Extra Bladet got hold of a 43-page report that Danish Muslim leaders and imams, on a tour of the Islamic world are handing out to their contacts to “explain” how offensive the cartoons are. The report contains 15 pictures instead of 12. The first of the three additional pictures, which are of dismal quality, shows Muhammad as a pedophile deamon [see it here], the second shows the prophet with a pigsnout [here] and the third depicts a praying Muslim being raped by a dog [here]. Apparently, the 12 original pictures were not deemed bad enough to convince other Muslims that Muslims in Denmark are the victims of a campaign of religious hatred.
Akhmad Akkari, spokesman of the 21 Danish Muslim organizations which organized the tour, explained that the three drawings had been added to “give an insight in how hateful the atmosphere in Denmark is towards Muslims.” Akkari claimed he does not know the origin of the three pictures. He said they had been sent anonymously to Danish Muslims. However, when Ekstra Bladet asked if it could talk to these Muslims, Akkari refused to reveal their identity.
Treacherous behaviour that does far more damage to Muslim integration in Denmark than the cartoons themselves.
It is also worth noting that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Arafat's old terrorists a Fatah offshot, is screaming louder than anyone else in Palestine. With the Islamists in Hamas winning the elections, obviously Fatah now wants to come across as more Islamic than Khomeini (my take on 'more Catholic than the pope', if you wondered).
5:29:35 PM
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© Copyright 2006 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.03.2006; 16:49:08.
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